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Beekeeping

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Hello RF and welcome to another edition of, I ask a random question and see who responds.

Me and my wife are currently taking an online course on Beekeeping through the University of Michigan's Heroes to Hives program.

Are there any other beekeepers on the forums? Anyone curious about aspects of keeping bees?

Did you know bee keeping is over 9000 years old, and has been around since roughly the advent of agriculture. This activity was first recorded as occuring in Northern and Eastern Africa, such as in Egypt.
 

MatthewA

Active Member
Hello The Hammer,

Never been a beekeeper but have come across some on that application call Tiktok - This woman would go in and help get rid of bees and bring them into new homes. Maybe someone on here knows more about it and will be able to help you.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
What made you quit? Did you like it while you did it?
I did enjoy it, very much so - to an extent

And we got some nice honey out of it

I just found that it was heavy work, and it was a massive and exhausting trek up to the field we kept the hives - especially carrying the all the equipment and the parts of the hives.

And you have to manage verroa mites too, which is very tricky and demanding

And you have to prepare the hives for the winter too, which is also hard work - none of our colonies ever survived so we had to start from scratch - and we did nothing wrong, we did everything by the book

Also, it is hard to get advice. For every problem there are numerous solutions and it is so hard trying to discern which is the best - and they offer differ drastically, and each so-called expert thinks they alone are right - and of course, egos are involved. very much so.

I didn't like how aggressive the bees were either and I never quite got the hang of using the smoker things

They obviously took a dislike to me

But on the other hand: they are fascinating animals and it is amazing to open up a hive and see them all crawling about
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I did enjoy it, very much so - to an extent

And we got some nice honey out of it

I just found that it was heavy work, and it was a massive and exhausting trek up to the field we kept the hives - especially carrying the all the equipment and the parts of the hives.

And you have to manage verroa mites too, which is very tricky and demanding

And you have to prepare the hives for the winter too, which is also hard work - none of our colonies ever survived so we had to start from scratch - and we did nothing wrong, we did everything by the book

Also, it is hard to get advice. For every problem there are numerous solutions and it is so hard trying to discern which is the best - and they offer differ drastically, and each so-called expert thinks they alone are right - and of course, egos are involved. very much so.

I didn't like how aggressive the bees were either and I never quite got the hang of using the smoker things

They obviously took a dislike to me

But on the other hand: they are fascinating animals and it is amazing to open up a hive and see them all crawling about

All fair points.

We were definitely informed that basically every colony in the US has Verola mites, so it really boils down to management of it, as opposed to curing.

Sorry to hear your bees were aggressive, I don't think they should be super reactive. Except near the fall I think.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Hello RF and welcome to another edition of, I ask a random question and see who responds.

Me and my wife are currently taking an online course on Beekeeping through the University of Michigan's Heroes to Hives program.

Are there any other beekeepers on the forums? Anyone curious about aspects of keeping bees?

Did you know bee keeping is over 9000 years old, and has been around since roughly the advent of agriculture. This activity was first recorded as occuring in Northern and Eastern Africa, such as in Egypt.
Yep I was with my uncle for many years engaged in commercial beekeeping. He owned the enterprise and also was a NYS apairy inspector. That position was offered to me as well, but it was seasonal

He would truck his bees down south every year so it was year round work. Hard but very rewarding and sweet! *grin*

I miss it.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
All fair points.

We were definitely informed that basically every colony in the US has Verola mites, so it really boils down to management of it, as opposed to curing.
Mites were a huge problem. He had to quarantine his bees several summers and had to destroy multiple colonys. It was worse than foulbrood imo.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I did enjoy it, very much so - to an extent

And we got some nice honey out of it

I just found that it was heavy work, and it was a massive and exhausting trek up to the field we kept the hives - especially carrying the all the equipment and the parts of the hives.

And you have to manage verroa mites too, which is very tricky and demanding

And you have to prepare the hives for the winter too, which is also hard work - none of our colonies ever survived so we had to start from scratch - and we did nothing wrong, we did everything by the book

Also, it is hard to get advice. For every problem there are numerous solutions and it is so hard trying to discern which is the best - and they offer differ drastically, and each so-called expert thinks they alone are right - and of course, egos are involved. very much so.

I didn't like how aggressive the bees were either and I never quite got the hang of using the smoker things

They obviously took a dislike to me

But on the other hand: they are fascinating animals and it is amazing to open up a hive and see them all crawling about
You probably had some African mix. European bees are much better tempered. I know exactly what you mean.

My uncle always burned bailer twine in his smoker. That seemed to work best although at times he'd mix leaves in as well with the twine during the fall.
 

We Never Know

No Slack
Hello RF and welcome to another edition of, I ask a random question and see who responds.

Me and my wife are currently taking an online course on Beekeeping through the University of Michigan's Heroes to Hives program.

Are there any other beekeepers on the forums? Anyone curious about aspects of keeping bees?

Did you know bee keeping is over 9000 years old, and has been around since roughly the advent of agriculture. This activity was first recorded as occuring in Northern and Eastern Africa, such as in Egypt.
I have a friend that has several different hives in different locations some up to 15 miles apart. There is a difference in sweetness in the honey from the different locations but its all good.
I go see him about once a month or so, help him with the bees, spin the honey down and get about 2 quarts of honey each time I go. Its fresh and free.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
I used to live in a rather old house (parts of it were pre-civil war. We had bees in the walls. They usually did not go into the house itself since the entry to the house was a ways from their hive. But occasionally they would get in. I got stung once by stepping on a dead bee with my bare or stocking feet. Occasionally we would try to spray them to kill them, but they kept coming back. A truce was declared. It was always neat to put one's ear against a hole that led off to the distant (thankfully!) hive and hear the constant hum of their wings.

And I do remember at least one swarm of a what was most likely a split off from our hive. Tens of thousands of bees flying at once is an impressive sight.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I have a friend that has several different hives in different locations some up to 15 miles apart. There is a difference in sweetness in the honey from the different locations but its all good.
I go see him about once a month or so, help him with the bees, spin the honey down and get about 2 quarts of honey each time I go. Its fresh and free.
Best honey I've ever had came from buckwheat fields. It's almost pitch black and had an incredible taste. A little bit of that on toasted bread and your in heaven.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I have a friend that has several different hives in different locations some up to 15 miles apart. There is a difference in sweetness in the honey from the different locations but its all good.
I go see him about once a month or so, help him with the bees, spin the honey down and get about 2 quarts of honey each time I go. Its fresh and free.
Don't forget the wax. Great for canning and candles! We would pour it from the tank into molds and sell the wax cakes.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
My grandfather kept bees, just a couple of hives. It was one of his hobbies. He had the suit and the smoker.
We never used suits and gloves. Just veils.

It's weird but getting stung became second nature in time and hardly noticed it. Except the occasional ankle or stomach zinger.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Idk if I want that to be my second nature, but I guess that's better than it hurting like an SOB everytime haha.
It's like that at first, a lot of puffing and swelling, but after awhile working regularly in the yards, the stings over time eventually looked like mosquito bites. I would just pull out the stinger and continued working.
 
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