Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: SlickMick on March 08, 2009, 11:11:09 pm
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I live in a sub-tropical climate and for me, beekeeping is a year long thing. I don't have to worry about if my hives are going to get through the winter, have I left enough honey, is there enough pollen, should I feed them, will the winter be harsh????????? And then when you open up the hive on the first warm day all you see is bees with their bums in the air...... dead.
Play it again Sam! Ok, order new nucs, package bees, queens and, and, and, only to have to do it all again next year! It must be so frustrating! and depressing!
And how do you manage in the far north where summers are short and winters are long. Keeping hives alive must be a nightmare.. under-estimate by a couple of days and you're wiped out.
Just tell me, how do you guys do it?
I dips me lid to ya
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I have always lived in this climate and just don't know any other way.
When we watch the Nature Channel, we would ask you, how do you live with ALL THOSE DEADLY SNAKES right outside your door :shock: :? It's all what you grow up with.
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apparently some of us don't do it to well :-D
seriously, people keep bees successfully in some pretty harsh climates. mine is not so bad. i figure if i lose two or three hives, i'll make it up with swarms or splits. ordering new bees is expensive and would be a last resort for me.
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Yeah I suppose that it is Jim. Interestingly enough I haven't seen a snake in the bush for some years even though I am in it most weekends. I know that they are there but they are deaf and if you make enough noise (heavy footsteps, plenty of vibration to which they are sensitive) they are more interested in getting out of your way than they are of doing you harm. There aren't that many that will deliberately take you on unless you are a threat to them.
I just read of all those deadouts and I keep thinking that it must be like being floored by Joe Frazier and getting back on your feet again for another round.
You guys and your tenacity have my admiration
Mick
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There are weird ones out there that like the change of seasons. I will stay in SoFla with the two season cycle, hot and hotter.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
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There are weird ones out there that like the change of seasons. I will stay in SoFla with the two season cycle, hot and hotter.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
I concur #1 however I think Jamdown is a bit better
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I live in a sub-tropical climate and for me, beekeeping is a year long thing. I don't have to worry about if my hives are going to get through the winter, have I left enough honey, is there enough pollen, should I feed them, will the winter be harsh????????? And then when you open up the hive on the first warm day all you see is bees with their bums in the air...... dead.
Play it again Sam! Ok, order new nucs, package bees, queens and, and, and, only to have to do it all again next year! It must be so frustrating! and depressing!
And how do you manage in the far north where summers are short and winters are long. Keeping hives alive must be a nightmare.. under-estimate by a couple of days and you're wiped out.
Just tell me, how do you guys do it?
I dips me lid to ya
We don't have to worry 'bout SHARKS ! :evil:
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My bees were bringing in tons of pollen and busy as heck a couple days ago. Then last night it did this:
(http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3101/n1465221723260518138071.jpg)
It's freakin march in the Pacific Northwest! It should be rain followed by sunshine followed by rain! Not snow!!!! It's no wonder why I lost 3 hives last year! So much for global warming!!!!
Sean Kelly
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same here. still snowing. went out to buy 1/2 a hog and wasn't sure i was going to make it back! at least it's warming up and not sticking to most of the roads.
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Slick Mick I don't care what you say, I will take my deadouts over those snakes any day. Besides it really isn't that bad I quess.
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For six months out of the year, I can pretty much forget about them. :)
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If you dont go dipping your toes in the ocean or hiking through the bush you dont have to worry about either snakes or sharks. Of course you might get taken by a croc :-D (if you fell over the fence at the croc farm :shock:
Think of it Michael, instead of having fun for 6 months a year, you could have fun for 12 months a year. Now wouldn't you like that? :)
Mick
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We'll get a good 4" of snow today and the weather is dropping to 14 degree F this evening. You get use to it. We just knit up little sweaters for our girls and their quite happy. The sweaters aren't really a problem, it's knitting all the little mittens that takes all the time.
I'd rather knit sweaters and mittens all fall then face a thundering stampede of wombats anytime.
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It is mild here. I harvested some honey this January!
:-D
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CA dreamin......
From COLD WA.
Boy I miss San Diego.
SH
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>Think of it Michael, instead of having fun for 6 months a year, you could have fun for 12 months a year. Now wouldn't you like that?
But I do have fun 12 months a year...
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Winter is the price we pay for the privilege to live amongst such beauty. That an if the weather was nice all the time people would move here in droves and then I couldn't afford to.
