Beekeeping

[NorTracNY]

This can happen. Your immune system is a weird thing. I had been having bad shoulder pain for months, got stung on the shoulder blade during a cutout… been pain free ever since. Still, I like to limit my exposure to stings.

I think God has been working on me through the bees. A few years ago I was dealing with arthritis in my knees and a pain in the back of my neck. I actually got stung in those spots and haven't had issues since!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I think God has been working on me through the bees. A few years ago I was dealing with arthritis in my knees and a pain in the back of my neck. I actually got stung in those spots and haven't had issues since!

Bee venom therapy is a thing. Congrats!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Gotta say. We never feed. We never treat for varroa. We have never lost a hive from these reasons. I have family who treat and feed, and thier colony death rates are nuts. To each their own, but they told me my apiary would be decimated if I didn’t. So far, they have lost bees every year and we have not.

 

[ponytug]

Gotta say. We never feed. We never treat for varroa. We have never lost a hive from these reasons. I have family who treat and feed, and thier colony death rates are nuts. To each their own, but they told me my apiary would be decimated if I didn’t. So far, they have lost bees every year and we have not.

Do you think your success is your hive design/construction, or selective breeding, or where your bees feed, or what they have for feed, or...? I.e. what do you attribute your relative (pun intended) success to?

All the best,

Peter

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Do you think your success is your hive design/construction, or selective breeding, or where your bees feed, or what they have for feed, or...? I.e. what do you attribute your relative (pun intended) success to?

All the best,

Peter

I don't think local forage has a part to play…. It’s a pretty average agricultural, rural, Indiana town. I will say we do not use package bees or nucs… we only use swarms or bees from cutouts we perform. I do attribute some of their success to the hive design, because it allows them to overwinter similarly to how they do in nature.
Im no expert, but everyone who heard we weren’t going to feed or treat, thought we would be abject failures. Of course that was what they were taught by their mentors… I didn’t have a mentor, only books.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I would say at minimum volume of forage at the right time has a part to play in keeping you from needing to feed. I would also argue that you do feed, just not with sugar water like some of us end up feeding. You provide good forage for them with the plots you plant. I wish I was able to plant plots like you do.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I would say at minimum volume of forage at the right time has a part to play in keeping you from needing to feed. I would also argue that you do feed, just not with sugar water like some of us end up feeding. You provide good forage for them with the plots you plant. I wish I was able to plant plots like you do.

Well, the bees always store enough for themselves. The beekeeper takes too much for himself. The bees have enough for three winters, until the beekeeper shows up.
I do provide a couple acres of forage, but I could still starve my bees. I just make sure to leave 35 pounds per hive for the winter season. I don't subscribe to the idea that refined sugar is the same for a bee gut as honey. Or, that medicating hives with poor genetics and allowing them to propagate, is good for bee culture.

 

[dodge man]

I live not to far from Hamilton Illinois and there is a company located there call Dadant. They specialize in bee keeping supplies and I noticed they just put up a new building. I know nothing about bee keeping but I’m just wondering if they are a big name in the business?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I live not to far from Hamilton Illinois and there is a company located there call Dadant. They specialize in bee keeping supplies and I noticed they just put up a new building. I know nothing about bee keeping but I’m just wondering if they are a big name in the business?

Yes, the largest

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Reviewing some splitting methods prior to season starting