LOL no, uh, i hadn't realized that until I posted it, it was just the way I took the pic. He was actually looking at something on the other side of the fence and her butt just got in the way of my picture.
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LOL no, uh, i hadn't realized that until I posted it, it was just the way I took the pic. He was actually looking at something on the other side of the fence and her butt just got in the way of my picture.
great!!!!!!
uh, which part? LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by TucsonMax
Please don't let it be the butt part. Please oh please oh please.
Sure, a swift kick in the rear will get that laziness right in check! :eek2:Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel_chick
Along with some caffine, of course. :pepsi:
that's what you really meant, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayden Tor
it's been hot and i've not gotten much done this summer either for that matter.
haha. uh, I think everyone got confused! I know that I am.
And caffine doesn't help at this point. It needs to cool off now, someone turn the heater off! 115 degrees today again. Ugh!
i have always heard that if you use/eat Local honey it will help with allergies. but the trick is.. it needs to be local...the bee's need to be makin the honey out of what ever is causing your head to stop up. but you still need to look into the local honey. some of them just plant a lot of clover around there hives.Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel_chick
Don't forget the wax. I go through a lot of wax every year. I make bullet lube for smokless using 50/50 beewax and white litheum grease and for the muzzleloaders using 25/75 beeswax and Crisco. I use it to make cream and salves and a discussed in other threads, waterproofing leather and wood.
I make my own pipes and use it to seal the stem to the bowel and as a seal on some canned good.
It is a super rust preventative on tools...The list goes on.
crayons- I will mention that to a friend of mine, she has bad allergies and the allergy meds don't work so well.
peter- wow, that is a lot of good info. The bullet lube, that is a good idea, we have a 50 cal. Is that any harder to clean out?
Max Oliver winery here in indiana does mail order they make a very good one it's called camelot mead. I think they ship out of state if your interseted. google oliver winery to get their web address.Quote:
Originally Posted by maximilian
Using the wax/Crisco there shouldn't be any lube to clean out. If there is a trace it'll come right out.Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel_chick
I think if anything it'd need to be wildflower honey, local or not. Because yes, most honey is clover and that'll do you no good against golderod.Quote:
Originally Posted by ieatcrayons
anyone gather honey from the wild ever? Follow some honey bees back to their hive and pull a winnie the pooh on them?
Yes, but not really wilds. The last feral bee job I did I was able to harvest some honey.
I have only gathered wild honey one time here in FLA. it was a hive in Pine Lakes. the Bees built thier combs in a hollow oak tree. i was able to get about one or two cups of honey and the wax was the real prize!!! i felt lucky because i only recieved five or six stings in the process. i gathered the comb at day break when the bees were least active
if you smoke the hive you will get even less stings. Never got any honey from a wild hive but know how it is done. Read the foxfire books,use a smoker cut the top of the tree with a saw then the bottom and you have your own natural hive that you can now move wherever you want. I think you may need to smoke them often during the process. Not sure but any place that has bee supplies should have a smoker. Here is a link to a site for beekeeping supplies.
http://www.millerbeesupply.com/
there are plenty just do a search for beekeeping supplies, The main reason I went there was to get a picture of a smoker so y'all could understand what I'm talking about.
I was able to collect some honey and wax recently.
We apparently have a feral hive around here somewhere. I noticed a lone honey bee on my flowers in the back on Wednesday. On Thursday there must have been 20 or so collecting pollen. Really cool. It's the most honey bees I've seen wild around here in several years. The flowers were loaded with them today.
Do a search on honey mead. I think you'll like it.
http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-mead-honey.html
http://davespicks.com/writing/mme/contents.html
I always have tons of honey bees in my yard. Carpenter and bumblebees too, but definitely lots of honey bees. They're always on my sedum in the fall, privet in early summer, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Lots of honey bees in our yard as well. Planting a yard to attract certain critters has the added benefit of all of their friends showing up to the party.
We generally have everything from Cicada Killers to Bumble Bees to Yellow Jackets but Honey Bees have been very scarce that last few years. I'm glad to hear you guys still have them in good numbers. Hugely important to the ecosystem.
They know they're safe in my yard. Unless it's a paid hit, I leave em alone.
All this talk about honey has made me wonder where exactly to find it. I plant a garden every year and the area around it is always full of red and white clover. bees love it and I never spray any pesticides until just before dark after the bees have gone to bed. honeybees have become very scarce around here and I can't say I've ever found a feral nest. There are beekeepers in the area with hives made and you find those along the edges of fields.
hornets on the other hand seem to be in no shortage.
So how do I find bees in the wild?
I could use some of that honey for sweetener for beverages (last nights sumac tea could have been a little sweeter) and I could really really use the wax to seal up my mocs and possibles bag. This year I want to make a snack bag as well and the wax would help to seal that to keep the pemmican/meat dry. I know places where I can buy it, but lets face it, can you really put a price on such a commodity? yes, apparently $7 a pound...
I have never come across a feral bee colony while just out wandering. Being in the business that I am, I get calls to come and get rid of them. One of the things you can do - depending on where you live - is to start your own hives. Now, if you are in a residential area - not a good idea. Another concern, and why the State of Florida has directed pest control operators to destroy, not harvest feral bee colonies is the presence of Africanized Honey Bees. They can be extremely aggressive and dangerous.
See? One MORE reason I don't need to live in Florida. Gators, fire ants, killer bees, sharks, ancient drivers! Good grief.
