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Thread: Bees .. any one else keeping Bees?

  1. #1
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    Default Bees .. any one else keeping Bees?

    So we have been keeping bees up here for last 6 years.
    Our beekeeping started by accident when a swarm decided to set up home in the eaves of our barn one spring.
    I borrowed a hive from a neighbor and the bees took to it.

    We have 50 or so fruit trees up here so I was very happy about this.

    Our policy is that the bees are here to pollenate the fruit & we don't keep them for honey.
    We only take a small amount of the honey they produce so that we don't have to feed them over the winter.

    Sadly the changing climate up here in the Swiss alps has led to warm spells during the winter, we have over the last 2 years lost most of our colonies through this.
    The bees fly out as the day warms up but don't make it back to hives when the temp drops ( this happens in minutes when the sun dips over the mountain )

    I would like to know if anyone else here is keeping bees in their garden & if not would you like to now how to encourage the wild bees?

    Simon


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  3. #3
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    Thank you ..

  4. #4

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    swissbrit you need to keep them locked in for the winter just plug up the entrance hole.
    and they'll be fine.
    coyotes listen to them, like children of the night what music they make.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

    DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOVE ADVICE unless you want to kill your bees.
    Can't Means Won't

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I can't even imagine how many bees will show up for the funeral. Gonna take a lot of honey to keep that crowd happy.

  7. #7
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    In colder climates you need to add honey (if you saved it) or sugar water (a simplified explanation) to give the bees something to feed on during colder times. They will regulate the temperature in their hive.
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  8. #8

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    i used to keep bees and did that every winter and never lost any due to closing up the hive.
    n fact mannlake a company who sells all manner of bee eqpt. even sells the small wood slots
    for doing so. winters here can be brutal as well as it keeps mice out in the winter,
    coyotes listen to them, like children of the night what music they make.

  9. #9
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    So, you never added sugar water or honey to feed the bees that you just closed in and they survived?
    Can't Means Won't

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  10. #10
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    He gives each of them little teeny tiny oxygen masks.

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  11. #11

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    no you always leave a portion of the honey for thier food. syrup oralso called sugarwater is
    given in the spring cause by then the honey has already been eaten.
    i quit keeping bees cause i lost too many de to the varroa mite,pesticicde sprayplanes
    and the cost of sugar doubled ect.. raising bees can be quite involved sometimes.
    coyotes listen to them, like children of the night what music they make.

  12. #12
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Well ---- now you know why I said do not follow the previous advice that you offered. You need to do more than
    just plug up the entrance hole.
    and they'll be fine.
    To a novice that has not kept bees, they may not know that it is more involved than just plugging up the entrance hole.
    Can't Means Won't

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