Fearless Bee Keeper

[HandyDan]

 

[Gene Howe]

Thank goodness for guys like him. I wonder what he does with them. Hope he has an apiary.

[schnewj]

Boy, that is a fond memory.

 

Adding a little background info to this great video. When a hive produces more than one queen the hive will split. The second queen will take half of the hive and leave to establish a new hive. The bees will generally carry enough honey to survive for 48-72 hours. If they don't find a location and establish a nest the swarm will die off.

 

When you see what was shown in the video they are resting while the worker bees are off scouting for a permanent location. Generally, if you just leave them alone they will move on and be gone in a day or two. In this case they needed to be moved so the owner could get/use her car.

 

We used to get them at the plant in New Orleans all of the time. Unfortunately, they always seemed to stop at a spot that had high employee traffic or exposure. As a matter of safety to the employees they needed to be removed. Now, most people don't know this, but it is against the law to destroy honey bees.

 

Fortunately, I had an employee who was not only a bee keeper, but was a past president of the area bee keepers association. Whenever we had a swarm I would tell Pete (believe it or not his full name was Peter Finger). He would show up with a spray bottle of water, a piece of cardboard and a five gallon bucket.

 

Pete would mist the swarm and the workers would ball up around the queen to protect her. He would then use the piece of cardboard to sweep the swarm into the bucket. He would find the queen and place her in a separate container and return it to the bucket. After a few minutes most of the drones and worker bees would fly into the bucket. Once he left with the queen the remaining ones would disappear.

 

Pete would then take them home and establish a new hive. At one time he had in excess of 40 hives. Unfortunately, like all over the country, he had a bout with colony collapse because of mites. He lost most of his hives and was down to a half dozen at one time.

 

He taught me a lot about bees and the different kinds (yes, there are different kinds of bees) and how to recognize them. He almost had me talked into becoming a bee keeper and placing a hive on my property. It never happened though.

 

Thanks for the video, Dan.

 

As you can see in the video, bees are generally very docile. You just have to move slow and be gentle. Also, darker clothing seems to agitate them sometimes, and that is why when you see a bee keeper dressed out the suit and hood are white.

[Stick486]

I see him as Darwin candidate...

[schnewj]

3 hours ago, Stick486 said:

I see him as Darwin candidate...

 

Translation; I'm scared of bees, I don't understand why someone would risk getting stung by bees?

 

This guy if far from being a Darwin candidate. It's obvious, that, he knows exactly what he is doing and is willing to teach others. I have done exactly what this guy did in the video, so, I guess that makes me a Darwin Candidate, also!

[HandyDan]

I played with bees and other insects when I was young.  I was probably seven years old when I got my first sting.  I didn't pick them up anymore after that.

[Grandpadave52]

I enjoy the spring for lots of reasons but especially when the crab-apple trees start blooming. The bees show up for a few days. I often will stand under the tree canopy and just watch & listen; very mesmerizing. I've only been stung once doing so. I guess bees even have a bad day now and then. When we still had our Bradford Pear tree, hundreds, maybe thousands of bees would engulf it during the bloom. I never understood that so much since the flowers smell like puked-on sweat socks.

[schnewj]

53 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

I played with bees and other insects when I was young.  I was probably seven years old when I got my first sting.  I didn't pick them up anymore after that.

 

Honey bees rarely sting, unless they feel threatened or cornered. You can see what this guy did in the video and he never got stung. I was taught to move slowly and deliberately and after handling thousands of bees I only remember getting stung once.

 

All of the other stings have been from the aggressive kinds of winged critters; wasps, yellow jackets, etc.

[HandyDan]

3 minutes ago, schnewj said:

I was taught to move slowly and deliberately

 

I just did it on my own.  I wasn't taught how to deal with them.  Only instruction got was my mother saying "Don't come crying to me when you get stung".

[schnewj]

46 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I enjoy the spring for lots of reasons but especially when the crab-apple trees start blooming. The bees show up for a few days. I often will stand under the tree canopy and just watch & listen; very mesmerizing. I've only been stung once doing so. I guess bees even have a bad day now and then. When we still had our Bradford Pear tree, hundreds, maybe thousands of bees would engulf it during the bloom. I never understood that so much since the flowers smell like puked-on sweat socks.

