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Author Topic: WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard  (Read 7716 times)

Offline beemaster

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« on: May 03, 2004, 06:15:16 pm »
Follows is an email I received from someone writing a story outline where Beekeeping and beekeepers are taking place in the background - he wants to know what interesting things BESIDES JUST STANDING THERE that we do - please give him some ideas. Thanks

John Beemaster


WILL WRITES:

Hiya. I'm in the process of getting a script written for our production company that touches in the the world of beekeeping.
But I find myself without a lot of knowledge on the subject. I was looking at your site to do some research and was very impressed. You're a one stop bee expert. It's great.
So i thought I'd ask if you had a few things you might care to share on the beeking world that the average person might find facinating. And beyond that, even funny.

I realize this might be an odd question and VERY vague. But as I've just begun outlining the story I was trying to work up some interesting situtations to have my beekeeper doing beyond always just standing at a hive.

If you can toss me a few activities or incidents I'd be most grateful. If it's a massive inconvienience then dont' worry about it. I can get by. Just thought I'd check into it.

Thanks a lot. And once again. Wonderful sight.

Will
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Offline beemaster

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Some thoughts
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2004, 06:25:43 pm »
Will:

I'll start with a few things Beekeepers do. Most of the standing you mention is probably inspection or harvesting honey, usually suited up - but NOT NECESSARILLY SO and using a smoker in their hand, while hadling the individual frames inside the hive boxes.

Other things you could see is loading hives onto trucks, Installing the bees from shipped package which are delivered from the US Postal sevice (at least here), extracting honey in small to massive centrifical spinners, bottling honey, raising queens in special queen rearing boxes (sometimes HUNDREDS of queens in a box) or raising workers to be shipped to beekeepers world wide.

You could have people removing swarms from both high and low objects for example of low objects - you could see young people (kids) in the beeyard learning how to tend to them, older people receiving bee-sting therapy for arthritis or MS. I could go on, but I want some other people to reply too.

John
Beemaster

PS WILL... Remember, you can ask questions in this forum, to better assist you in REALISTICALLY creating the actions of a beekeeper - nothing worse for us to see movies that are foolish and far fetched, funny is one thing, getting bees in your suit happens a lot and getting at the bee in your suit is quite funny to watch, but it is a real thing that happens. Don't assume, learn. Credibility is a big issue in bee movies, some are foolish - the ones who try to have realist and factual events and dialog are impressive and believable.
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Please enjoy the forum, and if it has helped you in any way, we hope that a small donation can be made to support our FULLY member supported forum. You will never see advertisements here, and that is because of the generous members who have made our forum possible. We are in our second decade as a beekeeping forum and all thanks to member support. At the top right of every page is a donations link. Please help if you can.

Anonymous

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2004, 01:00:48 pm »
This is facinating to me.
One thing if i can get some information on this "shipping" of bees. And queens being raised ...
Very interesting. You just order a box of bees?

I had no idea bees can get into those suites. I can imagine that being quite the site.

How do you move a swarm?
DOes the honey need to be refined or anything? I'm not really clear on how that process works.

Keep the info coming, and if anyone has a story of anything that's happened please feel free to share with me.

Will - The Draft Six Productions

Offline Beth Kirkley

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2004, 02:52:55 pm »
One thing I love doing with bees, is just watching them go about their work. The hive is looks like an airport, with bees coming in with their loads, and bees quickly leaving to collect more pollen or nectar.

What you should do is go to your local agriculture department, or cooperative extention office, and get intouch with some local beekeepers. Most beekeepers are very friendly, and would LOVE to give you a look at the hives and bees. You need to get inside the hive to really see how fasinating they are. They're hard workers, and have a very organized society (the bees that is).

About refining honey: fresh honey (from the average small beekeeper) I know isn't refined - just taken right from the hive by putting the frames in a spinner. I don't know about commercial honey, if they refine any of that or not.

Thankfully I've never (so far) had a bee in my suit. :) John (Beemaster) has had a horrible experience of dropping a whole box of bees on his feet (maybe 20,000 bees in it). He wasn't wearing a suit that day, but only a shirt and short with shoes. The worst part was the fact that he was wearing BOXERS instead of briefs........ not a good thing. :)

I've only been stung once, on my hand. My cat got a good dose of the bees though. I felt bad for her, but it was kinda funny. She thought the bees looked intersting to play with, and she stuck her paw in the hive entrance. The guard bees quickly rushed out, lunged on her back, and dug in for some stings. The poor girl went running off, kicking and hissing, and the bees looked like they were going for a bucking bronco ride. Taught her not to follow me over to the hives while I work. She keeps her distance now.

Beth

Offline BigRog

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2004, 03:48:38 pm »
Getting a phone call to go capture a swarm


http://beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=503&highlight=swarm


Mentoring a newbee like myself

Going to schools and explaining beekeeping

Think the Beemaster might know a thing or two about that
"Lurch my good man,…what did you mean when you said just now that 'You've got better things to do than run my petty little errands'…….?"

Anonymous

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2004, 04:27:13 pm »
You have to sometimes kill baby queens, to keep half your bees from leaving in a swarm.  This is done by finding a long honeycomb cel, and breaking it off.

Anonymous

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2004, 02:51:57 pm »
This is great. I can't begin to thank you guys enough.
We've started putting together the script in the past couple of weeks. All this stuff is helping a lot.

Keep it coming.

I plan to get in touch with some local beekeepers for certain. Love to check it out for real. I've seen the boxes when travelling on the highway a few times. But there's so much of a world to it all. It's great to see.

I'll try and come up with a list of questions we can ask to assist the script writing process. Some more specific stuff as we begin to hash out some ideas.

Will - The Draft Six Prodcutions

Offline Beth Kirkley

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2004, 02:59:11 pm »
Have you read the bee logs that some of us keep? I'm not really trying to boost myself, but I have a full year of logs posted. John too has several years logged. There are many pictures in there that will help you see what it's like on the inside.

Beth

Offline Bee Boy

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WRITER wants to know WHAT WE DO in the Beeyard
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2004, 11:30:40 pm »
When you're in the hive,  you're in different world. The hum of the bees and the smell of nectar and honey.... When you're in their world you have to pay only attention to the inspection of the hive. If you don't you get stung :shock:

Its a very relaxing hobby because you can't think of anything else while you are taking care of them and it also relieves stress. Plus the surplus honey helps to give the care giver some extra cash :P
Bee Boy

Offline beefree

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one thing to remember
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2004, 04:52:38 pm »
as i have recently discovered (new beekeeper)... hives are HEAVY.  VERY HEAVY.  A hive that is 2 deep boxes high (what everyone seems to think of when you say"beehive" to them) weighs more that i do... over a hundred pounds.   And the smaller honey supers are heavy, too, when they are full of honey.  35+ pounds.  

So i move very slowly and carefully when in the beeyard.  At least i was fully suited the day i dropped the box.  

Most of my time in the beeyard is spent peering down into the hives, removing frames for inspection, and, when i have a free moment, or need to catch my breath...just sitting between two hives watching  to see what color pollen they are bringing in that week.

beefree
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