Bee Keeping

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 07:16 PM

Mrs. Crash and I took a class on beekeeping today. Here are a few pics from our handling experience.

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**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 11-14-2009, 07:41 PM

The girl in the last photo was a photo op?

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 07:47 PM

Nah. There were about 20 students there from one of the local colleges. The were Business majors and are looking at what it would take and the possibilty of starting a business that would help others get started with bee keeping. I only took that picture because of Sourdough. Here's another.

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**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 11-14-2009, 07:52 PM

Looks like you and Mrs. Crash had a good time... Nice post! I am getting interested in bee keeping because of it!

**wildWoman** · 11-14-2009, 07:58 PM

Cool! We'd also love to keep bees but from what we've been able to find out, we'd have to keep the hive at a certain temperature in the winter, which makes it a no-go.
Are you going to get bees?

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 08:06 PM

We may in the future, but not for now. I kind of wanted to focus on my line of work. Because of the problems with Africanized Honey Bees in the state, I am required to destroy feral colonies. I figured if I could learn more and possibly save some, it would be better for all. Many beekeepers in the state won't touch feral colonies for the fear of contaminating their hives. What I learned that I thought was pretty cool was that if you kill the queen of an Africanized hive and properly introduce a new queen (non Africanized) you can turn the entire colony into a tame (relative in bee terms) hive. Something I want to explore.

**wildWoman** · 11-14-2009, 08:10 PM

Wow, that sounds really interesting! Kudos for going to those lenghts for the bees

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 08:11 PM

Without em life would kind of suck.

**Survival Guy 10** · 11-14-2009, 10:15 PM

yea there would be no pollination

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by Survival Guy 10

yea there would be no pollination

Which means?

**nell67** · 11-14-2009, 10:24 PM

As much as I love honey,I don't wanna learn how to keep a hive,I'm allergic o the THOUGHT of getting stung.

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 10:25 PM

The only person to get stung today was Mrs. Crash. My fault I guess - here honey hold this frame so I can get a picture......oops.

**nell67** · 11-14-2009, 10:27 PM

Woulda served you right if she had wacked you with the frame,lol

**crashdive123** · 11-14-2009, 10:32 PM

That would've sucked. There were about 100 bees crawling on it.

**nell67** · 11-14-2009, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

That would've sucked. There were about 100 bees crawling on it.

Payback would have been h*ll,eh?

**your_comforting_company** · 11-15-2009, 07:30 PM

very interesting post. did that hive not have a queen separator between the top and bottom?

**Winnie** · 11-15-2009, 07:42 PM

As usual nice pics. I'd love to keep bees, they're fascinating. As I've always lived rented accomodation and led something of a nomadic life it's never been possible, but I still hope to sometime.
Has anyone kept bees in skeps? I've read about them but never seen them in use.

**finallyME** · 11-15-2009, 08:44 PM

Crash, great pics. I have also read that if you replace the queen of an africanized hybrid hive, that you eventually get a calm european hive.

Winnie, skeps aren't used much because they are hard to extract honey without killing the hive and destroying the skep. It is also hard to inspect the hive.