my first beekeeping club story

[thomas27c]

hey! im a newbie and i went to a beekeeping club today in lancaster county pa. i learned alot and my father also learned NOT TO WEAR BLACK. i got to get in a bee suit for the first time and see a real apiary up close. i have some videos if you would like to see on my channel which i will link. anyways the bees were fairly mild and i only got stung once and my father twice :p anyways the more aggressive swarm bees were eventually targeting people so they attacked. they came after my fathers head and he could not figure why. we learned that it was because he was wearing black sunglasses on top of his head and bees associate black/dark with predators like black bears and skunks. morale of the story.... DONT WEAR BLACK.

[Intheswamp]

Hey Thomas...don't wear black. ;)

It sounds like the two of you had a good time at the bee club meeting.  Do you already have some hives or will you be getting some later?  Study, study, study...there's lots to learn about those ladies! :)

Best wishes,
Ed

[GSF]

Welcome Thomas, ditto on the read, read, read! I started on this forum and begin reading from the most current post and went backwards in time. good info.

[sc-bee]

Welcome Thomas. It will be a few post before you can link the video (just a step they take to try and protect from one time spammers etc) or contact an admin and they will post it for you. Yea when I started I used to wear a black watch band. Don't take long to figure it out  :-D Also different folks body chemistry etc. Bees tend to not like mine compared to other folks? If there is a crowd of folks in the yard they pick me.  Also different deodorants and colognes (hair spray for women or men I guess  :-D).

[rober]

& don't eat bananas when you're going to be in the bee yard!!

[sc-bee]

 :lau:

[Intheswamp]

And so it continues...  :-D

[buzzbee]

Thomas,
With your lower post count you may not be able to post the link. If you need it posted, start the thread and forward the link to the vids to:
[email protected]
and let me know the thread to attach the link. Glad you got to a bee club meeting! :)

[Jim134]

Glad you got to a bee club meeting!
X:X X:X X:X




             BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[BeeMaster2]

& don't eat bananas when you're going to be in the bee yard!!

Rober,
The pheromone the bees put out when they sting does smell exactly like bananas but the smell of bananas does not bother the bees at all.
Somewhere on honey bee removals, Scott Hardwood has a video that shows him eating a banana while removing bees, with no smoke.
I have also tried it and there was no effect.
It is an old myth.
Jim

[Intheswamp]

It really won't die...  There's even one jerk that jumps me once or twice a year about a joke I made a couple of years ago about bananas and bees...when I mistakenly thought, too, that bananas stirred bees up.  I guess he has to blame someone on his own ineptness at working his bees.  His "story" is that the bees lit him up after he placed a banana on the top cover of a hive on *someone else's* recommendation...he probably dropped a brood box or something to that effect.  He's had his panties in a wad ever since...  :roll:

Anyhow, I include banana in my bait recipe for shb that I put *inside* the hives and the bees pay it no attention.  ;)

I keep Hardwood's video close by for just such an occasion.  :-D
Heidi's swarm.wmv

Best wishes,
Ed

[Intheswamp]

I sometimes wonder about the "don't wear black" issue.  I know that bees are attracted to dark, black objects.  I've seen them come and check my black DSLR out, not excessively, though.  And, I've worn dark clothes to the apiary with no issues.  I wonder if it's a case of "don't be wearing black if"...you do something that the bees don't like....mash some bees, drop a frame, etc.,.  :?  That they instantly start looking for a "dark" attacker...???

This is my mentor, checking out a little fist-sized late swarm a few years ago...  :)


Just thinking...
Ed

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks for posting that Ed.
I agree about dark objects. Another thing they do not like is fast movements especially near and directly above the hive. I agree when they get upset they will focus on the dark objects, like my watch. when they get pissy, I will remove it.
Jim

[Intheswamp]

Ditto on fast moving objects.  I learned that one early. ;)  I passed my hand across the top of an open hive rather fast and suddenly there was a dozen or so bees clinging to my hand.  It was kinda like the old trick of rubbing a comb against something wool(?) and passing it over some ground pepper...the static would make the pepper "jump" onto the comb.  That was what those bees reminded me of....none of them stung me, it was like "ok, dude, you're ours if we want you...slow down".  So, I slowed down! ;)

Ed

[BeeMaster2]

Ed,
Are you trying to say "Bees are very good teachers"? They didn't have to repeat that lesson, did they.  :)
Jim

[Intheswamp]

Nope, learned it quick.  My mama would've been proud of me for catching on so quick!  :laugh:

Something else I learned "by accident" was not to subject the bees to constant smoke.  I was "inspecting" my original "dollar a frame" colony of bees one day...a green newbie.  I was to the side of the hive sitting on a bucket and had sat my smoker down beside me.  I had looked over a couple of frames and was looking down at another one that I was holding in my hands when suddenly I heard the sound of the hive "change"...a change that told me something wasn't "cool".  I looked up at over the top of the hive which was a little below eye level from where I was sitting and saw probably a hundred bees hovering over the opened box and all of them looking at ME!!!  :shock:  It reminded me of the scenes in WWII movies of the Japanese planes on their way to Pearl Harbor, almost in formation wing-to-wing...very, very impressive...and intimidating.  I looked around me and saw that the breeze was sending a steady stream of smoke to the entrance of the hive.  I quickly moved the smoker thus stopping the smoke going into the hive and the bees settled back down and called off the impending kamikaze attack!!!  I ain't forgot that one, either!!!  :-D

Ed

[Intheswamp]

Btw, I talked to my mentor about the picture of him in the black hat...he said he wouldn't do that with a big, strong hive!!!!  So, maybe it is just a black object "thing" with the bees...

Ed

[BeeMaster2]

Ed,
That must have been impressive to see.
My dad tells a story that was pretty unique.
He kept 5 hives on his roof. One day he was in the front yard. He heard a bee get real loud and looked up. He saw a bee about 20' above him coming in kamikaze stile. He immediately pulled his glasses off but the bee stung him right next to his watch band. He hadn't been in the hives and had no idea why that one bee tagged him.
He is still amazed that he heard it, saw it that high up and then it nailed him.
Jim

[Santa Caras]

I agree with that statment that "Bees dont like black if...."
say maybe popping the lid to the hive and inspecting. I've observed them (just watching--not getting into the hives) for the longest while wearing black t-shirt and all and none ever bothered me.  They dont like "FUZZY" either.   Saw a new beek at the bee club apiary and he had on some of those mechanic gloves but they were a Lt Green and very fuzzy. Kept flying around his hands and trying to sting. My Gdaughter had black FUZZY gloves and they kept trying to sting her too. So avoid Black and Fuzzy if your cracking open the hive.

[Intheswamp]

SC, from what I understand wool isn't a good item to wear around them, either.  I always am amazed at watching JP removing bees.  He'll have a full beard and his curly hair and no bees gets tangled in them...amazing. 

Jim, I know how your dad felt.  I was standing to the side of a hive one day, the one at the very end of "hive row".  It was one of those "I think I'll walk down and get a quick look at the bees going and coming...no veil or anything as I wasn't even planning on getting close to the hives.  I was probably standing 6-8 feet to the side.  Suddenly I see this hussy of a bee (definitely not a lady!) run out of the hive onto the porch.  Without hesitation she took to the air while immediately navigating a hard turn to the left.  Our eyes locked.  I managed at the last minute to bend my head to the side but she got me just beside the jugular vein!!!  To this day I think a bee on the porch ratted me out to her...