Bee Hive, Any bee keepers on PT

[_Keith]

After a year of researching and learning, I am taking the plunge and fixing to buy my first hive and colony.

Anyone else out there keeping bees?

[DoomsDave]

Wish you'd have been around when those Bees of Doom invaded my place, and nested in a nice, empty 15 gallon pot.

[tank]

Does aspiring bee keeper count? I was told by a bee keeper hobbiest friend of mine that my neighbors pool would be a problem. He thought that they would be using it as their water source and basically swarming his pool area.

[redant]

People in my area keep boxes for the ag tax benefits on there property, all lots in this are are 2.5 acre or more. Not sure how the ag tax benefits work but bees will swam my dock if my hose if left even slightly weeping. I had a colony living under a fake boulder in my yard for years but then one day I stepped on one and they went nuts on me and my dogs, bye bye bees. Someone on craigslist came and took the whole fake rock and bees away in the back of a Honda civic.

Edited June 20, 2013 by redant

[sur4z]

[MattyB]

We set up our first hive last year and someone from the local bee society brought us a small swarm. He had requeened it for us already so we thought we were all ready to go. Unfortunately, during a hot summer week we got up to 108F on a couple of days that I think that due to the extremely dry conditions in our canyon, the entire colony left. We were bummed. I've since set up a reliable source of water, and we've added another box. So currently we have two clean hive boxes just waiting for a swarm to move in, at which time we will requeen the hives. I've seen a few swarms this sping so I can't understand why our nice vacant hive boxes aren't being quickly occupied. The only thing I can think of is that where we live, the nectar is supplied from native brush and due to our very low rainfall this year, maybe the hives aren't thriving enough to swarm.

[redant]

All my palms supply enough stuff for thousands of bees, I can't spay and neuter my palms without a millions bees being ticked off. I usually wait until the seeds just start setting to remove the stalk, keeping in Harmony with nature and all that stuff. Even though I don't keep a hive i have thousands of bees visiting every day.

[MattyB]

Cool! The most bee friendly tree that I have is Manihot grahamii. That thing is a marvel at attracting bees.

[DoomsDave]

Bees bees and mo' bees, PUH-LEEZE!

Sometimes it seems that not much doesn't attract bees.

Ahem.

Good heavens, Matt, that must be one [expletive] bee tree with [expletive] bees.

Some palm flowers draw bees, too. Archontophoenix, Dypsis baronii and Washies to name a few.

[redant]

Bees bees and mo' bees, PUH-LEEZE!

Sometimes it seems that not much doesn't attract bees.

Ahem.

Good heavens, Matt, that must be one [expletive] bee tree with [expletive] bees.

Some palm flowers draw bees, too. Archontophoenix, Dypsis baronii and Washies to name a few.

Seems all my palm flowers attract bees, never seen a flower stalk in bloom without a mass of bees on it.

[_Keith]

We set up our first hive last year and someone from the local bee society brought us a small swarm. He had requeened it for us already so we thought we were all ready to go. Unfortunately, during a hot summer week we got up to 108F on a couple of days that I think that due to the extremely dry conditions in our canyon, the entire colony left. We were bummed. I've since set up a reliable source of water, and we've added another box. So currently we have two clean hive boxes just waiting for a swarm to move in, at which time we will requeen the hives. I've seen a few swarms this sping so I can't understand why our nice vacant hive boxes aren't being quickly occupied. The only thing I can think of is that where we live, the nectar is supplied from native brush and due to our very low rainfall this year, maybe the hives aren't thriving enough to swarm.

In my research, I have run across a few folks selling pheramones as attractants. Maybe a possibility.

[DoomsDave]

We set up our first hive last year and someone from the local bee society brought us a small swarm. He had requeened it for us already so we thought we were all ready to go. Unfortunately, during a hot summer week we got up to 108F on a couple of days that I think that due to the extremely dry conditions in our canyon, the entire colony left. We were bummed. I've since set up a reliable source of water, and we've added another box. So currently we have two clean hive boxes just waiting for a swarm to move in, at which time we will requeen the hives. I've seen a few swarms this sping so I can't understand why our nice vacant hive boxes aren't being quickly occupied. The only thing I can think of is that where we live, the nectar is supplied from native brush and due to our very low rainfall this year, maybe the hives aren't thriving enough to swarm.

In my research, I have run across a few folks selling pheramones as attractants. Maybe a possibility.

Boy, I wish I knew about you guys in my misspent yute' managing the Garden Shop of Doom in Diamond Bar, where bees nest in people's houses, and come back after you kill them off unless you SEAL the original cavity.

[_Keith]

So, almost 2 years after that first post, I ordered my first Hive Box. I have some honey comb, lemon grass, and bee pheromone. Gonna try to attract my first hive as this is swarm time. It will be a feral colony, but there is no real africanization here yet, so I am hoping for a gentle colony. I will requeen if need be. Any body out there got any advice for me?

[John Case]

So, almost 2 years after that first post, I ordered my first Hive Box. I have some honey comb, lemon grass, and bee pheromone. Gonna try to attract my first hive as this is swarm time. It will be a feral colony, but there is no real africanization here yet, so I am hoping for a gentle colony. I will requeen if need be. Any body out there got any advice for me?

