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Honey Bee cut-out this past weekend. — Page 5

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So I've taken up beekeeping recently.  I've actually got a rather small population in my colony, but three of the bees are large in size.  They seem to be attracted to the lovely daisy I'm keeping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we dressed like this for Halloween, I just knew I'd ultimately have to share it in this thread :)

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I figured she covered her face enough not to pixelate it.

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The bubblegum pink pumpkin is very rock and roll.

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Two Apoidean stories today.

I was out tidying the gardens of the Chateau today and took onion skins out to the compost bin only to discover wasps have colonised the bottom half of the bin.

The usual woodlice, centipedes and earwigs were holding court on the top layer (presumably the worms are in the middle somewhere).

Nice to see the wasps as they have been having a bad couple of years.

Saved a ladybird and while I was digging (with my hands) the spuds I heard a loud buzzing coming from the ground and a large tired bee crawled out of the ground.

I hope it wasn't a zombee.

Later I went outside and saw a tired bee on the door step.

She looked up at me and I picked her up and put her in the herb patch.

I wonder if she was the same bee come to my door to remonstrate with me for disturbing her grave?

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Sluggo said:

I believe in monsters.  This thing is scary!

This is a bit perturbing also :

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I know I'm probably making a rod for my back but I tried to salvage what I could from one of last years grow bags and found a queen wasp stirring from her winter slumbers.

Despite the problems I had with them last year she was so beautiful, lime and lemon patterns and so docile in the cold that I popped her in the compost bin.

I doubt if she will nest in it as some remnants of the old nest are still there but it should keep her warm and fed until she find somewhere more suitable and she can leave at any time.

It has inspired me to construct a bee hotel or two, there is a small space at the back of the garden. I may be able to do something similar behind the shed.

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Bingowings said:


It has inspired me to construct a bee hotel or two, there is a small space at the back of the garden. I may be able to do something similar behind the shed.

 Welcome aboard.  ;-)

It's not hard to do really.  There are all manner of pre-made hives available.  If you're doing it to harvest some for yourself, it can be a lot of fun. If you're doing it just for the conservation, that's fun too.  I could watch my girls all day.  Super interesting.

The only part that's an adjustment is getting used to being around thousands of bees.  You have to make peace with that.  It's not for everyone.  However, once you get a feel for how they aren't a threat, you'll be fine.

That video has some fundamentals, even in so different an environment.  Sudden movements and swatting (even though it's a natural instinct to do so) alarms and upsets them.  Smoke is a distraction, just as they said. 

They'll assume the forest is on fire and start filling up on stored honey.  They then await the command from the queen to evacuate the hive.  After 30 minutes or so, all is back to normal.

Let me know if you decide to do it.  I can put you on to tons of sites, books, suppliers, etc.  In fact, I'm starting another hive in two weeks myself.  I'm about halfway through building the deeps and supers.  The new queen and her small colony will be here in about two weeks.  I'll post some picks of the install. 

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The flowers are, as to the bee's name I defer to the expert :-D

I have tried to plant out functional plants (vegetables, herbs etc) that will hopefully appeal to insects as well throughout the year.

I can't keep bees in my garden, it's too small and too close to neighbour's gardens which may not wish to have a community of bees near them. There is a farm nearby I may ask the owner if I can keep hives there.

By Bee Motel I was thinking more along the lines of a structure where solitary bees (as well as Wasps, spiders and beetles) and stranded social bees can rest a spell until the weather improves or to sleep out the winter.

Something like this one :

A friend has these in her garden and on her allotment and all the cells are full when the temperature drops.

I was touched by accidentally disturbing the sleep of a solitary bee while digging up the potatoes last year and strange as it may seem I enjoyed the company of wasps when they built a colony in my compost bin. So if I can help the sisters in some small way I'm very happy to do so.

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Cool.  No doubt the solitary bees and wasps will use it.  As far as asking farmers if you can keep a hive on their property, that's not uncommon out here either. 

I have a beekeeper friend who keeps a hive at a local restaurant.  They get some of the honey, which they use, and it's a bit of a novelty that may help expose people to how interesting and essential bees are.  I'll see if I can find a link to the place.

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I'm curious, those of you the keep bees, have you ever had any complaints from neighbors whom are allergic to bees?  Some people have very serious allergic reactions to a bee sting.

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Martha Kearney keeps bees and is allergic to their stings (she talks about this in episode 2 of her show).

As I say the garden at the Chateau is very small and very close to other gardens so I couldn't keep bees but given a large enough gap between hive and homes there would be little if any noticeable difference between keeping a hive and just the background numbers of bees in the community anyway.

Social bees (and wasps) tend to only congregate near their colony and will only swarm when the hive is overcrowded or the queen is disturbed. Solitary bees will only sting as matter of last resort. Many honey bee varieties have no sting at all. when I had the wasp nest (and the potential of multiple stings) I never got jagged.

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I've had multiple hives for years and never had any complaints.  As Bingo said, bees don't attack unless they feel threatened.  Bees out gathering pollen, nectar, or water pay little attention to the goings on around them. I suppose you could upset a few if you started trying to swat them off of a blooming tree or bush or a bird bath, but even then they'd not sting immediately.  Warning bumps first before they resorted to attacking.

Until last year, I lived in a typical suburban neighborhood where there are neighbors on all sides, fairly close.  A few would watch me work the hives (from a distance), some asked me questions occasionally, but never a single complaint.

I didn't let people work a hive with me unless I had an epi pen handy, just in case. Never had any issues. No one has ever been stung while visiting and that includes many an afternoon/evening sitting outside with a glass of wine.

I live away from the city now, so no close neighbors. The people across the road have asked if they can watch the next time I extract. I told them I have extra suits and will let them know when. Probably three months from now.

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FanFiltration said:

My Beehive Removal - Feb. 06, 2015

 What was the spray you were using?  What was all that stuff you pulled out the bush?   How come they made a hive there when you already had a hive for them?

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Warbler said:

FanFiltration said:

My Beehive Removal - Feb. 06, 2015

 What was the spray you were using?  What was all that stuff you pulled out the bush?   How come they made a hive there when you already had a hive for them?

 The spray is a non-toxic mist to drive them off. The stuff he was pulling out of the bush was the HUGE hive honeycomb. I don't have another hive on my property. He took the queen to another hive location. Just hours after this video was shot, the bees returned and started to rebuild that hive, so the guy had to come back the next day.  The queen bee's pheromones were still strong on the destroyed hive, that is why the workers returned and started to re-build. But now after a few weeks, no returns.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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oops. for some reason I thought Anchorhead had posted that. That is why I asked about another beehive.