Barb Baechtel

Thanks, I appreciate your answer. You seem to be mirroring my thoughts on the subject. Our plan is definitely to avail ourselves of locally acclimated, wild swarms, but as you said, they could just as easily be managed swarms from other beekeepers. I'm not sure how I would tell, unless I identified a marked queen.

I figure we will start with one colony and see how it goes. If the colony thrives and ends up swarming in a year or so, I'll pawn the swarm off to a mainland beekeeper and bring in another wild swarm to supplement and add diversity. If I have winter loses, I'll bring in wild swarms from the mainland again and any natural hive splitting, I'll bring back over to the mainland for someone else. That should keep it fairly diverse, right? I'd like to keep to two or possibly three hives. I'm concerned that more might overwhelm the island's resources.

Barb

Hello again - Well, I found the article that lists the plant species on the island, but it's HUGE, so I don't think I need to bore you with it. After more research, I think I have come to the conclusion that the island CAN support a colony or two of bees. My question now is genetic diversity. Will I have to establish an import/export cycle, bringing bees to and taking bees from the mainland, in order to assure genetic diversity in my hives? I'm thinking generations of inbreeding would be a bad thing.

Thanks, folks. I know I haven't given you much to go on. Would it help if I listed the types of plants found in the area (according to the Army Corps of Engineers?) I'm not familiar enough with what bees need (truly a neophyte, actually) to know what plants are good, but maybe you would? I'm interested in natural, organic beekeeping, if that helps. As for land available, there is some "high ground" near the house (an acre or so), but by high, I mean 4' and less above sea level. The area is tidal and floods with baywater regularly, so planting is iffy, at best. The bay is fed by freshwater rivers, so it is only about 7% the salinity of the ocean, but it's still significantly salty for plants. We hope to raise the garden to protect it from tides and water it with collected rainwater. This is not going to be an easy project. LOL I could throw a bunch of wildflower seed over there and see what takes, I guess. The soil is sandy and salty, so not much likes it, I'm afraid. I'm in Zone 7, East Coast, by the way. I'll track down that plant list.

I so very much appreciate your time and willingness to share your knowledge. I know not what I do.... LOL

Barb

Hello! This is my first post on Permies. I'm looking forward to learning a bunch from you wonderful folks. My question today is, can honey bees flourish in an island tidal salt marsh environment? My husband and I would like to keep bees once we are settled in our retirement home. Our semi off-grid home is very isolated, on an island in the middle of a salt bay - 9 miles from the nearest solid land and accessible only by boat. The island is about 9 miles long and the vegetation is chiefly tidal salt marsh species. Sedges, marsh grasses of all sorts, with some hummocks of pine and such. There are some wild fruit trees, pomegranate, persimmon, etc... We want to keep a food garden and feel we will need to keep bees for pollination. Honey would be a bonus. I am concerned that there won't be enough nectar producing flora to sustain the colonies. Thoughts?

Barb