Bees

Discussion in 'The Green Patch' started by Hanzo, Aug 16, 2014.


  1. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Have two of the solar fence chargers on hand, just needed to plant some "T" posts and run the wire..
     
    kellory likes this.
  2. UncleMorgan

    UncleMorgan I like peeling bananas and (occasionally) people.

    I've been worried about bee die-offs in Central Fl for quite some time. Three years went by without a single bee spotted in our (pretty rural) garden. Needless to say, almost everything we planted that required bees to pollinate failed to produce. I read about the kind of water bees prefer (scummy water on a gently sloped wooden surface) and set up a bee waterer. Spotted two bees last season & one recently. On the bright side, I really don't think bees will go extinct. I think they'll decline until all the people that use Monsanto pesticides die of starvation, along with everybody that relies on other-people's farms. Then the happy little pollinators will recover and once again bring joy to beautiful blossoms everywhere.
     
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  3. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Dont, HK_User, kellory and 1 other person like this.
  4. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++


    Love these two guys, no bee keeping gear most of the time but they talk about listening to the bees and using gear when they need too. THey find the queen about 22:00
     
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  5. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    So whats wrong with this picture?
    4c41856cab499559417ed16bbe594d6e.
     
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  6. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    The date?
     
  7. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    Date, good catch, but it is from a different part of the world which is just how they do it there.

    A number of things that affect honey production can be observed.

    The colored boxes will mean an uneven temp in the hive.

    The two hives are too close together for the Bee Keeper to work effectively as you need to be able to work them from all angles.

    Being too close means you will bump the other hive as you work the first hive. This will mean you will open the second hive and find angry Bees due to the bumping and movement.

    Being side by side will cause robbing and fights between the hives open or closed, the strongest hive will win and you will end up with a weak hive unable to protect itself or produce honey.

    The bottom stands are too weak and flimsy, looks more like a set of someone's cheap end tables from a junk shop, note there is not any angle bracing of the legs.

    Activity, the bottom boards/entry way should be crowded with bees, coming and going.

    Now look at the ground; Clearly this is on some new pushed earth and the stands may well fall off the edge when the rains wash away the edge and the whole mess tumbles over as the bottom stands are destroyed by the several hundred pounds of loaded hives.

    A very poorly placed hive set up and most likely a rank amateur or maybe just a "pretty picture" staged by someone who wants to appear to be a Bee Keeper.

    The only good thing I see is the containers at the bottom stands legs, these are filled with liquid used most often to keep out crawlies. Imported Fire ants in the US are a Bee Keepers worst enemy but this type of thing goes for the rest of the world too.

    Last, this is suppose to be a "New" setup but it has too many supers for a new set.

    Simply put, this picture is not what it seems and if so then it is a display set up.

    When the monsoons come this will be washed or blown away.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2017
    Gator 45/70 and Witch Doctor 01 like this.
  8. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    OTOH, I believe the bees are being feed from Sugar Water source in the upper sections. But this just produces poor quality honey and keeps the Guard Bees Confused and limits pollen production.

    If this is being done then the entry should be blocked with a limiting block to protect the hive proper.
     
  9. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    two things @HK_User
    1) they might have left the hive wide open so that the bees can cool the hive in hot weather, just cant tell the temp from the pic. In hot weather if you leave the bottom fully open the worker bee's 'fan the hive' to cool it and they need that area to do the fanning, you do close it up more in cool weather.

    2) I dont see anything wrong with the spacing if they are not hybridized bees aka the ones that have crossed with the african bees that are more agfressive. They arent that ideal close together but you can still work both hives as is.

    just a different view point
     
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