What are Your other Hobbies

[Andrew J. Coholic]

I used to have lots of hobbies... heavy into RC model aircraft, mountain and road cycling, hiking, music (playing brass in a community band and guitar in a few gigging bar bands) working metal (casting and machining, mostly model engine parts and stuff), whittling and carving, canoeing, snowboarding and skiing, etc.

Then I had a couple of kids (now 5 and a half, and 2). Now my hobby is raising kids, lol. Everything else got put on hold.

[Jim Becker]

So the wife gave the green light for bees. I anticipate starting in 2017. Where you you beekeepers suggest starting? A website, or a book? I might be a bit too shy and timid at typing on a website.

First thing to do is find out about the local Beekeepers association in your area and start attending their meetings. You can do that now to start learning and preparing for next spring when you get started. There are also a lot of websites that are useful, although I will tell you up-front...if you have 15 beekeepers in a room and someone asks a question, there will be 16 answers. I happen to like Michael Bush's site and books, but he has some ideas that are not always "mainstream". If you want to explore a forum site like this one for beekeepers, there's a decent one at "beesource dot com".

Two posts in this thread mention that changing out the queen will mellow out the hive.
1. Why is that?
2. How do you replace a queen - just pull her out and wait for a new one to grow, or what?

Told you I was getting interested. (Dang it.)
Fred

A lot of it is about genetics, but also about the manner in which the queen "rules" the colony. Keep in mind that the worker bees only live about 45 days max. So if you replace a queen with "hot" genetics with a calmer lady leader, the next generation will generally have a calmer disposition. Of course, there is still some element of chance there because a virgin queen mates with multiple drones (the males), so the genetics of the drones can come into play, too. Interesting fact is that with the exception of a relatively small number of drones produced in a colony, all of the bees are female. That's tens of thousands of girls...

Replacing a queen on purpose generally requires "pinching" (killing) the existing queen and either letting the bees create their own new queen from existing larvae that are at the correct age or by installing a new queen acquired from a beekeeper that creates and sells queens. In most cases, the queen arrives in a small, screened container that has a candy/sugar plug in one end. That little container is placed in the hive so that the colony can get used to the new queen's pheromones (and hopefully accept her). Either the bees will release her by eating through the candy or the beekeeper will release her after a few days if they don't eat through the candy as long as it appears that any aggression toward the new queen has abated. It's an unfortunate reality that a new queen introduced by a beek isn't always accepted by the colony.

Our first colony went queenless for a bit and wouldn't accept a new queen. Unbeknownst to us, they were already working the problem and they are back to being very strong. We are currently concerned about our second colony...while there was some brood in evidence today, there was no larvae or eggs that we could find. So as a precaution, we moved a frame (a frame is a rectangular wood construction that holds the bee's comb) that had eggs, larvae and capped brood from the strong colony to the one we are concerned with so they would have appropriate aged eggs and larvae to make a new queen if they choose to do so. This is a serious matter for colony survival for the winter...they need a laying queen to have the timing correct so there's a strong young force of bees to get through the winter by staying warm enough, etc. At this point in the calendar, obtaining a queen from another source is a bit difficult outside of getting one from places like Hawaii. Our third colony is going strong and we're not worried about that one.

[Barry McFadden]

Jim, Barry - Great pics!

Barry, some of your landscapes (especially those of fall folliage) knocked my socks off! I really enjoyed your "manipulations", especially the one where you sre playing cards with multiple copies of yourself!

Fred

Thanks Frederick..... glad you liked them....

[John K Jordan]

...We are currently concerned about our second colony...while there was some brood in evidence today, there was no larvae or eggs that we could find...

Jim, I had the worst time spotting eggs some times (old eyes?) since the light reflecting off the polished bottom of the cell sometimes tricked me. I finally hit on the perfect solution for me. I have a magnifier about 2" in diameter. I hold it in one hand and a small strong flashlight in the other and scan the frame laying flat on top of the open box. The eggs are so easy to spot now!

BTW, Frederick, I got started with bees when I first put in a garden when we moved to this farm about 13 years ago. I saw NO honeybees in the garden! I saw bumble bees, yellow jackets, and some kind of little wasp but without honeybees the cucumbers and melons suffered. I got a hive just for the pollination. My bee mentor said that happens a lot - people get started with bees for the pollination and eventually get out of it because of the honey (it's a lot of work).

My honey processing did become a lot more enjoyable when I got an 8-frame extractor and started using a hot knife for decapping. AND when I cleared out of the kitchen and made room in the new shop for the processing! The honey from here is amazing, very light, largely clover but with a lot of other things. I could sell every drop I get without even trying. Last year I sold over $1000 and could have sold twice that if I hadn't given so much away. And this was mostly out of one amazing hive with some from a second hive. The weather here was horrible at the wrong time so honey is down this year for me but at least the bees look healthy (and their winter stores here are loaded.)

