The bee keeper diaries

[Iowanian]

It's a great time to buy stock in eppy pens.

This thread is a repository for bee keepers or those interested.

A couple of years ago, a couple of friends an my brother started puttering with honey bees. I didn't buy off because, well, I've never been a big fan of bees or getting stung by them. Last summer I tagged along a couple of times to check their hives and to remove honey bees from a house, public building and an old garage.

I realized at the end of the summer when I was helping them process some, that it's actually pretty interesting, and fits into my expanding "grow my own" logic. I'm not full blown hippy but I see a lot of logic in the self sustaining food thing and I'm doing some of that too.

That said, this thread is about bees, honey bees, bee keeping and bee fighting war stories.

I'm taking the leap and plan to get 2-3 hives this spring and maybe build some bee swarm traps to make it cheaper or to make a few bucks.

Join me and I'll share the real life lessons of an ameture bee keeper. I'm sure I'm going to learn some things the hard way.

[Otter]

I had a unpleasant experience with earwigs trying to retrieve the mail and stepping on a hornets nest as a young one. I don't like bugs and they don't like me.

Clowns and earwigs don't last long in my little slice of life. I'll give bees a pass for the honey factor.

[ghak99]

Exposed hive pics shared by MDC. A bee keeper near Springfield sent them in and claims it is around a month old.

[srvy]

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[btlook1]

very cool, thanks for the update!!

[displacedinMN]

Sure you have mentioned this---how does extreme heat affect the hives?

[Iowanian]

Looking at the color of the comb under that table, I believe that's a new hive. If that were close to me I'd love to get that, easy to get, new comb and it would be full of resources and brood(babies). What surprises me is that they chose to build under that table when there is obvious, visible bee equipment nearby. Those boxes would smell like old colonies and I'm surprised they didn't move into those if they were sitting there.

Extreme Heat. Honestly, I think bees handle heat better than colder weather. They can cool their hives with water that they bring in, and then they'll essentially build a bee fan to circulate air and keep the core temp at 94-95 degrees. They'll beard outside the colony to cool off too. Drought is one thing, but for honey production, I like the hot-warm dry days, because the bees can't really get nector or pollen from wet flowers.

Now, working bees in a suit sucks when it's hot. The bees can get crabby in extreme heat as well.

[Iowanian]

It's been a busy year so far and I'm looking at mixed results.

Yesterday I entered a "float" in the 4th of july parade and got a first place check to help pay for the candy(not nearly enough $ for that) but it should get me some pic time in the local rag for advertising.

I had caught another swarm in a trap and moved them last night to replace another hive that I lost(4 dead in June). It was a good, active, busy colony and I'm thinking they could be a good one next year.

My bees have been mean this year, not every colony but more than I'm used to, and they're meaner than hell. Last year I could have worked most of my hives in a tee shirt, this year I think you'd die. I mowed near them last week and they just balled up on me. I didn't have gloves and took a few to the hands and a couple of those bastards got up my sleeves. Wasn't fun at all.

I did too much "testing" last week. I've been talking with an area restaurant/bar and the chef is trying to come up with honey based shots. He's doing something like a reduction with bacon grease and crumbles, honey and a whiskey/bourbon. We tried several shots the other night...some i thought were good, a couple just got me drunk. Frank the tank.

I do have a cabin that has honey bees in a wall that I'm considering doing a removal(cutout) soon. I'll video that and it might be interesting as a time lapse for those interested.

I'm still hopeful that if it doesn't turn too dry and start a dearth, I'll be able to make some honey. My lofty goal for this year is 1000lbs, so we'll see.

Enjoy your summers and keep eating local honey.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Sounds to me that your bee's have become Africanized if they're becoming that aggressive. Or the other option is they just don't like you, but I doubt thats the case. You've always been a likeable person. Can you introduce an extra queen to the hives just so the worker bees can have more sex. That concept always works for me when I'm agitated.

[displacedinMN]

Venting on social media proved costly for a Minnesota beekeeper, who now must pay $370,000 to a couple who sold him bees that later died.

A Traverse County jury made the award to Nancy and Keith Budke of Wheaton, Minn. The Budkes, in the bee business for more than 40 years, sold 75 Texas hives to Nick Olsen of Maple Lake.

When Olsen got the hives home from Texas, he found that the bees had died in transit. Olsen blamed the Budkes, claiming the bees were infected with several diseases. He took to Facebook and vented about the deal, saying the Budkes were "screwing" him, calling them names and warning others not to buy bees from them.

The Budkes sued Olsen for libel, bringing in expert testimony showing that the bees' health was normal and suggesting that Olsen's own handling of the bees likely was the cause of their death.

Traverse County District Judge Amy Doll ruled in favor of the Budkes and sent the case to a jury to decide damages. In a verdict issued late last month, the jury awarded the couple $105,000 for business losses caused by the libel, $240,000 for loss of reputation and $25,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $370,000.

It's the kind of case we can expect to see more of as social media continues to expand, said William McGeveran, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Law.

"Social media makes it a lot easier to shoot your mouth off," he said. "And sometimes people aren't as careful when they're posting on Facebook or Twitter as when they're giving a quote to a newspaper reporter or writing an essay for a magazine.

