Swarms

[liralen]

*headdesks* There are a DOZEN swarms within 30 miles of me. The beekeepers list is just flooded with people's neighbors going AGH! What do I DO?!?

Plus there's a commercial keeper that's going out of business with 200 bee boxes for sale for like $50 for a FULL SETUP.

I am so tempted it's not even funny.

But it's so cool knowing that the local honey bees are doing so well.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

You should totally get a couple of boxes! Why not?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Tempter! *giggles*

It's because I wouldn't really have a good place to put them and because I really don't have the physical capacity, at the moment, to really do the good job of taking care of them.

Or maybe those are just excuses, and I should do it anyway. *laughter*

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

My Dad kept bees for quite some time while I was growing up in a suburb down in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He kept them out behind our house (which was on a 1-acre plot of land in a suburban neighborhood).

If he could keep bees there, I would think one could keep bees just about anywhere.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Well, we have like a quarter acre, and lots of kids... but... your dad had kids running around, too. Hm...

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Yep. Dad always made it very clear: we did not go around behind the house, at least not close to the hives.

And there were times when the bees were swarming and we were told to stay indoors (and I often ignored it and got stung anyway. :P)

You might want to talk it over with Jet and see if he was willing to take the risk. See if he is okay with the fact that there would be certain days he would have to stay inside and not go out.

In the end, unless he's anaphylaxic or allergic to bee stings, the most they'll be is painful.

And the fresh honey and honeycomb are so definitely good things to have.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense. We practically live in our back yard in the summer, so it's going to be a bit harder...

Bees of DOOM

[amberley.livejournal.com]

Best not to think what it might be like to put home-made honey in your tea or on your pancakes, then! That might lead to temptation.

Have you been following Neil Gaiman's Adventures in Beekeeping?

200 hives seems rather a lot, though, even for your ability to plunge in headfirst into a new endeavour and emerge triumphant.

Re: Bees of DOOM

[liralen.livejournal.com]

No no... it's $50 for one box, thank goodness...

But yeah. I like buying local honey for my tea. *grin*

I had NOT seen Gaiman's adventures in beekeeping! Very keen! Thank you!

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

Bees are such cool creatures! I've gotten to study all kinds of bee and wasp nests close up over the years. Did you know the baby larva get all excited when the workers come to feed them? And bumblebees don't sting? I like bees. One of the only reasons I don't keep them is that I'd probably cry if anything happened to the hive. We had a wasp's nest in our window one year and I was all torn up when we had to 'get rid' of it because it was going to get too big and become a menace.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, they are.

I took a beekeeping class a couple of years back and I was totally fascinated.

There's also mason bees and leaf cutter bees and... it's just really cool.

Yeah, I'd cry too if something happened to them, and something probably would. Which is why I think I'm really holding back...

But it's exciting seeing *all* the calls about swarms coming through the beekeepers list.

[rephetibel.livejournal.com]

OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland used to have (maybe still does) a glass or clear plastic hive inside the building. There was a clear tube connecting it to the outdoors. Visitors could watch the bees flying in and out the tube and watch them make honeycombs. I want one of those.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah! There's one of those at the butterfly pavilion, too! It's wonderful to see them, and I think there are actuall plans for oneof those viewing hives on the internet that looks really solid.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

If I were in your neck of the woods, I would so be grabbing those bee boxes! $50 is a phenomenal deal. It's like getting them at 1970 prices. (In SLO county, circa 1977, a hive box went for $65.)

Hey, I'm keeping two hives on a small urban lot...

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. If I got the boxes I could get the bees whenever I actually wanted them and have the equipement for them when I do feel ready to do it.

I may do that...