 

I wish I had more...they just seem to be far and few between around here. I do have a Mexican Petunia bush. It produces large blue/purple trumpet like blooms. I enjoy watching the bees crawl completely inside and then move onto the next one to do the same thing. This bush blooms one day and the flowers are good for a couple of more then fall off. The bush is semi-bare for a day and it re-blooms again. I try and plant flowers to attract the bees and the butterfly population.

[schnewj]

8 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

 

I just did it on my own.  I wasn't taught how to deal with them.  Only instruction got was my mother saying "Don't come crying to me when you get stung".

 

It, also, depends on the type of honey bee; Italian, Western, Carnolians, etc. The Italians are the most gentle and easiest to work with. Producing more honey.

 

Here is a link to the comparisons of the Italians and the Carnolians.

 

http://liddellshoney.com/italians-vs-carnolians/

 

[HandyDan]

I have an empty acre and a lot of clover grows on it.  The bees love it so I let it go as long as I can between cuttings.

[schnewj]

2 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

I have an empty acre and a lot of clover grows on it.  The bees love it so I let it go as long as I can between cuttings.

 

I used to get a lot of Clover honey from Pete. My favorite was honey from a hive he had in the Honey Island Swamp. I don't know what they were getting their pollen from, but it has a distinct taste and was really dark. He got premium price for that honey.

[Grandpadave52]

I thought honey was honey for the most part until a trip to Charleston & Savannah a few years back. My wife came across Savannah Bee Products and their various specialty honeys. It 'ain't cheap and I'm not a big honey user but even I conceded theirs was the best I had ever tasted. Must be something about the low country flowers. I've surprised her a few times since with an order. I think she hides it and keeps it under lock and key.

[Gene Howe]

Here in AZ, we try to find local honey that comes from the cactus flowers. Hard to find but, it's real tasty.  A lot of the bigger operations transport their hives to the left coast for pollination purposes. Have no idea what they pollinate but, the honey is pretty good. 

[Stick486]

4 hours ago, schnewj said:

Translation; I'm scared of bees,

 

Fear has nothing to do w/ it... gots deep respect for them...

Translation: terminal allergic in about 3~4 minuets..

and the Epipen and Benadryil is no picnic either..

[Gunny]

Interesting video and some great informative comments and stories.

[FlGatorwood]

My father in law used to have about 27 hives.  I helped rob the hives.  At the time, I was trying my long hair.  One day the wind blew and a bee headed for that piece of hair on my scalp.  He told me to stand still and he removed the bee with his tool.  They are generally docile.  Depending on which flowers they have changes the flavor.  Here in Florida, there is a cherry laurel that blooms early spring and it is dark strong honey.  

Pollination...if it weren't for bees, we'd be on ladders with Q-tips going from one blossom to the other to have fruits and vegetables.  Unless the female blossom is fertilized by a male blossom, there is not fruit nor vegetable.  Female blossoms have a node between the stem and flower.  The male blossom does not have the node.  The male simply falls off and the fruit you eat is all female.  Surprise!!!!  Apples, oranges, pears, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and just about any other fruit or vegetable is easily distinguishable.  You didn't know you were going to get a horticulture lesson, did you?  Grew up on farms and sometimes you had more male blossoms.  One man complained about all the blossoms on his cucumber vine but no fruit.  After looking closely, they were all male blossoms.  Grapes and some other fruits need to have 2 plants, one become male and the other female to produce.  

[Allen Worsham]

After WW2 my Dad worked as a Bee Keeper. The guy he worked for would transport the bees into the central valley of California during the pollination times for the specific crops. So they would work their way north and then the Boss took his crew to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to an area near "Devil's Postpile" which had a number of smaller lakes and a river. So after dropping off the bees they got to relax in the mountains before heading back to pick up the bees. My dad fell in love with the Sierra Nevada Mountains and would get up there any time he could. After he married my Mom she went with him but she was not a real fan. My Dad fished and my Mom took care of my sister and I. My Dad said the one thing that you had to be aware of was when you had to take a leak. You had be very vigilant when you opened your fly  to make sure you didn't get stung by a bee.