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And how do you manage in the far north where summers are short and winters are long. Keeping hives alive must be a nightmare.. under-estimate by a couple of days and you're wiped out.
Just tell me, how do you guys do it?
As a novice beek who has just successfully overwintered two hives, and worried daily about one of them, I used a lot of paranoia, some prevention, fondant, a lot of prayers, and I practically did cartwheels when I saw that hive flying this week. Have no idea how I'll deal with a genuine loss, and I'll have one eventually, but I'll do what I can to prevent it and continue with prayer.
:)
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Winter...that is why we need so many hives :-D
I actually like it because we get a break. Nothing gets me going like spring, and how could I get so excited about spring except for winter???
I need the seasons, and the bees do just fine with it, with some planning and forethought.
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You do the best you can by the girls and hope for the best each spring. This week the weather turned a bit warmer and it was so good to see the hives active. I did lose one hive this year, and it makes me cry each time. But I know that we did our best and that there will be another hive to replace that one in a few weeks. Winter is the time for our earth to relax and rejuvenate. But when the spring comes - it is wonderful! I don't understand how people live in a place without seasons. Each spring when the plants bloom I am amazed and in the fall the autumn colors blow me away. I think the bees understand it as well.
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This weekend was "that spring weekend" I wait all winter for. You know...that day that comes once a year, for me anyhow. That day when I realize that everything is coming back to life...small buds on a bush that I worried about...bulbs and plants emerging that I forgot where there. Saw my first butterfly of the year yesterday too. Just one of those kind of moments. Couldn't live without spring...but can't have it without winter...so I enjoy each season.
And realizing that my hives didn't starve...that's good too.
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Nothing like the smell of spring dirt & plants starting to bud out & grow again. Our summer really doesn't get into gear till July, until then it's like other peoples spring. Fall, the excitement of the change, colors, crisp mornings, warm days..winter not so fun.. :roll: Now I would like to see a video of that thundering stampede of wombats..that would be entertaining! Sharks, poisonous snakes, crocs..nope nope nope! Don't think there is much here that will snack on us besides cougars, bears, orca & giant octopus.. :shock: J
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About 20 years ago we spent 6 weeks in Ontario and BC on holiday over the Christmas period. Following are some of the observations I made. None of us, controller of spending, kids or I had been in snow and it was truly beautiful… but it was all in black and white! No colour! Hey if I wanted black and white TV I would have kept my little 19”er from the 60’s… can’t you guys do something about updating that????
Then, it was cold.. down to –35, real brass monkey weather. I near had to tie a line to the weener to locate him each time I had to go to the bathroom. And all the clothes you have to wear just to keep warm… no wonder you look like well built lumberjacks with all those layers on… what a lie.. you guys are as skinny as we are.. as well it takes you 10 minutes to get dressed to go and put the garbage out and then another 10 minutes to get back to normal once back inside with the central heating. A 2 minute job takes 20 minutes plus some. No wonder I like it here… an amble out in my jocks, dump the garbage, water the garden and have a chat to the next door neighbour in her bikini all the while sucking on a beer… great stuff… hell the beer would freeze and loose all its bubbles if I tried that over there with you guys.. and of course the neighbour would get goose bumps... now that would be worth seeing.
What about the great deep freezer you guys have.. just plonk the left overs on the garage floor and there she is… snap frozen… now that is one thing I cant do here… just have to go and use a proper deep freeze, the kind that you buy… hey I bet yours is pretty good for holding frames over for next season and for getting rid of the SHB and wax moth… I am green with envy ;)
But then I am not keen on having the water pipes freeze or having to plug the car battery in when I park so that I can drive away 10 minutes later and I can’t say I liked all that slushy stuff on the sidewalk that makes you slip around for 10 minutes and go A over T every time you have to cross the street… no wonder you guys walk funny and worry about cabin fever.. all those deadly activities you have to deal with once you leave home…. Phew!!
And I didn’t know you guys were so protective of the polar bear when you go fishing… you know cut a hole in the ice, sprinkle peas around the hole and when the bear comes down to have a pee you kick him in the icehole ha ha. Talking about bears, wow they are big suckers. No wonder you have to hide your hives from them… give me a hoard of marauding wombats any day. They are quite harmless.. just like travelling a salesman.. eats, roots and leaves.. ha!
