djmb74

Just lined things up to get some bee hive's in April!!!

No more pollinating my squash and it sure will help out the blue berry bushes I am getting next month!

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Abnshrek

I wish you luck in not getting stung.. or your hive getting over run with killer bees.. I guess their a good guard dog too :^) nobody's messing with them.. lmao

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cherokee_greg

cool deal good luck

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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
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LilRaverBoi

Awesome! Do you have to care for the bees or is it an outside individual taking care of them? I had a hive at my house (two at one point...one at my place and one at my grandparents place) that we took care of. It can be a lot of work, but it's definitely worth the pollination benefits if you have a lot of flowering/fruiting plants!

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djmb74

We will be raising them,going the natural route with smaller top bar bee hives do my part to help raise less stressed out colonies to do my part in fighting CCD!

Getting stung ain't so bad, no one in my family is allergic and actually a few stings every once in a while can be good for you! Heck when me and my brothers grew up in Washington state we used to get into situations with bee's all the time. Playing out in the woods up there we would run into a hive at least once a week. We started marking all the locations were bee hives were and made a map had our tree forts marked and how many steps to each bee hive from our forts...

In Florida they have inspectors that go around checking all the hives for sickness and killer bee's. When you set up a hive you have to register with the state.

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Patty in Wisc

If I get stung by a bee, I'm dead.

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

djmb74

I make sure to train my Bee's to never sting anyone name Patty!

;-)

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Patty in Wisc

Thank you! That was cute.
It was the 4th sting for me that put me in E room. I later read that after 3 stings some ppl develope allergy. Last summer I felt a little tickle on my neck, so I brushed my hair away & felt something - not quite a sting, & then saw a bee fly away. I think his stinger just barely touched my neck - didn't feel like a sting but I started reacting...big red welt, so I did my epi pen shot & took 2 benadryls & laid down. The E room DR. told me the 5th sting would be much worse. I do wear shoes in the garden now as that was how I got stung last time...I stepped on it & he got me on bottom of my toe. OUCH!
I hope your bees help. Good luck!

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

sbl

Good luck--
I hope you do not have any problems with CCD or mites. We have seen a modest increase in bees around here, but not enough to pollinate my squash! Blueberries have not been a problem--thanks to the Southeastern Blueberry Bee--looks like a small bumble bee.

djmb74

Thats why I am going with the type of hive as I said. To help overcome CCD, getting some bee's that are being raised to be less stressed hives.

Getting my hives from Sam with anarchyapiaries.org

His theory on CCD...

Less Invasive Beekeeping | Anarchy Apiaries

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jeffreyp

Each year I have noticed larger and larger increases in honey bees over the past 4-5 years. In fact I have seen more swarms of honey bees in the past 5 years than any other time in my life here in florida (about 25 years). I think most of the European bees have died out and what I am seeing now (I am in the southeast part of Florida) are africanized honey bees. I used to raise Italian and caucasian bees and got out of the hobby when mites (varroa) became problematic. I suppose one of the good things about African bees is that they are resistant to mites and disease but for good measure keep an eye on your bees and make sure your queen does not get replaced with an African queen or end up fooling around with african drones. In either case your hive(s) will become increasingly more aggressive as the worker bees are replaced with African worker bees and the hive becomes unmanageable. African bees can also do a "hostile takeover" of your hives as well, why work for food when you can takeover a home loaded with honey? African bees can also fill in the gap for food crops where European bees are now scarce. A couple things to remember about African bees is if they chase you don't stop running until you get into a building, jumping into a pool or lake doesn't work because they will wait for you to surface. A few months ago I was walking a cross country track by a school near where I live and out of seemingly nowhere I was buzzed a couple times by a honey bee. It wasn't the normal buzzing sound but a really irate high pitch buzzing sound that meant I am really pissed at you (you'll learn bee moods when you work your hives). I didn't see anything nearby that could have been a nesting area which could have prompted that but it made me think about the aggressiveness of African bees vs. European bees. I was at the point where I was about to start running but luckily mr. bee decided I wasn't a threat. European bees would almost never be so annoyed if you walked by their nest.

sbl

I did not realize that killer bees were in FL--I just looked at the map and they are already north of Tampa! Not here yet, but I guess it is inevitable.

djmb74

In Florida all bee keepers must be registered with the state and they come and inspect your hives on a regular basis for killer bee's and disease...

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