Recent Posts

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

« Last post by FatherMichael on Today at 07:59:17 pm »

Scoped out a place to put a solar cellular camera.  I've wanted to see what chews on my hives and now have an extra incentive of watching a bait hive and Russian scion, though swarm season is probably over, since I saw our first pod of Kites.

Found a great place in the sun but it will need a post.  Trees have a tendency to shade out the sun. ;-)

My hives are spread apart in the yard, so may need multiple cameras or multiple places to hang a camera depending on the season.

What about a movable tripod that can be task specific?  Hmmm.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by BeeMaster2 on Today at 07:49:54 pm »

Terri,
Sounds like you are about to bee the proud owner of a new hive. 😊
Jim Altmiller

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 07:27:38 pm »

There could be some merit to that!

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Lesgold on Today at 05:58:29 pm »

Sounds a bit like ?the watched pot never boils? syndrome. If you want away on holidays for a period of time, you could almost guarantee a swarm would move in during your absence.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 03:53:40 pm »

Now there's about three times as many bees checking out the trap as any other time they were out there. It's like Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds', except it's bees. They hit it hard about 1300 and haven't let up. I don't think they moved in as of yet but it almost looks like it the way they're going in and out. I have my fingers crossed.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by FatherMichael on Today at 01:29:39 pm »

Been considering adding a game camera to my bee yard to see what kind of animal chews on my hives.  Now I have another reason to add one - the Russian scion strategy.

The solar cellular cameras don't cost that much, plus $20 a month for the T-mobile cellular service.

Considering how much I have lost in swarms and paying for nucs and trips to San Antonio ...

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NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS / Re: Help! Best natural feeding options

« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 01:11:33 pm »

I agree with Kathy wholeheartedly.  Learning your local flows and understanding them in terms of your goals is critical to learning to manage bees, especially if you'd like to not feed sugar.  It's something that takes a few years of trial and error.  I'm in my 6th spring beekeeping and every year there seems to be one colony that I have mismanaged or has had some problem and needs sugar, but with more experience I'm hoping to make that a rarer occurrence. 

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 12:20:29 pm »

I put a russian scion out yesterday so I'll see what that does. I didn't get too fancy with it, just a board with wax and lemongrass oil on it. I have a camera on it too so I don't have to go out there to check on it.

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NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS / Re: Help! Best natural feeding options

« Last post by Kathyp on Today at 12:19:39 pm »

What I found helpful is to be familiar with what is blooming in my area and when.  A short period of feeding sugar water until the bees find natural sources will not hurt them.  It only takes them a few days to orient on their hive and then go out and find food.  If you have lots of things blooming around you,  you shouldn't need to feed for long.

There are periods of time here when there's little for them to collect and it's important to keep a close eye on what they have stored.

You also need to figure out whether or not you want honey.  Some people just keep bees for pollination and pleasure.  If you want to gather honey, your management toward buildup might be different.

You helped harvest some honey so you have a mentor or someone who can help you evaluate the food possibilities for your area?

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THE SPORTS BAR / Closest Finish Ever

« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 11:45:35 am »

Yesterday's NASCAR race at Kansas was the closest finish ever in the history of the sport, a .001 margin of victory.  Even the distance from 1st to 4th would have set a track record for closest finish.   
https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/40091399/kyle-larson-wins-kansas-closest-cup-series-finish-ever

Here is the official photo (not sure why the ESPN story didn't feature it). 
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1787299330707144970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1787299330707144970%7Ctwgr%5E05a566d3ad14aaa372abf1b9d844bcedd195a4bc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jayski.com%2F