I was wondering how many beekeepers we have here in the southeastern part of mainland New York (not Long Island, although you're welcome to reply too!) and Western Connecticut.
Please reply with how many hives you have and what your goals are with your apiary!
I live in North Salem, NY. This is about 1 hour north of New York City and 10 minutes west of Danbury, CT.
I have had anwhere between two and 10 hives. Since I stopped treating my bees with chemicals, I have had some major losses, and I'm now down to two strong, healthy hives. I'll be regressing these to natural cell this year, in addition to increasing my numbers back up via queen rearing with the hopkins method and doing splits. I may also buy some single deep hives this spring and use these for splits. I'm not really interested in those queens, because they are of unknown origin, but I'd be buying them for the frames of brood.
My goal is to be able to offer nucs on natural cell size frames to beekeepers in our area in 2010 or 2011. I also have a woodshop, where I have been building top bar hives, long hives, nuc boxes, feeder covers, and the like. If you are looking for woodenware, let me know. I probably can't compete with the prices on the standard equipment, but you may save overall considering the shipping prices these days! I can also build custom equipment that you can't buy from the big companies.
justgojumpit
I have 7 hives and I am looking to stay around 10 hives. I will be supplying a small farm/connivence store with honey and using the rest for myself and gifts. The reason I responded is that all my hives are 10 frame deeps but I have one that is a double-walled hive and it winters really well. It has been a strong hive for me consistently. It might be a specialty item you could do well with if others beeks were interested. The hive on the right is the double walled hive.
Can we see a picture Please Tony
If you're thinking about supplying NUCs, I'd be interested next year. I'm here in Norwalk, just south of Danbury and have been looking for bees raised in the Northeast. Will probably go up to Mass for a NUC this Spring.
Here are the pics. The green hive is a regular 10 frame deep. The white hive is a 10 frame insulated double walled hive. The second picture shows the thickness of the wall with a hive top feeder on this past fall.
(http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7192/img0883nq4.th.jpg) (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0883nq4.jpg)
(http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6199/img0884qn8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
By natesperry (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/natesperry)
WhipCityBeeMan, Nice pic! I think the double walled hive is a great idea. It would need a specialized cover, but other than that is compatible with regular lang equipment. I choose to just wrap my hives in rigid styrofoam, but I do like the idea. I have some shallows with thick wood walls. I may do a comparison next year to see how the bees overwinter in them uninsulated compared to the normal width deeps insulated. Josbees, what does your apiary comprise of? How many hives, what are your goals, etc? You're only about 40 minutes away from me! If you're looking for some equipment, I could probably save you a lot in shipping since you could just pick things up. I'll hopefully have some nucs for sale in 2010, and I'll post them here if I do. How are your bees making it through the winter?
justgojumpit
I have 5 hives in Orange, CT. 3 Langsroth and 2 top bar. I'm new to beekeeping and trying to experiment with what would work best for me. With the langs, I plan on foundationless frames. I have no expectations as this will be my first year.
Is there a way to search for members by Location? I met a lot of great people at this years Bee School which was hosted by the CT beekeepers Association, I just wish i took down more names and #'s. I live in West Haven, but my hives are in Orange. Meeting new people in my position or those with more experience is always great. (not singling you guys out that live farther away) All insight is helpful.
- Gabe
Hi Jumpit,
I have a strong survivor from the two nucs you supplied me last year. I suspect the other died out as a result of the non existent flow we had last season and my efforts to feed it were in vain. All in all it looks like 50% losses seems to be in line with what happened in general in the northeast. Will need to get together as soon as the season progresses to fetch my remaining boxes and NUC. Best of luck to you in your breeding efforts. I think you may have a good strain of bees in development.
Jack
I'm from Springfield, MA.