chatting about bees

my friend, Bryce, is better with a camera than I am with talking, but you might be able to glean something interesting from this video. at the very least, you can see me panic briefly when a bee lands on my face. I have been stung on the face a lot and with hilarious results. hilarious for others, anyway. actually pretty miserable for me.

Great video Tel, I have never seen a Warre in action.

Since you add a the new box to the bottom of the super on a Warre, aren't they super heavy? I am assuming you can't take it apart box at a time, or am I wrong.

Thanks tel ! Very interesting stuff. Do you have a youtube page with other videos?
Do you have bears in your area? I have bears and am afraid that when I do hives the bears will tear them up. I thought I may have to build some sort of a treehouse platform and put the hives way up high.

Cassie Rauk wrote:
Since you add a the new box to the bottom of the super on a Warre, aren't they super heavy? I am assuming you can't take it apart box at a time, or am I wrong.

it can get heavy, but it's not terrible. maybe 40 pounds for a full box, so 80 for two. there are a couple of ways around lifting that much, though. one is to build a mechanical lift. these are pretty slick. there are plans on David Heaf's website, but I bet most folks are clever enough to design one theyselves.

another option is to take it apart. that's not ideal, because it's pretty disruptive to the hive, but if it's only done once annually, it's probably not a huge deal.

myself, I just find a friend to slide new boxes underneath while I lift the full boxes up. helps to have a mind that's weak and a back that's strong.

Miles Flansburg wrote:Thanks tel ! Very interesting stuff. Do you have a youtube page with other videos?
Do you have bears in your area?

my pal, Bryce, who shot and edited the video has a youtube channel. I disagree with his decision to cut out the part where I describe drones dying when their tiny drone penises tear off inside the queen spilling their insides out, but he is pretty good with a camera.

I've seen evidence of bears within a couple of miles, but there's enough space nearby without any humans that they don't bother with us. they can certainly spell disaster for beehives, though. I've heard of folks resorting to tall chain-link fences, but that seems a little silly to me. I've also heard of folks suspending hives from pulleys in trees, which i like much better. the hives were lowered for harvest and adding boxes, and then raised all the way up so there was no play in the rope to swing in the wind.

tel jetson wrote:I have been stung on the face a lot and with hilarious results. hilarious for others, anyway. actually pretty miserable for me.

for example, I was stung yesterday afternoon between my eyes. this was only half a sting or less: barb didn't stick and the bee flew away intact.

I know the feeling, Last year I must have been in a flight path. I was bent over working in my creek and when I stood up I got hit on the forehead. Felt like someone had thrown a small rock at me. Then the stinging started. Two days latter I was so swelled up I could hardly see.
I have heard that you can put mud on a sting to help draw out the venom. Is there any other techniques to relieve the swelling or do you just suffer through it?

Miles Flansburg wrote:Is there any other techniques to relieve the swelling or do you just suffer through it?

some folks swear by French green clay. never tried it myself. some folks use a paste of water and baking soda. I would guess that ice is the best bet, though I can't usually be bothered with that, either. I keep waiting to get less sensitive, but I'm six years into beekeeping and it hasn't happened yet.

I find this a very interesting finding:
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/21/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers/

“This is a big finding,” says Daniel Robert, who led the study. “Nobody had postulated the idea that bees could be sensitive to the electric field of a flower.”

Nick Kitchener wrote:I find this a very interesting finding:
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/21/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers/

“This is a big finding,” says Daniel Robert, who led the study. “Nobody had postulated the idea that bees could be sensitive to the electric field of a flower.”

does lend some credibility to the folks who want to keep all metal out of hives to avoid fouling up bee senses. I've started making some hives without any metal in them. just dowels and non-toxic glue.

Yes. That and the whole EMF / cell tower debate.

Nick Kitchener wrote:Yes. That and the whole EMF / cell tower debate.

and despite all that, my bees are quite clearly thriving, as are many other local bees. they're a resilient species, but there's obviously a limit to the insult bees will endure.

Nick Kitchener wrote:Yes. That and the whole EMF / cell tower debate.

and despite all that, my bees are quite clearly thriving, as are many other local bees. they're a resilient species, but there's obviously a limit to the insult bees will endure.