Ever wanted to watch a fellow homebrewer stung by a bee?

LOL.. I decided to finally become a beekeeper.. Yesterday, my bees arrived and I "installed" them in the beehive.. I have never done this before, and this video (shot and brilliantly edited by my buddy Zach) illustrates that.. If you are bored and in need of a laugh, check this out


Bet you won't be laughing when I have a hundred pounds of honey on hand to make mead...hehhehe

Oh, and if you want to see the raw, un-edited version with full audio and several dirty words:

hahahha! awesome!

I'll see if I can get my bee arrival package on video this next weekend. I still don't know what we're going to do with all this honey!

haha awesome. Maybe some gloves next time?

That's awesome! Video is very well done too!

Where do you get your bees from? This is something I've thought of doing myself.

That was an awesome video. Your buddy did an excellent job putting it together.

Good luck with the bees.

drac0 said:

Where do you get your bees from? This is something I've thought of doing myself.

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I ordered them locally from an apiary in Spokane, WA.. They cost about $80 for a package..

Very cool. There is a huge bee keeping forum I used to read a lot. I even took some classes at the Library but then I lost access to the land I was going to use to keep them on.

How much did everything cost you?

That is not a good video. It's not even mediocre. It's fooking awesome! Youtube is blessed to be graced by it's presence!

It reminded me of a first ever AG brew day, but with more bees to the power of 2000.

Further evidence that home brewers have a screw loose.

Prosted BTW.

Well done.

Cool video. Kind of piques my interest in beekeeping. But of course I have no place to keep them locally. My in-laws live in an old farm house surrounded by fields. But I don't know if I would have to tend to them very often or not if I located them down there.

TxBrew said:

Very cool. There is a huge bee keeping forum I used to read a lot. I even took some classes at the Library but then I lost access to the land I was going to use to keep them on.

How much did everything cost you?

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Actually, the investment isn't that much.. It's pretty cheap to keep bees (so far) and they will pay themselves very soon if you have surplus honey.. For everything (2 hive boxes, frames, smoker, veil, and the package of bees) was around $200... At some point this season I will need to add another one or two boxes to the hive.. The boxes are around 14-16 bucks and the frames (reusable- one time investment) are about 80 cents a piece.. And my boxes each hold ten frames.. It cost me just about the same to start beekeeping as it did to set up my 4 corny kegerator....

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

That is not a good video. It's not even mediocre. It's fooking awesome! Youtube is blessed to be graced by it's presence!

It reminded me of a first ever AG brew day, but with more bees to the power of 2000.

Further evidence that home brewers have a screw loose.

Prosted BTW.

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LOL.. Yeah, it was almost like the first time I did an AG batch.. nervous, excited, and screwing things up right and left..

Very nicely done video and quite entertaining. I was holding my breath waiting for the swarm to envelope your head. Mildly disappointed when it didn't happen. I'm sure I read in the reviews that the bees swarmed your head. Might there be a sequel?

Excellent! My dad used to keep bees when I was a teenager. We had these really low hanging fruit trees in our yard. One day I'm out mowing the lawn underneath those same fruit trees. You really had to duck to get under them. Thankfully the bees choose that afternoon to swarm and suspiciously chose the pear tree as their gathering spot. Nothing more wonderful than a ball of bees about six inches for your face as you desperately throw the Cub Cadet into reverse!!!!

LMAO

A couple of tips from a former beekeeper:

1. Put rubber bands around your pants at the ankles. Aged/weak bees that can't fly tend to crawl upwards. You definitely don't want one crawling up your leg inside your trousers. Trust me on this.
2. I hesitate to point this out, but your frames should have wax foundation in them to give the bees some structure on which to build. (Maybe you only had a few empty frames to provide room for the bees?)
3. You'll want a queen excluder to keep the queen in the brood chamber (usually the bottom box). Otherwise she'll migrate up into the super when she runs out of laying room and she'll start to lay in amongst the stored honey. Picture bee pupae floating in you jar of freshly extracted honey.
4. The smoker causes them to gorge themselves on honey in preparation to abandon a burning hive. It's not very effective in keeping attacking bees away from you. It was, however, entertaining to watch.

IIRC, we used to start a new hive by filling the lower chamber with frames (with foundation), and leaving enough empty space in the uper chamber to place the whole shipping box in the top, right on top of the lower frames. You have to pull the empty box out in a day or two, otherwise they'll stick everything together with propolis.

Have fun!

(BTW, that probably won't be the last time you get stung )

-Steve

Homercidal said:

Cool video. Kind of piques my interest in beekeeping. But of course I have no place to keep them locally. My in-laws live in an old farm house surrounded by fields. But I don't know if I would have to tend to them very often or not if I located them down there.

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You'd be surprised how many people keep bees in an urban setting.. There are many books devoted to keeping bees in the city in your own backyard.. There are some considerations, but it is very do-able.. Don't give up yet! If you did place them at your in-laws place, you will need to visit them more than you would in the second year when they are more self sufficient.. Plan on at least one visit per month in the summer, with at least two visits the first month after installing them.

