Help me get my "homestead" started - Chickens, Ducks, and Bees

CloverKnollFarms · May 25, 2022

No need to buy bees… they are FREE. I caught 4 swarms last week alone, more than doubling the apiary, for free.

We chose to use horizontal hives instead of the Langstroth design. Better to overwinter the bees, and a lot less labor to work… a lot less. I’m not sure how, or why my family uses Lang equipment after helping them with hive inspections. It’s borderline ridiculous.

This has been a great season in our apiary for sure… I never expected to get to seven colonies this year, but here we are. The swarms were massive. Two swarm traps weighed in at over 40 pounds, 5 days after the colonies moved in!

Build some swarm traps, stop buying bees and save that $$$

LittleBittyBigJohn · May 25, 2022

bindian said:
I only raise Mallard ducks. I got two ponds and love to watch them fly back and forth. That also allows them to get away from predators. They overnight on the water.

Tractor Supply Mallard ducks (at least down here) don't fly. They are bigger than Mallards and really are Rouens (sp) or crosses. My first ducks were from TSC. From then on, I purchased from Ideal Poultry. They ship them over night via USPS.

Ducks only need cover (to stay dry) until their feathers come in. I had an island for them, but they only laid eggs there. It was too easy for snakes to get the eggs and harder for me to get them, so I took the island out.

Nice coop and duck house. How big is your pond?
hugs, Brandi

I believe it is illeagal to raise Mallards in Arkansas. We just got the Pekins for pets. If something happens to them we will probably get something else like runners. The ducks only sometimes get in the house. They used it a lot when they were younger. I tried training them to sleep at night in it but it was a loosing battle and I eventually gave up.

Pond is very small around 1/10 acre. It was just something a farmer pushed out for cattle water years ago. I have had a coupe people quote enlarging it to 1/2 acre or so but it was $15,000 - $25,000 so that project will be pushed off.

CloverKnollFarms said:
No need to buy bees… they are FREE. I caught 4 swarms last week alone, more than doubling the apiary, for free.

We chose to use horizontal hives instead of the Langstroth design. Better to overwinter the bees, and a lot less labor to work… a lot less. I’m not sure how, or why my family uses Lang equipment after helping them with hive inspections. It’s borderline ridiculous.

This has been a great season in our apiary for sure… I never expected to get to seven colonies this year, but here we are. The swarms were massive. Two swarm traps weighed in at over 40 pounds, 5 days after the colonies moved in!

Build some swarm traps, stop buying bees and save that $$$

We bought the bees and chose Langstroth hives #1 to gain quick entry and #2 everyone around here uses Langstroth so there is more equipment available and it's easier to learn from a mentor when using the same equipment. All 4 of the colonies we have are growing. It's fun watching them. Not so fun getting stung.

CloverKnollFarms · May 25, 2022

A wise man told me…

Everyone uses commercial hives…. Because that’s what everyone else does. And since they are invested in it now, will never change. So if you are just starting out, start out the way you want to end up, or you too will be too invested in it, and never change.

I didn’t have any mentors, but read a lot of books on this beekeeping style. There wasn’t much to learn, because you don’t actually do anything. You don’t treat the bees, don’t feed the bees, you don’t manipulate frames, boxes etc… you literally put bees in the box, and walk away. If you want to collect honey, show up in September and pull some honey frames.
I don’t have to open a hive during the year, if I don’t want to.

Glad to see you are taking on beekeeping, they are amazing critters. Wishing you much success in that endeavor.

forgeblast · May 25, 2022

CloverKnollFarms said:
A wise man told me…

Everyone uses commercial hives…. Because that’s what everyone else does. And since they are invested in it now, will never change. So if you are just starting out, start out the way you want to end up, or you too will be too invested in it, and never change.

I didn’t have any mentors, but read a lot of books on this beekeeping style. There wasn’t much to learn, because you don’t actually do anything. You don’t treat the bees, don’t feed the bees, you don’t manipulate frames, boxes etc… you literally put bees in the box, and walk away. If you want to collect honey, show up in September and pull some honey frames.
I don’t have to open a hive during the year, if I don’t want to.

Glad to see you are taking on beekeeping, they are amazing critters. Wishing you much success in that endeavor.

I ran a warre hive for a few years until a bear got through my fence. Biobees and beesource were great resources. I also put them in the box and left them alone. adding extra boxes in the spring to have them store food/supplies.

LittleBittyBigJohn · Jun 1, 2022

I harvested a little bit of honey out of some burr comb yesterday. The bees were MAD at me for stealing it. This is from an established hive that I recently acquired. The previous beekeeper used deep overwintering inner covers. I just switched it out for a standard cover so it would match the rest and be easier to work. This can't go back so I'm making use of it.