A new experience for a would-be beekeeper
Today was very interesting, and tiring but still quite enjoyable.
A local commercial beekeeper has decided to mentor me, he mentioned being short handed often when dropping hives off, pulling frames, making nucs, etc. I had offered to help him as he needed as I thought that was a good way to really get my feet wet before keeping bees myself.
Today began this morning, we drove 3 boxes of bees down to a location some 50 miles away, along with us some empty nuc boxes and of course, beekeeping tools and suits, etc.
He's a friendly fellow and does not seem to mind divulging information one bit. The trip there was spent talking about bees and everything else under the sun.
Upon arriving to that spot, on the property of a organic fruit and veggie farm where about 30 hives. My new mentor had be suit up, mind you, the first time I have ever worn a bee suit, and showed me how to tie on a veil and such. I got my gloves on and away we went. He handed me a hive tool and bee brush and I gathered up dried twigs, sage and dried grass to put in the smoker. Note to self, don't touch the barrel of the smoker once lit, it gets VERY warm. (oops)
The bees seemed quite happy at first, that is until I opened the top cover to the first hive, the bees in the hives next to it seemed to watch what was going on and came out (big time) to say "HI" or "GTFO" *Shrug* I don't speak bee, I am only guessing. We pulled some frames, I found my first unmarked queen, I was not sure if I would be able to recognize one, but to my surprise, I did. That was pretty cool. We pulled some frames on hives that had excess honey, and placed some honey filled frames on boxes that seemed to not have enough. We built up some nucs and in one, installed some queen cells into a box that had lots of drones but no queen. I am not sure I have a very good grasp on what will happen there or why, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open in the weeks to come. I filled several boxes with capped honey filled frames to take with us. We had our lunch break, boy where the bees mad. They were everywhere and thousands where both airborne and many where gathering at the entrances. Back to work, we got through all the hives, some 5 boxes tall and moved everything we were taking with us to the stake bed trailer that was bulled behind his SUV. We kept the windows down in the car for some miles and kept our bee suits on and such as the car had hitch-hiking bees in it as well. As soon as the stowaways were gone, finally, it was nice to take that hot and sweaty bee suit off. Has anyone notices that when you take the gloves off, they smell like sweaty socks? Not a very pleasant scent.
Fun trip, I got the beekeeper chuckling as when I would open the hive, I would exclaim "Hello girls, what's shakin"? I was almost talking kid-speak to them. I found them quite entertaining even though they seemed pretty irked.
Next in the saga, I am helping him remove a hive that has been established in someones walls. He is giving me those bees as well as he is helping me go get the boxes that I set up in the abandoned bee yard I had found some time ago that has feral bees that have moved into some of the boxes. Looks like I will run two hives to begin with. He asked me if I want to move them down to one of the farms he pollinates, I said I didn't know, I will have to talk with him more about that as well as do some more reading and that I didn't know enough about it to make a decision yet. He turned me on to a place not to far away where I can get supplies and such as well as lending me tools and suit to work my bees when I get them up. (Maybe this Sunday if I can get released from drill early enough)
I got to learn much today and it was very fun. I wasn't stung although I had several bees get inside of my veil, but they just seemed to want to hang out with me until I let them out. I am curious, do bees mellow out if you talk to them? The 3rd person with us was stung 12 times. I felt sorry for her. She got one on the eye. The bees didn't seem very interested in stinging me. They did often "hit" the front of my veil, but that's it. I am sure I will be stung sooner or later, but it didn't
happen today.
I decided to share this experience from the eyes of a noob. Sure, I could go on in more detail but it would be nothing nearly all of you didn't know already. You're beekeepers and well, I'm not, well, not yet.
I'll write more in this thread as an update to share as things happen. Sorry for the typos.
Sounds like a Win Win to me. You get experience fast and he gets cheap help.
Very Cool tale ,y friend...welcome to the wonderful world of Bees!!!
I talk to mine to, not sure if it helps..
When your calm the bees seems not to get as excited, Ferals Bees ROCK...very good stock...lucky YOU!!!
Keep filling us in...and if you do learn to talk Bee...please let me know..I'll take lessons..
Hope to hear from you soon...
Mark
Dennis, well, well, well...now isn't that just nice that you found that mentor, you will learn lots from him, you can bet your bottom dollar. Consider yourself very fortunate to be able to get this hands on experience. And it is good for your mentor too, he gets free help, that is good for both of you, and as Brian said, it is a win-win situation.
