For bee keepers

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by walterjay
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by walterjay
. I kept bees for 10 years and fortunately never had to deal with it in my area.


Why did you stop?

I was tired of medicating bees and trying to keep them healthy. Also, there seemed to be a limited amount of nectar available in my area. The last year I kept them I was down to two bee hives. When I inspected them in the spring, a rat had gotten into one hive and was living in the bottom. The other hive was weak. I was done putting time and money into what should have been an enjoyable hobby.
Years ago bees were able to take care of themselves...not any more. Quite sad.



Agreed

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Mainia


Why not make a smaller wide slit opening so "the big boy" can't fit in, and the small bees can fly right in.



Good point!

Seems to be a logical approach. Anyone here know the answer to this?

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Mainia


Why not make a smaller wide slit opening so "the big boy" can't fit in, and the small bees can fly right in.



Good point!

Seems to be a logical approach. Anyone here know the answer to this?


Do you guys really think offering suggestions to the bees would work? Like they would take your advice?

My guess is that their frontal area is similar, they're just longer and they have those mandibles in front of them that could probably widen the door opening so it wouldn't matter if it was smaller, after all, they use them to cut the bee's head off.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Wolf359


My guess is that their frontal area is similar, they're just longer and they have those mandibles in front of them that could probably widen the door opening so it wouldn't matter if it was smaller, after all, they use them to cut the bee's head off.


You could use coated metal or other material that could not be penetrated by the wasp's mandibles.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Mainia


Why not make a smaller wide slit opening so "the big boy" can't fit in, and the small bees can fly right in.



Good point!

Seems to be a logical approach. Anyone here know the answer to this?


You can't make it small enough to prohibit intruders from coming in and still allow the proper ventilation of the hive.
The workers can deal with most any intruder that comes through the front door with no problem. It's the ones that come
through the roof that cause the problems.

 

[4WD]

Same thing happens on my Purple Martin houses. Starlings chew the bottom of the door to make it big enough.
This year I added a metal strip to the bottom of the opening … problem solved.

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by Barkleymut
Dave, I tried and now the other people in the office have called HR.


I spit my drink all over the screen, woke the wife and startled the cat. Somebody promote this guy to Corporal !

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by Dave9
Try to precisely poke something with your posterior. It's isn't happening, too hard for them to find a soft spot they can penetrate.

That's what bees do. You can't squirt a noxious liquid out of glands on your posterior into the eyes of an attacker either, but that's what skunks do.


I believe wasps do this with aphids too.

 

[JLawrence08648]

I read that the predator to the Orange Monsters Hornets is the Praying Mantis. It tears off it's head. Payback!

The suggestion of bee hives having a smaller opening slit is genius. The honeybees can get through a smaller opening but the Monsters can't.

 

[walterjay]

The suggestion of bee hives having a smaller opening slit is genius. The honeybees can get through a smaller opening but the Monsters can't.[/quote]

Nice suggestion, but if you worked with bees and understood how this all plays out you would realize that the smaller screening would not ultimately work.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by walterjay


The suggestion of bee hives having a smaller opening slit is genius. The honeybees can get through a smaller opening but the Monsters can't.


Nice suggestion, but if you worked with bees and understood how this all plays out you would realize that the smaller screening would not ultimately work.
[/quote]

Amen.

It's hard to explain "bee space" ain't it? I thought about it but decided it was too complicated to text.

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted by opus1
Bees sting as a last resort. When a bee stings you, the barbs in the stinger keep it inside the victim and when the bee flies away, the stinger and vital organ(s) stay with the stinger so the bee dies.

I guess if the end result is the same, it would be worth the bee's life to save the hive, but I don't think they can reason that way.

And then there are the Japanese bees that surround the murder hornet and cook it to death...

It's amazing how the upper limit of the hornet's ability to tolerate the heat and the bee's upper limit mesh so that the bees can kill it without killing themselves,

That's pretty cool........well, in this case, pretty "HOT!"

 

[Gebo]

I wonder who designed that?

 

[walterjay]

Originally Posted by Gebo
Originally Posted by walterjay


The suggestion of bee hives having a smaller opening slit is genius. The honeybees can get through a smaller opening but the Monsters can't.


Nice suggestion, but if you worked with bees and understood how this all plays out you would realize that the smaller screening would not ultimately work.


Amen.

It's hard to explain "bee space" ain't it? I thought about it but decided it was too complicated to text.
[/quote]

Yup.

 

[Andrew1972]

My wife would be devastated if that happened with her bees.

She keeps two hives and yields about 60-75lbs/yr honey. The sales money pays for supplies next year . They rarely survive winter.

The swarm technique is what they do if mouse enters hive also.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by Gebo
Originally Posted by JLawrence08648
The suggestion of bee hives having a smaller opening slit is genius. The honeybees can get through a smaller opening but the Monsters can't.


Originally Posted by walterjay
Nice suggestion, but if you worked with bees and understood how this all plays out you would realize that the smaller screening would not ultimately work.


Amen.

It's hard to explain "bee space" ain't it? I thought about it but decided it was too complicated to text.


Why wouldn't it work?

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by ffhdriver
When a "killer hornet" invades a hive, why can't the bees sting it to death before it destroys the hive ?

I was thinking the same thing. The honey bees way out number the invader and I am surprised that cridder can even fit itself into the hive.

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by Gebo
I kept bees for 7 years. I stopped because I got tired of losing hives every year. One day everything is fine and the next day an "empty" hive. I got up to 8 hives at one time and got tired of buying nukes every year. I was paying $10-15 for just one queen.

There were 2 older people who came by to get bee stings in their joints every few weeks. One knees and other elbow. Pretty cool.


Empty as in all dead or did they vacate?

They could have just swarmed too and were clumped in the neighbor's tree.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by Lubener
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by Gebo
I kept bees for 7 years. I stopped because I got tired of losing hives every year. One day everything is fine and the next day an "empty" hive. I got up to 8 hives at one time and got tired of buying nukes every year. I was paying $10-15 for just one queen.

There were 2 older people who came by to get bee stings in their joints every few weeks. One knees and other elbow. Pretty cool.


Empty as in all dead or did they vacate?

They could have just swarmed too and were clumped in the neighbor's tree.



Not true. Swarms are for duplication and growth. Not for desertion.

When a hive gets overpopulated, the old queen leaves with some of her workers when she realizes a new queen is being produced. The old queen leads a swarm. She has to leave because her abdomen is full of eggs and she is unable to fight off and kill the empty bellied virgin queen. She can't manipulate her stinger like she needs to. She knows if she stays, she will most likely die. As most of us know, there is only one queen per household.

"Whenever" there is a vacant hive and the hive is not destroyed, the bees have been killed. They don't vacate.

I bet you didn't know all the workers are females and after the drones (males) have breed the queen, they are drug out the front of the hive and pushed over the ledge.
Drones cannot even feed themselves. Just around for mating. Females do all the work.

When I purchased queens (many breeds to choose from) , I always went through my hives and killed the current queen in the hive first. The workers have to miss the scent of the current queen or they will kill the new queen. Or the current live-in queen may kill my new $15 queen and I lose my new genetics.

Fascinating creatures.