Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Got my first bee hive bodies...

...in 30 years. Got the fancy copper topped English Garden style. Will be stopping by Home Depot for some outdoor clear polyurethane to keep the looking natural.

Getting two four frame nucs of Carniolans April 22.

Kinda looking forward to it.

I have a hot knife and an extractor. A hundred takes all.

Humm..., I might take you up on that. But I got no place to put the extractor) right now. Just moved and getting getting a pole barn put up this Spring. You in a hurry to unload it?

Nope, no at all. In fact it is still at the farm in WA. If you want it I will bring t don this Summer and you can get just in time to use it. It is a four frame hand crank, just right for a small operation.

Is that a shipped price?

Steve,

shoot me a pm later in the year, late summer/fall if you need a hand with the hive. I may be over this way (Sherwood/Newberg) if my wife is still working over here. I'm getting ready to heab back to WA in a couple of weeks, but work slows down later in the year. I'll bring my headgear and suit.

Good luck with them things. Wish you the best.

Geno

Wow guys! Thanks.

Scott, PM me an address and I get you a check in the mail.

Geno, I'll take you up on that. Been so long since I had bee's I'd love a 'mentor'. Especially when I need think about requeening, etc...

Very cool.
I have a friend who had beehives.
It was fun to go with him, wear a suit and watch.

Got a question for you honey guys. If real 100% honey sits for a long time will it granulate?

Someimes,maybe even most of the time, be not always. It depends on the moisture conten. I have some from my first harvest around twenty yeas ago that has not.

OK bee people. I am new to this and have no bees until April, but I have been reading a lot and have lots of questions that will be asked as time moves on. Today the question is, Queen excluder, good idea/bad idea? On the surface it sounds good, but after reading some about it, most are saying it is bad for your bees. So without it, what keeps your honey super from having the queen laying eggs there? I know that I am dumb as a rock, but bear with me. miles

Ok thanks Scott, I thought that only the junk honey you get in the store in a bear shaped plastic squeeze bottle did that. I thought I had been slickered by the honey man and it wasn't organic local honey.

Have a good day friend
Troy

Miles, I should stay out of this, knowing little to nothing about bees, but the old, "There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers", comes to mind.

Here is something I saw online and wanted to post here.

http://www.9news.com.au/technology/...ntion-turns-him-into-a-multi-millionaire

When I kept bees many years ago I ran an excluder as the nector (Fetch and Blackberries around my hives at the time) flow got going. I don't like too much protein (pupae and larva parts) in my honey.

The argument is that it's sometime hard to get the bees to go past the excluder and draw comb and deposit honey. I found that if the hive was strong enough I would shake the bees off a couple frames of capped or soon to be capped brood the main brood chamber. Then place those brood frame above the exculder in the middle of the honey super. The bees will go up to attend to the kids and then start using it for honey after the brood hatches out. Also gets bees in the there to draw comb on new frames.

But I only kept bees for a season or so, so my experience is VERY limited.

Miles, here is Randy Oliver's website. I have been able to hear him speak twice at a beekeeping conference. Check it out, he is a wealth of knowledge in the beekeeping world. http://scientificbeekeeping.com/

Thanks Tim, I looked that link over a little bit and then bookmarked it. Lots of information there. miles

Hobby beekeeper here....

I've used excluders for 3 seasons with excellent results on 3 hives.

I've only tried Italians. I split and re-queen every spring. With the splitting, I haven't had a swarm yet. I sell the new hives resulting from the splits, as I only want 3.

We've consistently got 7 gallons per hive.

This winter we lost one hive to a killer mouse. I don't know how he fit in there, but by the time I found the damage, he was the fattest mouse I've ever seen.

Enjoy! It's the lowest commitment hobby I've ever had, and it has big returns.

Do Y'all make your own hive bodies or buy them? I bought the first and only one, but that gets expensive especially when you factor in shipping. I am thinking that I need an empty around in case I can catch a swarm. I have seen them in years past, but it is not always a certain thing. miles

Do you re-queen both resultant hives after the split or just one?