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Offline crispy

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bees ordered
« on: March 04, 2020, 10:26:25 pm »
Hi all well after a lot of tooing and froing i decided to get some bees or at least order the for september this year ,at first i considered a swarm from a catcher to start of with but heard that they can be a bit sphyco if you get a bad one so then my local guy gave me a name of someone he knew that sold bees , anyway i went to the bee keepers sa sight and found a registered bee keeper who sells nucs 5 frame with queen over wintered (so i dont have to see them through there first winter ) and will give you a months phone support as well as if the colony fails in the first month will replace them .
I thought this was a pretty good idea and seemed fair for the price , being new to bee keeping and never owning bees before i thought this would be the best way to go ,watched countless videos and read books listened to people from here to the united states and will probably watch and listen and read even more before they are ready for pickup . My little bee yard is all ready ,hive is ready apart from putting wax on the frames ,all registered with the local authorities so now i wait for the bees to bee ready . I suppose some may think that i am overthinking owning these bees but if i try to have all the bases covered then i hope that i will have an enjoyable time owning them .   

Offline Biggles

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Re: bees ordered
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2020, 10:55:07 pm »
Hi Crispy

Sounds like a good deal to me!!!

You might just to have to give them a bit of feeding, if next spring is a bit lean.

I set up a package late November and have had to feed them till now as not much forage about.  I'm hoping this will change after this lot of rain across Sydney.

Well done!

Mark

Offline crispy

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Re: bees ordered
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2020, 01:21:48 am »
Hi biggles i have a top feeder for the hive so i can use that with sugar syrip have been looking at how to make pollen patties online as well , the area i live in has an abundence of native gum trees as our council is really hot on it the bees have been raiding my bush out the front now for more than 4 weeks every day but the flowers are starting to lose there leaves so it might be nearly over ,only time will tell how much food is actually there for them ,i have lavender, rosemary and jasmin plants in my garden and i have planted 4 new bottle brushes i dont know if they go for lemon trees or not have a massive one in the back yard ,dont really know how many other yards around have much of a garden and i dont know how far these bees will venture from there hive .

Offline Biggles

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Re: bees ordered
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2020, 03:38:30 am »
Hi Crispy
OK on the eucalypts.  They can be funny.  Not all are regular producers.
I haven't used patties.  The bee food I got them was in powder form and the girls turned their noses up at it.  Canola polen worked.  Used a ice-cream lid  with the seal removed to the first lip.  Put it on the top bars and they couldn't get enough.  Search honey-pollen-flora-for-planting-nsw.pdf.  Good guide to flora producing nectar & pollen.  The SA DPI may have something similar, more suitable for SA.  The bottle brushes - melaleuca do well in Sydney.  Strong dark honey and pollen, but the girls can get a little tense when working it.  The other plants you mention are all good for nectar.  Have a look around the area for white clover.  Good fine honey.  A lot of the things considered weeds are good.  Trouble is everyone digs them up!!  If the new season is good, you shouldn't have to feed for too long; more just to stimulate comb build.

Cheers

Mark

Offline crispy

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Re: bees ordered
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2020, 07:11:23 pm »
Thanks biggles funny we were out working the other day and a woman came running out her house asking if we were from the council poisoning the side walk , she has pigface growing in front of her home for the bees and the coucil keep poisoning it . my bottlebrush will take a few years before they are really any good but i have one out the back thats about 5 years old and it is fantastic when it flowers they are everywhere . the bees are still hammering my bush out the front i sit there and watch them working away must have been a few this morning as i could here a buzzing sound hope a swarm hasn't moved in .

Offline Biggles

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Re: bees ordered
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2020, 11:15:47 pm »
Mighty fine Crispy.

Hope all goes well for you.

Mark

 

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