No wonder you guys like spring… put away the old black and white TV, get all that slushy stuff off the sidewalk and wake the bears up from their lethargy… puts a bit of excitement back into your life doesn’t it.. gives you a bit of a pep up. But I can’t imagine you getting excited about the fall… hell, here comes winter again, rake up all those leaves, get out the old snow plough or whatever, sharpen the shovel, here we go again… dig out the long johns and stoke up the boiler.. yep it sure is great to have seasons.. at least more than 2.
Of course all this is said tongue in cheek. We have 4 seasons too and our deep south also gets a heap of that white stuff, but up were I live it is just BEAUTIFUL ONE DAY, PERFECT THE NEXT… that is if we didn’t have to deal with the snakes, the crocs, the dingoes, the sharks, the cyclones, the travelling salesmen….. :-D
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you don't think we bundle up every time we go out the door! we just move fast + we have a tolerance for lower temps. if it hits 60 degrees here i have on shorts and a teeshirt! we have great balance because we are always on slippery footing be it ice or mud. it keeps us limber to do the splits from time to time.
there are great advantages to snow also. i have been trying to figure out how many of what nasty critters i have eating my barn cats, dumping my food bins, and fighting with the back porch cat. with the snow i have been able to identify and track 1 medium size coyote, and one very large raccoon. now i know where to hunt and what to hunt with. bird shot will not kill a 50 pound raccoon!
because i can bundle up to go to town, i don't mind if i put on a couple of winter pounds. it's spring and warmer weather that sends me running to the gym....although my bikini days are long past....
you do have a point about being able to keep food outside. i have done that when the power goes out, but then you have raccoons and coyotes......
remember when you switched from black and white to color tv? it was pretty exciting. i remember.
that's what spring is like.
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There are weird ones out there that like the change of seasons. I will stay in SoFla with the two season cycle, hot and hotter.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
However not all of Fl. is like that. This year I had a succession of freezes between hot and hotter. Destroyed the groves around me. This after another beek and I sat in a restaurant in Jan. and talked about the early, long citrus bloom coming.
This weekend I am moving hives out of a dead grove to a live one.
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There are weird ones out there that like the change of seasons. I will stay in SoFla with the two season cycle, hot and hotter.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
However not all of Fl. is like that. This year I had a succession of freezes between hot and hotter. Destroyed the groves around me. This after another beek and I sat in a restaurant in Jan. and talked about the early, long citrus bloom coming.
This weekend I am moving hives out of a dead grove to a live one.
Just to clarify because I have to.
SoFla == South Florida That is not all of Florida. If you live north of Lake Okeechobee outside of Palm Beach, Broward, Dade, or Monroe counties you are not in SoFla. If you are not certain of this. look in the parking lot. If there are more license plates from New York, Quebec, and other places you are in SoFla. In the rest of Florida you are subject to colder weather. Just ask Pdmattox. Outside of SoFla you are subject to Disney World and there is not enough apologizing for that. ;)
North Florida is like Pennsylvania without the snow or mountains. ( My apologies to those in Penn )
Sincerely,
Brendhan
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"Just to clarify because I have to."
Brendan, hope you didn't think you had to on account of what I said.
Shucks, everybody up here knows that SoFLa is another country altogether :-D .
No one will agree with you on Disney more than me.
Rick
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don't dis the mouse!!!! :thunder:
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don't dis the mouse!!!! :thunder:
Yea, what she said! We are going at the end of the month! :-D J
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Tickled to death to get your money in the area Polka-bee. I really personally hope you have a great time.
You would have had to grow up here pre-Disney to as a countryboy to understand. I can dis the mouse. My "bee assistant" and his wife both work for them along with several other friends. I know their economic value to the area. I also know a whole lot more, such as how they import people, arrange housing for them and pay them minimum wage with no benefits. This hurts the locals that... Aww, never mind.
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**fingers in ears** LALALALAlalala not listening!!!! I prefer the fantasy for a few days... 8-) Sorry, not alot of tourist dollars coming from us. We have a condo w/kitchen so I'll make meals & snax! Don't need any more stuffed toys, keychains or hats..used card miles for airfare..might rent a car for a day to get to the grocery store for fresh food, meat. Gonna mail a package w/cereal, pasta, popcorn, candy, Brita pitcher & filter, teabags, coffee, spices...laundry soap...sugar..I'm a cheap traveler. Hopefully Bruce will bring his laptop so I can keep up with the forum happenings..hate to miss anything! J
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:)My kinda people Polka :).
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Hi poka-bee if you are coming to the Orlando area my wife and I would love to run up there and take you guys out to dinner. You were such great hosts when we were in Washington.
Sincerely,
Brendhan