"But what they say is just as public and the legal risk is just the same."

Criticism of public figures is protected by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring "actual malice" for a defamation judgment. But regular people don't fall under that ruling, so posting false or defamatory statements about a neighbor or a local business means it's a lot easier to land yourself in legal hot water.

And while libeling your neighbor once might have required some extra effort — printing up fliers, say, or renting a billboard — now it's as easy as grabbing your phone in an angry moment.

"Historically, there were a lot of practical obstacles to defamation," McGeveran said. "Social media just obliterates those practical obstacles."

Olsen, who represented himself in the case, said he plans to appeal the verdict.

"All I can say is, I can talk about the case. I can't talk about anything else but I can tell you that a lot of it was based on lies," he said.

The Budkes' lawyer, Ronald Frauenshuh Jr. of Ortonville, said the award "should send a chilling message to people who abuse and bully on Facebook and say things that aren't true."

Calling the case "amazing" and "strange," Frauenshuh said the Budkes tried repeatedly to settle the matter, but Olsen "was just emphatic that he was the victim." In recent years, Frauenshuh said, he's seen many things on social media that made him shake his head.

"People post goofy things on Facebook," he said. "I'd see them and I kept saying to myself, 'This is open for lawsuits. You cannot say this in public and get away with it.' " He said the verdict was a welcome step in helping his clients repair their reputation.

"My goal is to help the Budkes regain some of their business," he said. "People have to be aware that these kinds of suits exist when you don't tell the truth on Facebook."

Staff writer Alex Chhith contributed to this report.

[Iowanian]

Bee keeping is such a roller coaster.

I checked hives to see if I needed to add the last honey supers to any of my hives. Harvest will be at the end of July or first week in August. I lost 4 in June, another one last week and have 2 more that don’t look to make it. About half of my hives are going to make honey this year. So frustrating after a spring and summer of hard work.

I had a couple of messages about a large swarm of bees on a water tower 100’ off the ground. It was 20 yards from a public swimming pool and really close to where a town festival was being held. I couldn’t climb and get them. I stacked a box with old stinky comb, an empty box under it for volume. I added some lemon grass oil, drizzled some honey on the bottom board for scent to draw them in…..that was my theory.

I left and had to be a couple of hours away, but got a message less than an hour away. The bees had moved into my box. I went back last night at dark, taped the opening shut…except for the part I accidentally didn’t. I climbed a ladder to get my box off of the water building and slipped and about dropped it. Bees started boiling spout as I put it in the back of my truck, and I left quick so they didn’t get to the pool full of kids and cause me a ton of bullshit.

I set them up today in their new home in my bee yard….tons of bees. It was a huge swarm. Replaces one of my dead if I can get enough honey in there before winter.


I’ve spent the late afternoon making my first batch of creamed honey. It’s quite a process to get started, but in 2 weeks, these starters will be ready and I’ll start making creamed h8 ey to sell. Plain, maple, cinnamon, lemon and raspberry flavored will be the product.

Pay the extra for your local re working their asses off to get it for you.

[markdis]

Thanks for sharing.

[Iowanian]

Today was a little exciting. I got a call that a tree trimmer had cut into a silver maple and had the shit kicked out of him by bees. The homeowner had gotten beat up and stung inside his nose. Tree trimmer stopped and owners needed help. It’s late in the season and a small chance of saving the bees but the guy was paying so I used some vacation time, loaded my equipment and my boy and went.

The limb was on the ground and it turned out the hive was inside. We cut it open with a chainsaw, vacuumed a lot of the bees and I removed the hive.

This is just cutting open a tree
https://rumble.com/v1dv471-cutting-open-a-bee-tree.html

This is opening the tree to access the bees
https://rumble.com/v1dv4b7-busting-open-a-bee-tree.html

I got them and put them in a hive in my bee yard and hope it replaces the one I found dead today(6 dead since June 1). Harvest will likely be next weekend.

[srvy]

Iowanian got some power saw skills too

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by srvy

Iowanian got some power saw skills too

He and his family could live off the land. They would live off of crops, deer, fish, and wild boar. He would need a helicopter for the boar though.

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by srvy

Iowanian got some power saw skills too

I've cut and split enough wood in my day, that I only climb on a chainsaw when I need to....

The hardest part is determining the "ends" of the hive when you can't see it. I was able to see bees in 3 crack openings so started a foot or two above and below. Once you get cut into the log you can kind of "feel" when you're into the hollow portions and then I try to not go too much deeper so I don't run the saw through the comb.

Sometimes it works easier than others. If it's a standing tree and they're in the bottom of the trunk I can usually cut a "door" into the tree, get the bees and plug the cork back in.

With trial and error I've learned it's tough to get the queen from inside trees because there are so many tiny places to hide. When I'm about done, I'll spray some stuff called "honey bandit" into my smoker. It smells like almond extract and ironically(because almond growers pay bee people to pollinate almonds) and bees will run away from that. I use the same stuff in a fume board when I want bees to leave the honey supers when I am pulling them to extract(probably next weekend). The smoke with the bandit will often run the bees out that are hiding and we can vacuum those up.

Didn't see the queen yesterday, but I sure hope I got her.