Anybody else into bees? Yes honey bees

The wife and I (mostly the wife) have been messing with bees for two years. Last year we started one hive from a package but lost them over the winter. This year we started three hives from packages and they are doing so much better. Any way thought I would see if anybody else was in to bees. Here is a couple pics of the wife checking the bees tonight.

 

are they a lot of work to keep?

 

More than I thought they would be. Got to suit up and check inside the hive boxes once or twice a month. Some diseases you have to watch out for. Feed them the sugar water until they are good and established. We are pretty new at it and learning as we go.

 

not into bees myself but I do see some hives in similar set ups like yours when I go out trail running and was always curious about them.

 

Basically its the bees house. Leave them enough honey to make it through the winter and take the rest for yourself. When we go back to Montana and visit family I have seen them out off forest service trails with solar powered electric fence around them to keep the bears out. In some areas of the country they move them in and out of areas to help pollinate certain crops.

 

Ive read you have to winterize them? is there truth to this?

 

Like everything it depends. For most if you have some kind of wind break for the north and west winds in the winter you should be good if the bees have enough population. The bees stay tight around the queen and stay warm that way. Some people wrap them with insulation type material but then the hives hold in to much moisture and that is deadly for the bees more than the cold. It boils down mostly to if the hive is healthy going into winter they should be fine. We found a local bee club that has monthly meetings and has really helped with good local information. I see your profile your in Idaho, my wife is from Montana, so in that climate you may need to do something a little different.

 

I have a good buddy who is an apiarist, he has a small home started business 3 Beez Honey.

http://www.3beezhoneyfarm.com

I've helped him out a bit, and to just learn the process, it's really cool!

He's got a nice truck, not a Tacoma though.

 

Keep up the good work caring for honey bees. I bet you could sell some honey on this TW site if you wanted to. Last year we found the Greater Banded Hornet (Vespa tropica) on Guam and they are preying on honey bees and other paper wasps.

 

i appreciate the value of bees. i don't raise them but we support our local university research centre and get our honey and products solely from them. Bigmo - they could be a good resource for you

http://www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/

 

Damn that's cool I which I had the time to do that. Although they'd probably die here in SoCal.

 

We do Bee here in at the San Diego casa... http://girlnextdoorhoney.com/about/ our beekeeper is awesome