Anyone who might be interested in beekeeping should know this: due to the mites and things imported from across the ocean the honey bee population in the US would probably mostly die out without the efforts of amateur and commercial beekeepers. And there goes 1/4 to 1/3 of our food supply. If you set up and manage just a single hive you will be part of the solution!

JKJ

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks guys. Now I understand. This really is fascinating!
Fred

[Mike Henderson]

Beekeeping here in California is pretty easy, especially where I live. We have mild temperature in the winter so the bees never go "dormant" - they forage all year round, although spring brings the new flowers and the best nectar flow.

We have some Africanized bees reported in our area but I've never encountered any. Jim has already talked about requeening a hive, but I'll point out that you can buy a queen that has been artificially inseminated if you fear that she might breed to an Africanized drone.

Taking care of bees is pretty simple - after all, they survived for eons without man helping. But you can help them out occasionally. Hobby bees are not treated like the commercial bees used for pollination of almond orchards so they do much better. If you're interested in how commercial bees are treated, read "The Beekeeper's Lament". A good read even if you aren't interested in keeping bees.

I'm fortunate in that I became friends with a professional beekeeper (for honey, not pollination) so I get advice and help when needed (I do woodworking for her). I also use her extraction equipment. The problem with extraction equipment is storing it and cleaning it before and after use. If you're a hobby beekeeper, you'll probably only use the extraction equipment a couple of times a year. And the powered extraction equipment is fairly expensive, maybe $1,000 depending on size and bells and whistles.

If you're going to get into bees, MAKE SURE you're not allergic to bee stings and no one in your family is allergic. If you work around bees, you'll get stung. You'll want to do something and you won't want to go through the trouble of suiting up so you wind up getting a sting or two. At least, that's the way I do things.

And every now and then, you're walking in the area of the hive and one of the ladies decides to whack you. Don't know why, maybe she doesn't like your after shave or was just afraid you're a danger to the hive. Bees from a hive full or honey are more protective than bees from a starter hive (with little honey and brood).

Mike

[Since Africanized bees are in our area, I suspect most of the feral hives we catch have some Africanized genes. I should re-queen the hive I have and see if that makes them more docile.]

[Rod Sheridan]

Gardening and motorcycling.

Here's a photo of our bikes and tent at the BMW Rally in Hamburg NY in July.......Rod.
Das Rally.jpg

[Dennis Peacock]

Gardening
Riding motorcycles (been riding for 50 years)
R/C airplanes (used to be an instructor)
Electric Bass guitar
Acoustic and electric guitar
Mandolin
Piano
woodturning
music in general
Photography
I LOVE to fly in real airplanes and I have 4.5 hours in a Cessna 172, one day, I hope to be able to fly on my own.
Upholstery
ok, I'm tired now....so I'll rest.

[Sherry Canon]

I read a lot and experiment new recipes in the kitchen(most of them don't turn out to be a success but still I try )

[Tom Giles]

Fishing
Playing with the dog
Fishing
Gardening
and fishing

[John K Jordan]

Gardening

...R/C airplanes (used to be an instructor)

...I LOVE to fly in real airplanes and I have 4.5 hours in a Cessna 172, one day, I hope to be able to fly on my own.

Dennis, I had no idea there were R/C airplane instructors. I could have used one years ago. Now I have fun with R/C hellicopters and quads. We fly two little copters and one tiny quad around inside the shop and house and some bigger outside. Someday I hope to get a quad with a camera.

It was R/C airplanes that got me interested in flying "real" airplanes. I was at the R/C field here once watching some amazing flying (had a nice paved runway!) when a plane went by far overhead. As I was I watching it I suddenly thought, hey, THAT would be fun! I joined a club, found an instructor and got my private license in 1975 or so. Good fun (but what an expensive hobby!)

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

Yea, I did R/C years ago, John, and there are folks who are instructors in most clubs that are part of the major association. This is "back in the day" (early-mid 1970s) with our first RC plane. I guess you could say it was one of my first woodworking projects, too.

[John K Jordan]

Yea, I did R/C years ago, John, and there are folks who are instructors in most clubs that are part of the major association. This is "back in the day" (early-mid 1970s) with our first RC plane. I guess you could say it was one of my first woodworking projects, too.

I think my first wood project was a plane too, sometime mid '60s. I glued up balsa pieces and covered with tissue paper. It made a fascinating pile of rubble in short order.

JKJ

[Bill Jobe]

Tom, you should give fishing a try. Very relaxing.

[Rich Riddle]

Well I went to the library and checked out about nine books on beekeeping; we're interested in staring in the spring. I am certainly glad I am not a male bee (a drone).....one moment of happiness in mid-air and you fall to your death, or the females chase you out to die when it gets cold outside. Poor fellas.