Drumhaggart said:

LMAO

A couple of tips from a former beekeeper:

1. Put rubber bands around your pants at the ankles. Aged/weak bees that can't fly tend to crawl upwards. You definitely don't want one crawling up your leg inside your trousers. Trust me on this.
2. I hesitate to point this out, but your frames should have wax foundation in them to give the bees some structure on which to build. (Maybe you only had a few empty frames to provide room for the bees?)
3. You'll want a queen excluder to keep the queen in the brood chamber (usually the bottom box). Otherwise she'll migrate up into the super when she runs out of laying room and she'll start to lay in amongst the stored honey. Picture bee pupae floating in you jar of freshly extracted honey.
4. The smoker causes them to gorge themselves on honey in preparation to abandon a burning hive. It's not very effective in keeping attacking bees away from you. It was, however, entertaining to watch.

IIRC, we used to start a new hive by filling the lower chamber with frames (with foundation), and leaving enough empty space in the uper chamber to place the whole shipping box in the top, right on top of the lower frames. You have to pull the empty box out in a day or two, otherwise they'll stick everything together with propolis.

Have fun!

(BTW, that probably won't be the last time you get stung )

-Steve

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Hey Steve- Always glad to hear from a fellow beekeeper and homebrewer!

I did have velcro straps at my ankles, because as you said, I did NOT want any bees crawling up my legs.. As for the frames, my wife and I are going to do "foundationless" beekeeping.. The frames have a starter strip at the top coated in wax.. the idea is the bees build their own comb in whatever size they want. The purpose for us is two-fold: 1) It's natural varroa mite control because the bees will supposedly build smaller cells than whats typically found on foundation and 2) we plan to harvest comb-honey, so all we have to do is cut out the entire comb, leaving a small strip of wax at the top for the bees to begin building new comb. Two of the ten frames in the hive have foundation on them, just to give the bees a ladder to reach the top of the frames and also to provide some clue as to how start building on the empty frames.

I do have a queen excluder, so there should no problems with her laying eggs in the honey! (I hope!). As for the smoker, yeah, I dont know what I was thinking.. When a bee is chasing you, he aint stopping for no smoker! I was a little panicked for a second.. heheh

So why did you stop raising bees? The old saying is that people get into beekeeping for the bees but get out of because of the honey!

Cheers! That was fun!!

GroosBrewz said:

Hey Steve- Always glad to hear from a fellow beekeeper and homebrewer!

I did have velcro straps at my ankles, because as you said, I did NOT want any bees crawling up my legs..

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The elderly gentleman who taught me a lot about beekeeping once dropped his drawers to let a wayward bee escape unharmed from the confines of his trousers. His hives were in the front yard of his house on main street. I bet that had the neighbors talking!

As for the frames, my wife and I are going to do "foundationless" beekeeping.. The frames have a starter strip at the top coated in wax.. the idea is the bees build their own comb in whatever size they want. The purpose for us is two-fold: 1) It's natural varroa mite control because the bees will supposedly build smaller cells than whats typically found on foundation and 2) we plan to harvest comb-honey, so all we have to do is cut out the entire comb, leaving a small strip of wax at the top for the bees to begin building new comb. Two of the ten frames in the hive have foundation on them, just to give the bees a ladder to reach the top of the frames and also to provide some clue as to how start building on the empty frames.

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Sounds like some things have changed in the many years since I got out of the hobby. Mites were not all that common back then and it was way before the "hive collapse" issue that is causing so many problems today.

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I probably should have asked first instead of assuming that you were a noob.

So why did you stop raising bees? The old saying is that people get into beekeeping for the bees but get out of because of the honey!

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My brother and I had several hives when we were in High School. I went away to college and he was left with the hives. Then he went away to college and no one at home was interested in getting stung on a regular basis.

Make sure that you take some pics of your harvest at the end of the season.

-Steve

I just watched the full version.

There are many qualities that I admire in people. Dedication, the pioneer spirit, invention, ability over adversity......

The one quality that I admire most in anyone is idiocy.

I admire your qualities, sir!

GroosBrewz said:

It cost me just about the same to start beekeeping as it did to set up my 4 corny kegerator....

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well, when you put it like that Thanks for putting it into a language I can understand

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

I just watched the full version.

There are many qualities that I admire in people. Dedication, the pioneer spirit, invention, ability over adversity......

The one quality that I admire most in anyone is idiocy.

I admire your qualities, sir!

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Thanks? I think? LOL:rockin:
The full version really does show my ineptitude much more than the edited version..

humann_brewing said:

well, when you put it like that Thanks for putting it into a language I can understand

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Of course.. As we all know the language of beer is the first one spoken here...

Damn it.. Got stung again today! I wasn't even near the hive! I think I need to make some homebrew...

