It's my first year and oh man has it been an adventure. Does anyone else on here keep bees?

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

 

No but id love to get into it next year. We are still settling in, but we have like 14 chickens, now. Two are already laying eggs (we bought them as mature egglayers to experiment) and we got 12 chicks from tractor supply that we've been growing, they are a few months old now. By spring time they should be laying eggs. Father is building a giant fancy coop for them. Looking to diversify as far as what we grow goes. Will be growing a ton of veggies next year as well as planting dozens of fruit trees lining the entire border of the property. Didn't even think to do bees but its a great idea. Do honey bees sting?? Might be an issue with the kids. If not, i totally want to try it. Any resources you can share to look into trying it out??

No but id love to get into it next year. We are still settling in, but we have like 14 chickens, now. Two are already laying eggs (we bought them as mature egglayers to experiment) and we got 12 chicks from tractor supply that we've been growing, they are a few months old now. By spring time they should be laying eggs. Father is building a giant fancy coop for them. Looking to diversify as far as what we grow goes. Will be growing a ton of veggies next year as well as planting dozens of fruit trees lining the entire border of the property. Didn't even think to do bees but its a great idea. Do honey bees sting?? Might be an issue with the kids. If not, i totally want to try it. Any resources you can share to look into trying it out??

They can, if you're clutzy with them. Mine are very docile and I do a lot of stuff without a net now. They generally let you know that you're pushing them off before they sting you.

Theres alot if good message boards and reddit helps too. Honestly finding someone close that knows what they're doing is the best resource. They are fairly low maintenance but I unfortunately went too long without getting in the hive and its caused me some issues

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Well i don't mean like if i stick my hand in the hive. I meant are they going to be all over the backyard area stinging the kids?
If i put the bees towards the border of the property it's probably 100 feet from the kids/yard minimum tbh. Id have to check if they allow backyard beekeeping here though. Probably too late to start this year, id have to start next year.

Well i don't mean like if i stick my hand in the hive. I meant are they going to be all over the backyard area stinging the kids?
If i put the bees towards the border of the property it's probably 100 feet from the kids tbh. Id have to check if they allow backyard beekeeping here though. Probably too late to start this year, id have to start next year.

If you put your hand in it they probably wouldnt sting it. Youd need to damn near knock them over.

Bees generally dont sting. The assholes that fly around and sting everyone are the yellow jackets. They dont die when they sting like bees do so they give 0 fucks.

I have mine like 50 feet or so from the house and a bunch of outside rabbits. Got kids and dogs too. No issues at all. If you're serious about starting I'd get in touch with a local apiary now to put an order in for a nuc(leus colony) next spring and see if theyll give you an all in one package for the equipment

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

1 minute ago, checko said:

 

 

If you put your hand in it they probably wouldnt sting it. Youd need to damn near knock them over.

Bees generally dont sting. The assholes that fly around and sting everyone are the yellow jackets. They dont die when they sting like bees do so they give 0 fucks.

I have mine like 50 feet or so from the house and a bunch of outside rabbits. Got kids and dogs too. No issues at all. If you're serious about starting I'd get in touch with a local apiary now to put an order in for a nuc(leus colony) next spring and see if theyll give you an all in one package for the equipment

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

 

cool i'm going to talk to the boss man and see if hes up for it. I think its an AWESOME idea.

cool i'm going to talk to the boss man and see if hes up for it. I think its an AWESOME idea.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm pretty new myself but you can learn from my mistakes

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

We had another beekeeper here but I haven't seen him around for along time.

 

If njgf wasn't  so stingy with posing pix, I'd have posted a couple of very cool pix of a pile of bees that swarmed in my back yard a couple of years ago.  It was literally a pile of bees that were clinging on to nothing more than a thousand other bees.

We called a beekeeper to take them away.  he just walked up to the pile and snipped the branch they used as a sort of nucleus and relocated the hive.

I believe bee keeping is an extremely important and noble thing to do.  Bees are on the decline because of pesticides.  I'm a dyed in the wool conservative republican but I'm also a bit of a tree huger too.  We need bees.

 

If njgf wasn't  so stingy with posing pix, I'd have posted a couple of very cool pix of a pile of bees that swarmed in my back yard a couple of years ago.  It was literally a pile of bees that were clinging on to nothing more than a thousand other bees.
We called a beekeeper to take them away.  he just walked up to the pile and snipped the branch they used as a sort of nucleus and relocated the hive.
I believe bee keeping is an extremely important and noble thing to do.  Bees are on the decline because of pesticides.  I'm a dyed in the wool conservative republican but I'm also a bit of a tree huger too.  We need bees.
 

"Relocated"

You mean he took them home and added them to his hive haha. I actually caught a small swarm today.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Hidden under a plant

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

2 minutes ago, checko said:

You mean he took them home and added them to his hive haha.

Well, he is a  beekeeper, and we had a bee problem, so.....

I guess if it was a pile of a thousand cats we would have called the SPCA.

Well, he is a  beekeeper, and we had a bee problem, so.....
I guess if it was a pile of a thousand cats we would have called the SPCA.

Nonit was the right person. It's just a common way for beekeepers to grow their hives

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

More hives mean more productive agriculture.

36 minutes ago, WP22 said:

We had another beekeeper here but I haven't seen him around for along time.

 

I know of an available beekeeper who has some time on his hands, but sometimes it's difficult to get him to drop his ball and concentrate on work.

 

I grew up on a farm and we had bees.  They are docile and mostly harmless.  I got stung a few times when I was walking right through the hives but most of the time, you can walk right up to the hive and they will just buzz around you.

Bee hives mean more bees in your yard but if you're yard isn't flowers, they won't have any interest in sticking around.  They go out foraging where the flowers are. If your yard has a lot of clover, the kids will occasionally step on a bee.  If your yard is clover free - no worries.

2 hours ago, maintenanceguy said:

I grew up on a farm and we had bees.  They are docile and mostly harmless.  I got stung a few times when I was walking right through the hives but most of the time, you can walk right up to the hive and they will just buzz around you.

Bee hives mean more bees in your yard but if you're yard isn't flowers, they won't have any interest in sticking around.  They go out foraging where the flowers are. If your yard has a lot of clover, the kids will occasionally step on a bee.  If your yard is clover free - no worries.

Thanks for the info. 

Not too many flowers in my area. One side is a farm that (so far) grows soy beans. Its probably 20+ acres. Other side is a house on 3 acres, wide open. And lots and lots of trees behind our lots that are swampy.