Hello, I'm 50 years old. Live in Oxford Connecticut and I always had an interest in honeybees, but never took the responsibility of having my own.What changed that was seeing Silence Of The Bees. This made me decide to give beekeeping a try,so I purchased two 3lbs packages and installed them on 4/19/08.Everything has gone well up till now, been having some problems with defensive bees trying to work it out. This forum is fantastic. To all I say Hello and Thank You.
Hi LAC
Welcome to the forum this is a great place to get information and to make friend too. You can use search and type in the problem you are have and more than likely someone has already had the same problem or if you can't find the answer that feel free to post to the forum I am sure you will find an answer that way.
Again Welcome
Welcome! This is a great place to learn & have any questions answered. Seems that at this time of year where there is a winter the bees are very intent on protecting what they have worked so hard to collect! Mine are sure more aggressive than they were all summer! Think about it, if your family canned & froze all summer..then some ugly huge thing ripped the top off your home & moved the walls to the rooms all over & took your hard earned stores, you might get a little testy too! Oh yes lets not forget the squishing of family members whilst putting the house back together wrong!! Again, welcome! Jody
Quote from: LAC on September 13, 2008, 03:18:58 PM
Hello, I'm 50 years old. Live in Oxford Connecticut and I always had an interest in honeybees, but never took the responsibility of having my own.What changed that was seeing Silence Of The Bees. This made me decide to give beekeeping a try,so I purchased two 3lbs packages and installed them on 4/19/08.Everything has gone well up till now, been having some problems with defensive bees trying to work it out. This forum is fantastic. To all I say Hello and Thank You.
Welcome to Beemaster!!
As colonies grow in size they generally do become more defensive as there is more to defend and protect.
As spring gives way to summer, then fall, and there isn't as much nectar available the bees don't quite have as much to do, and seem to be more aggressive.
I believe this is your case, but if for some reason next spring your bees are much more aggressive than you like, you could requeen them with queens that have been bred that exhibit gentle tendancies.
Good luck to you, we are here for you.
...JP
Welcome to the group LAL!!!!!!
There is alot of great information in this group.
People are willing to help you here, just ask them.
Johnny
Hey, welcom LAC, I kinda got started the same way... seeing the bees not pollinating my garden veggies. The strange thing is, it wasn't just honeybees that disappeared from my garden... it was all pollinators. I spent most of this year concentrating on planting flowers that would attract them more... since the garden was pretty much a total loss anyway. I did finally start getting some tomato's after much effort, but it took completely surrounding them with other flowers that they were attracted to even more to get them to pollinate the tomatos. That made me decide to start keeping bees myself. At first I thought I'd just try and keep mason bees and bumble-bees, since they require little or no work... but then I found that the mason bees only pollinate for a few weeks of the year, and there are already plenty of bumble-bees around here.
LAC, welcome to our forum. Great that you were inspired to begin to keep the bees, they are an enjoyment beyond belief. It is coming to the end of the honey season and the bees are wanting to protect their precious stores that they have been so hard at work to gather, they become defensive. Stick around, you will love the time spent with us, tell us your tales, stories and experiences. We love to listen, and ask your questions too, the answers will come and will help you to become a great beekeeper. As Mtn1849 said, you will also make some new and very good friends. Have the most wonderful and awesome day, love our life. Cindi