GroosBrewz said:

Damn it.. Got stung again today! I wasn't even near the hive! I think I need to make some homebrew...

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Every time you get stung all you have to do is think of the delicious mead you will have in the future. At least that's what I'd do.

GroosBrewz said:

Damn it.. Got stung again today! I wasn't even near the hive! I think I need to make some homebrew...

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Aw man, that sucks! I got hurt by chicken wire , but so far no bee injuries to me today. They were so cooperative, it was amazing.

The worst thing though, is I've had "Eye of the tiger" in my head all weekend, with thoughts of me running around the yard blasting the smoker everywhere...

ANywho, I'll keep my bees' progress updated too and keep checking on yours too. Its fun stuff so far!

So do you guys have any books that you recommend for beginning beekeeping?

lustreking said:

So do you guys have any books that you recommend for beginning beekeeping?

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There are tons of books on the subject, and I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but the best book I read, and the one that I refer to the most is the revised and updated version of "The Backyard Beekeeper" by Kim Flottum.. It's got tons of full color pictures which really help.. It's an awesome, awesome, hobby.. I spent half the day yesterday just watching the bees! It was the first day since I installed the hive that the weather was good.. we have several fruit trees and the bees were simply going CRAZY gathering nectar and pollen.. It's so cool to watch them buzz back into the hive just covered in pollen...

nebben said:

Aw man, that sucks! I got hurt by chicken wire , but so far no bee injuries to me today. They were so cooperative, it was amazing.

The worst thing though, is I've had "Eye of the tiger" in my head all weekend, with thoughts of me running around the yard blasting the smoker everywhere...

ANywho, I'll keep my bees' progress updated too and keep checking on yours too. Its fun stuff so far!

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LOL.. Eye of tiger.. That's funny right there.. I dont care who ya are..

Glad your installation went smoothly and great pic! they look fat, drunk, and happy.. Kinda like I did yesterday (besides the bee sting!).. And watch out for the chicken wire.. deadly stuff..... Keep us posted on your progress!

I was turned onto brewing by a friend who heard I had bees and said I should make mead. I made some mead last winter but it takes so long to age, that I got into brewing beer while I am waiting for my mead to age. I started my hives last year and they are so darn fascinating to watch and work with.

FYI - keep an eye on those foundationless frames and if they aren't drawing them straight, fix it asap, if you don't, in a week or two they can make a mess of the whole box, because one comb out of line makes the whole box out of line...
-Mike

Because I love y'all and feel like F'ing with y'all.

I hope that is a dead bee...supposedly a sting to the eye can be very serious, or he better have serious control over his blink reflex. That photo gives me the creeps...thanks for posting

Hethen57 said:

I hope that is a dead bee...supposedly a sting to the eye can be very serious, or he better have serious control over his blink reflex. That photo gives me the creeps...thanks for posting

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I agree.. That is creepy... Hethen, where are you at in N. Idaho?.. I am in Colfax and my dad lives in Post Falls..

Science has improved since that picture was taken. If we want to see a bee's genitals we can use a microscope these days.

Cool...ya, I'm in Coeur d'Alene and work over in Spokane.

That was awesome.

If you're a smoker, tobacco is awesome for the stings. Just get a little pinch wet and hold it on the spot you got stung with some tape or a band-aid or something. You'll look at it in a couple of hours and wonder why you have a band-aid on then you'll remember you got stung. Guaranteed to get rid of all the pain and swelling.

GroosBrewz said:

As for the frames, my wife and I are going to do "foundationless" beekeeping..

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Cool, that's really good to hear from a new beekeeper. I've had bees for 5 or 6 years now and I'm still trying to un-learn a lot of the stuff I heard from the old timers. Treatment free, small cell, that's the way to go IMO.

lustreking said:

So do you guys have any books that you recommend for beginning beekeeping?

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As loathe as I am to buy books with these types of titles, The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeping is definitely the book I'd recommend to anyone who wants to get into keeping bees. Very up-to-date and informative.

Bil said:

Cool, that's really good to hear from a new beekeeper. I've had bees for 5 or 6 years now and I'm still trying to un-learn a lot of the stuff I heard from the old timers. Treatment free, small cell, that's the way to go IMO.



As loathe as I am to buy books with these types of titles, The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeping is definitely the book I'd recommend to anyone who wants to get into keeping bees. Very up-to-date and informative.

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Yes, I agree.. That is a good book.. The main problem I have found with keeping bees is the conflicting information...10 different answers to 1 question.. I h ave decided to take the "let the bees be bees" approach and try to interfere as little as possible.. I don't really care if I get any honey or not, I am just fascinated by watching them do their thing..

Totally Awesome Video!!!! BTW what did you name your Queen? Wish i had my own Mead Makers! Too much spraying goes on around here i think i have 10 acres but the drift from the humoungous farmers :{ wouldnt wanna kill my bees!!

MNBlonde
Drink More MEAD!