Don't ever think that your stories and tales are uninteresting. Every tale that is told has a great thing behind it, tell us your experiences, we all love to listen, and each and every one is very unique and has its own little flavour. Welcome to this world of the honeybee, the world that will keep you held under their spell. Beautiful and most wonderful day, love life. Cindi
I went to the abandoned beeyard I had mentioned in another thread today to look in on my feral bees that moved into 3 of the boxes that I set up there last year, One of the boxes was too quiet for my taste, I didn't see any bees at first, I got closer and pried up the lid, OOPS, they were home! I didn't mind the two stings I got, I did ask for it as I went barging into their "house". Thank goodness the hive didn't crash. I was worried. The other two hives are doing very well, I have one with two supers on it, and another with 3 supers on it and it is quite occupied. Has I a bee suit and veil, I would have opened them up and looked inside. I am going to move the two most active ones up to my backyard. I want to go through the "quieter" hive and see how they are doing, if needed, I can swap some frames of brood and a frame or two of honey into the slower hive in hopes of really giving them enough resources to winter and of course, fight off other issues that may happen. These are pretty friendly feral bees. I plan on moving the two hives I mentioned to my house next week when my schedule settles down.
I rummaged through the wreckage again of the other boxes that had been tossed by bears and found some fairly good pieces that just need new nails, a good sanding and a paint job. I was surprised to find as much dried mud that had accumulated inside those boxes over time. No biggie though, I enjoy these kinds of projects where I find something that can be restored and put into use. Among the wreckage, I found some wooden frames that were in serviceable condition, some of those frames have black comb that is quite melted. I am not sure as to what to do with the melted black comb, should I leave it in the frames for the bees to fix? Many of the frames had well drawn out comb that was pretty brown but in great shape. I am hoping I can use it in the frames as I am thinking all the bees will need do is clean it up and put it to use.
Dennis I enjoyed your story. I got my bees last spring and I haven't found
a queen yet.
The mud inside could be from mud daubers. I would use the old dark melted comb in swarm traps, let the bees make new comb in those frames.
Your story was interesting, liked the play by play, you have a wonderful mentor that is teaching you lots and also how to do cut outs, very well done.
I didn't see it mentioned, when you puff the smoke, puff the entrance and also right between the cover and first box so they don't come barreling out at ya.
Get those bees outta the veil when you can, you never know when one might wanna get you and would hate to see ya get stung on the eye.
Keep 'em coming,
...JP
Dennis, I agree with comments, keep the stories comin'!!! Doesn't that just make ya feel ding dang great that you are resurrecting all this old bee equipment, I would be pretty proud of myself if I were you, yeah!!! Have that most fantastically awesome and wonderful day, Cindi
Well, here is the update.
Today found quirky fortune. I had gone down the mountain to a beekeeper supply place I was fortunate to locate within 30 miles. I picked up the essentials, such as bee suit, hat, veil, gloves, hive tool and smoker. As I get home, I talk to my beekeeper friend that is mentoring me. He has me get together with him as there are feral bees that have moved into a, well, *laughing* a BOOM BOX speaker housing box. Yup! Crazy, huh? So, we get this speaker box peeled and it took some careful cutting away the wood, it was glued together and the bees were entering through a small hole next to one of the speakers. I kept having to smoke this box as the bees were pretty ticked off, after gaining access, I could see HUGE comb. It was so cool to see this in person, I've only ever seen pictures and video of a cut-out, but this was a first time for me. After placing the comb on some frames and between some others to save as much as possible as there was lots of brood as well as honey! So, dumping and scooping bees, even scooping them up by hand and putting them in one of my brood boxes. double hand full, one right after another. By the way, it is very cool to have your hands filled with buzzing bees. With my box filled up. the speaker box was opened further and then laid on its side and we put a sort of ramp leading up to my hive opening so the many stragglers could just easily crawl inside the new hive box. As the sun was going down, that's what happened, they seem to just march right on inside until it appeared all went "home".
Good thing I went and picked up my own "beek essentials" as, well, today, I have bees! I could not find the queen today, it was estimated that I have about 40 lbs of bees according to Don, my beek mentor buddy. Good god, that is a lot of bees! Wednesdays, we're going to go collect another such bunch and then we're moving some hives down to a farm. Hey, FREE BEES! I sure hope the queen made the trip to the new hive!
Also, I didn't know that bees actually sprayed their venom as well, I have never smelled bee venom until today. Interesting, really. So, here is yet another entry into my noob thread.
