Bee Keeping

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wildbill

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I always thought the practice of keeping bees was neat.

But today I heard the latest basic brewing radio show:

“September 13, 2007 - Keeping Bees
We talk to home brewer and amateur bee keeper Ryan Wilson about how to get insects to make the sweet stuff for our meads and braggots.”

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr09-13-07beekeeping.mp3

That got me thinking. I'm growing my own hops, why not produce my one honey too? I see several benefits.

A few Google searches turned up one local Bee keeping supply place in Ohio and numerous others around the country.


I was curious if anyone on the forum is currently in the bee keeping hobby? Or even evolved with bees on commercial scale?


The start up investment on equipment seems minimal. ($200)


Here’s a tutorial I found on building your own "topbar beehive":
http://www.backyardhive.com/weblinks/Build_a_Topbar_Beehive/

(I have no clue if that’s a good design or not)


Its probably the wrong time of the year to try and get into the hobby, as the snow will be here soon. But maybe I can score some cheap gear at an end of year sale or something. :)
 
I can't imagine how PISSED I'd be if one of my neighbors took up bee keeping. I'm thinking there is a 3 acre MINIMUM for something like that.
 
There's a house on my way to work that has a bunch of those big box hives right in the front yard, I always roll up my windows if I have to wait at the railroad crossing that's right there.

Do you need any kind of permit or license to keep bees since some people are highly allergic to them?
 
The local Apiary around here is smack in the middle of a densly packed block of businesses and homes. He does his best to keep the on-site bees to a minimum when he's pulling apart the hives to extract the honey.

You don't need land to own bees by the way. You can rent your bees out to farmers just about anywhere. Here's a quick factoid for you... Bee keepers make 80% of their income from bee colony rental and only 20% from selling honey.

Here's a minor deterent.. this guy gets stung an average of 40 times a day and it's not even his day job.
 
Actually, when I was a kid living in Tulsa, one of our neighbors raised bees right in his backyard. Had the white boxes and everything. This was a typical residential neighborhood (Sungate, for anyone familiar with Tulsa) and his house was only three doors down from ours. Never had any problems with bees, stings, swarms or any of the horror movie things you might think. We never gave it a thought!

:off: The only 'problem' I remember is this: we had two girls in the neighborhood who had long, straight hair. This was the early 1970s and that was the popluar style- think Marcia Brady, Laurie Partridge, Carly Simon. Anyway, every once in while a bee would fly into the hair of one of these girls and get stuck. They were both so used to it happending that they would reach up, grab the hair surrounding the bee and pinch the bee dead. Then they'd comb the dead buzz bug out. It'd gross the rest of us kids out and they just laughed at us!
 
No license necessary, I've seen hives on .1 acre house lots. There is a roughly 4 ft area in front of the hive that you need to keep clear, but you really don't need any more room than that. You could even keep a hive in an apartment. Just have the hive entrance flush against an open window.

Beekeeping is something I have been threatening the wife with for some time. Unfortunately beer making has been taking up my spare time.
 
My grandfather raised bees. I was young, but several things stick in memory.

* Bee keepers must become immune to the stings.
* You can get remarkably close to a hive.
* When you get too close, it becomes quite apparent.
 
"F*ck Bee's...I'll Punch Every Bee in the FACE!"
Dane Cook


I'll Leave it to the Bee keepers Thanks, it's easier to buy honey then deal with the 40 stings per day, thank you very much.

Cheers
 
Vikings and Beekeepers
Vikings and Beekeepers
Vikings and Beekeepers
Vikings and Beeeee-keepers!
 
I have a dozen hives 50 feet from my back door
there's no reason you can't keep them on a small place except for ignorant neighbors
(sorry for the stepped on toes:) )
actually most beekeepers think hives kept in town are the most productive, all those folks planting flowers and watering them when it gets dry
beekeeping is a way more addictive hobby than home brewing, don't step into it without thinking

checkout

http://www.beesource.com/forums/index.php

they have a mead forum too



Dave
 
I just harvested 5 gallons of honey from my two hives. Going to make meade and use it in cooking. Bees are great for your garden too. I only get stung once or twice a year.
 
What are you going to do? Release the dogs? Or the Bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth who shoot bees when they bark?
 
When I went on the tour of the apiary, he was showing us the uncapping machine and certifugal honey removal thingy, bees were swarming all around the room. Everyone on the tour was trying to keep it cool but I know I wasn't the only one silently screaming and sh!tting myself. We were told to make sure we kill any bee that lands on us. Great strategy.
 
drobbins said:
careful guy's, your ignorance is showing

Dave


Not ignorance, just having a little fun!

These are nice bee's :D
93_L_chocolate-foiled-bees.jpg


He's not :(
kbeeninja.gif


Cheers
 
Check into your local laws before going too far; this sort of thing is usually regulated at the city level, so ordinances vary quite widely. In some places it's completely legal with almost no restrictions; in others, there are very specific rules about how much distance there must be between the hives and your property line and buildings; in others, it's flat-out illegal.

Despite what you might think, keeping bees is extremely unlikely to affect your neighbours even if every single one of them is highly allergic. Bees forage, covering an area several miles in diameter to collect nectar and pollen; the concentration of bees in adjoining yards is not really going to be any higher than it would be if you didn't have hives in yours. Admittedly, in that particular situation I probably wouldn't keep bees, since people with allergies tend to freak out about them and, well, better safe than sorry. I shouldn't like to be responsible for the death of a neighbour.

This is definitely not a good time to try to start a colony, as to survive the winter they need to have already stored up sufficient supplies to last through it. One option would be to buy a complete colony from someone else, but then you have the issue of moving it and there's still no guarantee that it will winter over.
 

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