Grass cutting around the hive

[Oblio13]

I used to fly fighters. Our unofficial motto was "One pass, haul @ss".

We never made a second run on the same target because they'd be alert and waiting.

I apply that philosophy to mowing near hives.

[T Beek]

I've found circling around ever closer with each pass very successful.

thomas

[Kathyp]

"One pass, haul @ss".

that should have been posted on the dash of my tractor.  it would have saved me a nasty encounter with yellowjackets  ;)

[Dimmsdale]

I took a cup of rock salt that I use for my water softener and spread it around the weeds and grass around the hive.  It did a pretty good job of killing everything off and giving me a nice barrier around my hive.

[Bee-Bop]

I read these post about how BRAVE every one is;

Well I was AlSO, for over 6 year, until 5 weeks ago, using riding lawn about 4 ft in back of hives, discharge away from hives, however, a large stick came from under mower hit a hive And I was swarmed !!

Face, Arms, Top of Head, Neck covered with stings, tried to out run them on mower went about 500 ft before only a few left, went on to house shut off mower and swatted of a few remaining bees .
Told wife to bring me a couple of Benedrill pills, she looked at me and said " We are going to the ER " I didn't object !!

Taken into ER imediately given about 5 drugs, Dr. and 2 nurses removing stingers, later they said over a 100 stingers removed from arms, face, head, plus over 40 stuck in my T shirt.

Luckly nothing serious, in ER blood pressure went up to 185/95 for awhile.

SO YOU folks be BRAVE, I'll slip on a long sleve shirt and veil from now on !!!

Bee-BOP

[yockey5]

Come on Bee-Bop, cowboy up!!!!  :lau:

[JP]

Earlier in this thread I'm pretty sure I mentioned I smoke my hives before mowing but this past Saturday I went with the one pass haul @#$ method!  :-D Didn't get stung either, they were in a good mood.


...JP



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[Judy in in]

I've done the mowing with discharge away from the hive. It works sometimes, and sometimes not.

Now that I've moved all of the hives to the farm, I'm setting them on scrap pieces of corrugated metal. I'll be adding mulch in the next couple of days. The girls seem to like the new location, and the metal projects farther in the front. I mow at 4" so can actually put the mower deck over the edges of the metal. That means no trimming! :-D

[BeeMaster2]

Read through this thread and the one warning that is missing has to do with the weather. My buddy and I visited Larry's place after talking to him in the bee store. Larry has @70 hives and has been a beekeeper for about 40 years. When we met him at his place his face looked like he had been in a boxing match. After about an hour of talk and looking at bees, I finally felt comfortable enough to ask him what had happened to his face. Earlier that it had been raining and as soon as it stopped he started mowing the lawn same as always. he mowed in front of the hives and because of the weather the bees were not happy and tore him up.
DON'T CUT YOU GRASS NEAR YOUR HIVES IN BAD WEATHER. THE BEES GET ALLFUL GRUMBY AND TAKE IT OUT ON YOU.
Jim

[Kathyp]

i''m pulling the carpet out of my  house.  most of it is going around the hives.  this solves both the grass problem and the disposal problem  :-D

[Riggs]

I have leftover roofing shingles under mine. Seems to work well.

[Larry Bees]

I have a John Deere Riding Lawnmower and the bees don't like it at all. The first time I mowed around them was at night without my bee suit and they attacked me on the second pass and chased me over 100 feet even though it was dark out.

Now I mow around them after I do my hive inspection and I wear the bee suit. They still don't like it, but they're unable to sting me.

Larry