Keith, I would suggest that once you are successful in attracting a swarm, that you approach it the first time with full beekeeping regalia/protection. Since you wlll have no knowledge of what you get, I think that this may be the prudent thing to do. Perhaps you will be lucky and get the most gentle hive known to mankind but until you know for certain, protection may be the call. I have heard of instances where some who thought they were not allergic having been stung in the past had a severe allergic reaction when they were stung many dozens of times. I wish you the best of luck in your project!

[DoomsDave]

Turns out that a friend of mine is wanting to be a bee keeper and we're going to set up two hives in my place.

Keep a 5-gallon bucket of water full nearby for them to drink from.

And wait for the palms to produce oodles of seeds to send worldwide . . . (Palm seeds ride great in the holds of planes . . . .)

[_Keith]

Thanks Dave. But about that 5 gallon bucket of water, you do remember that I live along a bayou, right. :-).

[DoomsDave]

ekth chat chat chat

[Pip]

Good luck with your bee project Keith. My father started his bee business after a swarm just happened to invade the back yard. Another swarm soon followed his fascination grew for those amazing insects, he quickly built his number of hives up to more than 200. Unfortunately I developed an allergy to bee stings so I can't help him or take over as my Dad is in his early 70s.

[John Case]

In the 70s, I managed some hives for some orange farmers in the Porterville area. I was surprised on how much work was involved. Disease, moving hives from one grove to another, and finding places to over-summer them.....while it was a good experience for me, I have3 no interest in having one of my own.......I like seeing bees in my garden (especially native bees, which I find hard to ID because many of them are so small) but I will eat honey and enjoy the memory of my time in the hives.

[Patrick]

Bees love my Manihot, too. Keith, you should look that one up if you don't have it. It's cold hardy. Tropicaldelights.com sells and keeps them, and I think they're in N. Carolina.

They do create a lot of seeds, so that's one way to go. I always am pulling up seedlings in the spring. They need cold stratification, I think.

I have neighbors that I really can't believe. They see one honey bee or bumble bee and their only thought is to kill it, because it might sting them. What poor logic. Bees don't give two cares (a better word can be inserted there) about us humans. They're doing a job, leave them alone.

Good luck with the bees, Kieth

[Kevin S]

 I used to have over 70 colonies of bees until the rice canyon fire burned them to the ground.  One of the easiest ways of getting bees just to find out who need to get rid of them.  I got a lot of colonies of bees from people that had swarms In Bird nest box.  I even got one colony of bees while I was visiting a palm nursery saw they had a bee problem of course in a bird nest box way up in a tree. I went back and remove them for them.  I even built a special vacuum to suck up bees in walls without killing them and then install them in one of the my beehives.  If you have swarming bees in the neighborhood you could use  swarm lure which smells like lemon grass in spring time.  Bees like making their home where A old bee colony used to be.  So if the beehive smells like bees used to be in there there's a good chance new colony will start In it.  And you could also buy package bees a few pounds of bees and one queen in spring time.   If you join a local bee club you will find out a good local source of bees.But now days beekeeping keeps getting harder and harder because of all the diseases and pest brought from other countries.  Small hive beetle is the most recent introduced bug that attacks bees.  Here in California we haven't had enough rain in the past few years to really make healthy colonies that produce a lot of honey.  But if you keep bees in the city where there's a lot of artificial watering our plants around here you should be good.

 As mentioned above they need a source of water they usually always visit the same source of water and ignore other water sources even if it's closer to the colony  unless one source of water moves or dries up they always visit the same one most the time.  Some beekeepers including me start water gardens so the bees have a source of water. Also you can feed your bees to get them started off right.  They sell pollen substitutes and you could feed them sugar water concentrate. Just last year Costco sold starter kits without bees of course.  If  you are real handy you can make your own beehives.  I was making beehives that would cost twice as much to purchase.  But now days it's just easier to order equipment online and have it shipped to you.

[DoomsDave]

Ah, bees.

My adventure turned into a misadventure.

As I noted in another post, my hives ran into trouble.

They were placed under the giant Mule Palm of Doom, which concealed them from neighbors, but which also gave them too much shade. That mattered because these were domesticated bees that weren't as able to deal with the pests that bothered them as "feral" bees are, or are at least supposed to be. The hives were besieged by moths and beetles. Apparently, bees in the sun are better able to toss out the invaders, because they can't take the temperatures that the bees can.

Finally, the colonies were besieged, in their weakened state by feral bees.

The surviving colony (there were two) was removed in late summer of 2015, taken to a sunnier spot far away where they did better.

I asked my bee keeper friend to put another couple of hives in another sunny spot in my yard which would help with the pest issues, but so far, the answer is no. I even offered to put down a big piece of plywood to avoid havens in the soil, but the answer is still no.

It's a lot of work keeping bees, and I'll leave it to others. So far, my palms are having a great seed set! Apparently Dave's Death Camp is a hot spot for bees, when the palms bloom, which they're doing.