Out of 3 honey boxes with 9 honey frames each (not all had honey) I was able to harvest 5 gallons of honey from the one established hive!
This great news, as last year I only got about a gallon from the same hive.
I didn't rob the new colony as I am letting them get established and let the Queen lay lots of worker brood to collect honey for the hive.
Remember every third bite that you eat comes from a Bee.
If you can and are interested in beekeeping please go buy the equipment and establish a hive.
If you care about your fellow man and yourself and your ability to continue to eat but don't want to personally keep bees; then sponsor a beekeeper.
Two Years ago 50% of the Honey Bee's Worldwide Dissapeared. Last year they are estimating about a 30% loss.
Each and every one of us has to do something to find a way to save the Bees, so please support your local beekeeper.
You can even buy a hive and give it to a beekeeper, they will take care of the bees and work them, and then they will give you 1/2 of the honey from it as an incentive to help.
Albert Einstein said that if the Bees ever dissapeared, mankind would only have approximately 5 years left.
Do your part!
Don't buy hybrid flowers and vegetables.
Don't use pesticides.
Plant lots of Sunflowers and open pollinated vegetables and fruits and let the clover spread through your lawn!
All of this will feed the bee's
11 comments:
I think bees are cute but I am allergic to the stings-not deadly or nothing just mild reactions but nevertheless a reaction LOL.Bees like my front yard because of all the Dusty Miller plants,which also attract butterflies by the dozen!
Is that you, Ms. Wymzie?
Yep, thats Me!
I would love to buy a hive and give it to a beekeeper for half the honey. I try to buy local honey for my husband to build up his immunities.Please contact me @ catjowill@yahoo.com
BTW...In the interest of good entertainment; we also hope you have the camera rolling when, inevitably, "Beekeepin' Goes Wrong."
Wymzie, I have 2 questions for you.
Do you sell the Honey? What are you doing with the wax? I'd be happy to give you directions for making beeswax candles, scented with essential oils or unscented. The secret is in the wicking. :)
No pesticides and no hybrid plants would mean approximately 1/2 of the worlds food would be lost to pests and poor yields. While that may be good for the bees, it is not so good for us humans. Just out of curiosity have you ever eaten a seedless watermelon, super sweet corn , or a bowl of frozen lima beans? All of these are hybridized varieties.
I find it hard to believe that you actually practice what you are preaching.
Most plants are hydridized to breed in resistance to diseases while maintaining acceptable quality and yield. Take away that disease resistance and the pesticides the help the plant fight them off and someone somewhere is going to starve. There are many ways to benefit the bees without yield reduction, i.e. flowering cover crops during winter, spraying in the afternoon rather than morning, moving the hives regularly to high pollen areas.
How much to buy a hive?
Wymzie is HOT!
Anon9:26,
I understand that giant corporate farms have to use these methods, but these methods of 'no till' spray everything that farming is what has gotten us in this problem.
Yes of course I have eaten seedless watermelons, but prefer the old fashioned open pollenated Moon and Stars variety.
Yes I have also grown Lima's.
I practice organic gardening as much as I possibly can.
It is much more labor intensive but we have got to decrease the amount of pestisides that we use period.
My corn is an old variety and is only about waist high with very small cobs and only about two per stalk. Yes yield is significantly smaller.
I also spend a lot of time catching white butterflys that will lay eggs on my cabbage and broccoli, that turn to worms and will eat the entire plant to the ground.
I have spent summers squishing potato bugs, as they are resistant anything a private individual can buy and put on them, because the chemicals the commercial farmers is so strong it has made them Bionic!
It is a shame that we have done this to our plants and wildlife.
I ended up caving into using sevin on my brussel sprouts as the worms became out of control even with twice daily inspection of each plant and hand picking them off.
Anon8:49
I personally only have two hives, and have only given it away as gifts. Candle making is something I would love to do and plan to do as I enlarge my apiary.
This past harvest the bees had drawn their comb up so high that when I capped it I was able to get lots of nice long strips of wax. One of the problems with preparing the wax for candle making is letting the bees clean it off in a good spot where they can access it and it not melt in the heat.
Wherever you keep it until the weather is cool enough has to be 'bee' proof as they will swarm around wherever you are keeping it because they smell it and want to eat it.
To all the rest...
A complete hive with 2 brood boxes and at least 3 honey boxes, hive stand, landing board, inner top, outer top and ten frames plus foundation for each box runs close to $200.00 plus shipping.
It comes unassembled and requires assembly.
Two medications are needed to be administered twice per year are not included in the price.
If you are going to do the keeping yourself you will need a hat and veil, dishwashing gloves, hive tool, bee brush,and smoker.
There are lots of resources on the web where you can check them out. A lot of places offer starter kits for new Bee Keepers and you can get everything you need in one order.
Then you have to order your bee's... When you do this the Post Office will call you when they arrive and you will have to pick them up or you can join one of the local bee clubs and place your order with one of the good folks involved and they usually go to GA or FLA to pick them up, and you can get them that way.
It's a great hobby and we need more and more people to be involved in doing it.
Being a Beekeeper is really a lot of fun and very rewarding. You have to become comfortable around them and it is recommended that you go with other beekeepers with experience and watch and help them work so that you can gain the confidence you need to go into your hive unafraid. They are a lot like a horse, they know when your afraid and uptight, and tension is high.
Billy and I got in an argument once before I went out to work the bees and they could tell I was pissed, and they were on the bitchy side as a result, and I got a few stings.
I learned my lesson and now work them usually with only a veil and gloves. As a sting directly in the eyeball can cause blindness.
If I get stung, I swell in the site of the sting unless it gets a vein then it will swell further outward from their and is aggravated for a few days. This is a NORMAL reaction. Aniphalectic shock is an allergic reaction.
If you want to do a hive I would be happy to help, or do it for you and share honey. Just email me at wymzie@wymzie.com
Mr.Totmom LOVES fresh honey-do you sell it by the jar????
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