*** Update*** Hives are built and stained...tonight they will get a coat of polyurethane ...I will be picking up my nucs in a few weeks and then it is on!
We go up to the state fair every year and I always drop by the building they have that huge hive in.....i could sit there and watch all day....interesting creatures indeed
Cool! Interesting this thread got bumped today, just Saturday I had two clusters land on a limb here in the yard. I got my bee gear out and a couple hives and got them hived. As it turned out ( and I suspected) both clusters were just one swarm and they later merged together in one hive. I was out mowing the yard and happened to look north across the yard and saw the swarm in the air. I jumped off the mower and grabbed a big pan and a bulb planter and started banging them together. I don't know why for sure but the banging will generally make them settle on a limb. I then used the tractor and loader and a pallet to reach them. I got up with them and scraped them gently off on top of the hives and they went right in. I love bees!
Hive pieces have one more coat of polyurethane and we will be good to go....40,000+ bees in the next few weeks.
Thanks! MY family on my dad's side has been into beekeeping as a hobby since at least the 1940's, grandpa and then dad and one uncle. Dad got away from it but my late uncle who passed away last fall, trained me to handle them between 2000 and 2008. For quite a while we had a free removal service in the local area, at last count I think I had removed ~50 swarms in this region of five local counties. We were removing them from buildings, trees, whatever, for free just to build a stock of bees and hives. When my uncle passed he left his portion to my cousin who sold them off, lol. Yeah anyway...I like working with the little buggers, just don't have a lot of time these days to do it.
I am going to build myself a couple hives out of polypropylene that was scraped from a hockey rink, I'm going to attach a tube so they can come and go and do bee things, kind of like an aquarium for my den, but instead of fish it will be a working bee hive. Any one interested in one?
Totally! I would come down and pick it up myself and crack a cold one with ya as well It might be an issue in the summer heat with the sun beating in?
The organic guy next to where I work is bringing in colonies this year. For the sake of his bees, I hope they don't leave his field.
Tony, I've watched 200lb men squeal like little girls over seeing a simple Gardner snake, just think of the terror one of those big ole nasty honey bees could bring. I just bought a protective coat and hat last year after having honey bees for years. Ya just have to be careful that they don't gang up on ya!
Stings swell up on me pretty good, I can tolerate them on arms or legs but not my fingers or face. I like not having to worry about it so I wear a suit. It's pretty inconvenient to try to operate equipment or conduct business with a swollen face or fingers, lol.
I do not plan to kill any intentionally, Tony. I work for an ag research station where a lot of our research is weed research; therefore, lots of chemicals.