There were few bees where I lived a year ago, 15 miles away. now there are many in my new stompin ground. i think there is a wild colony nearby. the house across the street had a huge hive in the old fireplace/ chimney and honey oozed out from between the bricks.
My uncle just came back from a visit to KY. 10 bucks for a quart mason jar of comb honey. it tastes so good too.:tongue_smilie:
Honey is used in a similar way as rooting hormone or willow water to encourage the start of root growth.
wow...
I noticed some bees buzzing around an oak tree to the side of the trail we cleaned last week as I was coming out of the woods yesterday. The trunk had a hole in it and it was full of honeybees!! I got close enough to see in with my binoculars and it is dripping honey! I wanted to take pics but I dont know how to tell Killer bees from native ones so I kept my distance.
WOW. I found a feral beehive! how cool is that!
now I gotta figure out if they are killers, and how to get the honey and wax out. I will be doing some research on this over the next week and hopefully will have more pics and info to share with you guys.
I'm stoked! this is the first time I have EVER found wild bees and I've spent a lot of time in the woods! Hornets and paper wasps are pretty common, but not honeybees! any advice you guys want to share is much appreciated!
thanks in advance! And thanks for starting this thread!
I do quite a bit of bee work. Ask away. As far as the term "killer bees" - no such thing. Africanized honey bees (more aggressive) and European honey bees (get stung and you'll think they are aggressive enough). The only way to tell the difference is through DNA testing. Seriously though, be happy to give any advice I can.Quote:
Originally Posted by your_comforting_company
Thanks crashdive.
I know folks use smoke to calm the bees so they are less apt to sting. whats the best method for smoking the hive without having to drop a bunch of money on equipment? I dont want to hurt any of the bees either. All the info I see so far is pointing to bee keeping equipment and money is just something that is in short supply around here.
I'm sure I can come up with some old window screen or something to fashion one of those bug hats out of, and I've got some coveralls and gloves. Is there anything else I need?
Can I just use my pocketknife to harvest the comb? I'll be sure to take a good size container to put it in and leave plenty for the bees. Should I take something for them to use that would help them rebuild? I want to be conservative and preserve the balance. This is the first time I've ever come across feral bees and I dont want to destroy the colony. I know your job usually is destroying them, lol, but maybe you know how to preserve them too :D
thanks again.
back to reading!
Karma has arrived. Bear and bees. Who wins?
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wil...-down-by-a-bee
Why couldn't you use something like bulap inside a coffee can or some other can with a lid? That way you can control how much O2 gets to the burning burlap.
For a bee suit - coveralls will work OK. Gloves (tape the wrists) should work. I would wear a pair of rubber gloves over top of them (even the playtex dish washing gloves should work) as the dripping honey gets a bit messy. As far as a head veil - those mosquitto head nets will work, but you need to wear something underneath it. If it touches you anywhere, the stingers can as well. As far as a smoker - the bellows in the bee smokers are nice so you can direct the smoke where you want it to go. I imagine a coffee can with smoldering wood chips or burlap in it will work. I would recommend using something like those ziplock containers that you can get at the grocery store. The big rectangular ones. You don't need any tools to break off a piece of comb. I would just harvest one or two pieces (depending on the size of the colony) Let them rebuild - you will always have a source of honey. No sudden movements - it is a little unnerving when you hear thousands of bees buzzing around your head (gets real loud). Just make sure you seal the openings at your ankles, wrists, and around your head gear.
Duct tape. Don't forget the duct tape!!!!!!
thanks guys. I just remembered my copy of "Back to Basics" from Readers Digest 1981 had some information on this, I read back through it and feel a bit more confident that I won't hurt the population. It says bees consume about 8 pounds of honey to make one pound of wax. I don't expect to get much wax or honey my first time in. I'm not absolutely sure that it is a big hive because I didn't get very close, but I could see honey combs with workers so I know it is at least 2 years old. I think 1/4 pound would do my mocs and possibles bag. In addition we have a Chinese Tallowtree that I intend to make wax from as soon as the nuts open. I also know where quite a few of these have escaped into the woods and have grown to decent size, so maybe I can use that instead of damaging the combs.
I also read that you can place a mixture of 1 part sugar to 1 part water in a jar for the bees so they dont have to travel as far to get nectar to make honey and wax.
All my other projects just got put on the back burner. I will be preparing for harvest when the First hard freeze comes in late November. Once I think I have all my ducks (tape) in a row I'll get back on my other projects.
I think I'll head over to the Making Stuff forum now to talk to some metalworkers about fashioning a bee bellows for smoking them. I keep plenty of punk wood on hand for smoking buckskin so that part is no problem.
Thanks for all your help guys. I'm super excited to have found such a valuable resource in the woods! I can't hardly wait till cold weather! Did I mention I was excited?
what do bees say after a long day at work?
"Honey, I'm home!" ;)
Take a look at the posts I just did in the Rebel Chick Knife thread. It's one way to separate the wax and honey. For my next batch I'm going to make a press and try that method.
Honey is the only foos known to man that wont go off, it has no used by date.
Here in Australia we get the honey bees, but are also lucky as we have a Native bee that is about 1/4 the size of a honey bee and no sting, The aboriginals call the honey and wax Sugar bag and it is a delicacy. It is tastier than commercial honey.
http://www.sugarbag.net/honey/:tongue_smilie:
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