Dennis, well, well, well, and you thought your tales would be uninteresting to us other beekeepers...you are an excellent writer and tell a tale that takes me right beside you, in my mind's eye. Good for you, you think this was fun? Well....you just wait, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. The world of this beautiful and marvelous honeybee is nothing short of fascinating. The things that you will see, feel and hear are gonna make yo' head spin!!! Thanks for telling us your tale, it was wonderful to read, and Dennis, keep em' comin'.
By the way, I think you mentor is wonderful to have taken you under his wing, such a great thing to have someone that can be there beside you to show you these things, get you down and deep with the honeybees, yeah!!! Now, 40 pounds of bees, that sounds like a little exaggerated, but then, who knows!!!! I would venture that it would be more than likely about 4 pounds of bees, hee, hee. Picture picking up a grain sack (about 50 pounds). Now picture how much room a pound of bees would take up. I can bet your bottom dollar that you have about 4 pounds of these beautifies, not trying to burst your bubble, but I honestly think it would take a whole lot less bees than 40 pounds to fit inside a boom box, unless it was from some alien planet, way up there in the wild blue yonder of the skies above :shock: ;) :) :) :) Have the most wonderful day, and keep those interesting tales a'comin' our way. Cindi
Quote from: Cindi on October 07, 2008, 10:05:46 AM
Dennis, well, well, well, and you thought your tales would be uninteresting to us other beekeepers...you are an excellent writer and tell a tale that takes me right beside you, in my mind's eye. Good for you, you think this was fun? Well....you just wait, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. The world of this beautiful and marvelous honeybee is nothing short of fascinating. The things that you will see, feel and hear are gonna make yo' head spin!!! Thanks for telling us your tale, it was wonderful to read, and Dennis, keep em' comin'.
By the way, I think you mentor is wonderful to have taken you under his wing, such a great thing to have someone that can be there beside you to show you these things, get you down and deep with the honeybees, yeah!!! Now, 40 pounds of bees, that sounds like a little exaggerated, but then, who knows!!!! I would venture that it would be more than likely about 4 pounds of bees, hee, hee. Picture picking up a grain sack (about 50 pounds). Now picture how much room a pound of bees would take up. I can bet your bottom dollar that you have about 4 pounds of these beautifies, not trying to burst your bubble, but I honestly think it would take a whole lot less bees than 40 pounds to fit inside a boom box, unless it was from some alien planet, way up there in the wild blue yonder of the skies above :shock: ;) :) :) :) Have the most wonderful day, and keep those interesting tales a'comin' our way. Cindi
Cindi, when I think back, Don must mean the hive with bees, comb and such weighs 40 pounds. I keep imagining what 40 pounds of bees look like, and, well, I am imagining something rather, well, massive and far too many to stick on that brood box. I'm still dancing a lil jig over the free bees. I like free, such as free beer , free bees, free admission to Disneyland and such. ;)
:-D
Thanks Dennis for sharing your tales. I feel the same way and find a day without my "Girls" is a day without sunshine. I visit them everyday and have learned to leave them alone as much as I can. It's hard tho...soo much fun!
Keep the Buzz going....
My new bumper sticker." Get Buzzed..Keep Bees!"
Cindi, when I think back, Don must mean the hive with bees, comb and such weighs 40 pounds. I keep imagining what 40 pounds of bees look like, and, well, I am imagining something rather, well, massive and far too many to stick on that brood box. I'm still dancing a lil jig over the free bees. I like free, such as free beer , free bees, free admission to Disneyland and such.
Free beer :-D :-D :-D
One of my new hives I have kept at home in my back yard. The past couple of days have seen a cold snap with high winds and there has been little activity going out and coming in to the hive. Today being a warm day with the air calm, the entrance to my hive looks like a traffic jam. Bees circling the entrance waiting for their turn to land as if it were busier than the airport in Los Angeles. The outgoing flights are just as heavy and bees are everywhere.
It is as if they were making up for lost time. I have watched several drones take flight as well. My appearance in the back yard has drawn no attention from the girls as they do their thing.
This is a rather largely concentrated hive that were what I would imagine was crowded. I gave them a super without queen excluder to remedy the crowding. I gave the super 4 frames of capped honey on the two outside positions on the inside (of course) of the hive and filled the rest of the super with frames with foundation. I left some comb that I had left over from a cutout in a bucket on the other side of the yard as to discourage ants from the hive, the bucket is getting lots of attention as well. There is some comb with honey in the bucket as well.
It is amazing how busy this hive is.
As far as how my other hives are doing, I will be heading out to the farms tomorrow to check on them as well as doing another cutout.
Cheers!
-Dennis
Yeah!!! Go, Dennis, go!!! Have a most wonderful and awesome day, love and life this life!! Cindi