BEE KEEPING

Bee Keeping

Dadant Catalog: http://www.dadant.com/

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/beekeeping/

Beekeeping: The Beekeeper's Home Pages - Main Page
Beekeeper's Jokes Archive
Benny the Bee's Home Page
Benny the Bee in Hungary
Bee Language Dance Demonstration
Beekeeper's Meetings Information
Beekeeping News
Archived News Articles
Bear and Beekeeper Story
Sanford's Beekeeping in the Digital Age
he Nachbaur Papers - Editorials
Beekeeper's Photographs
Bee Hive Photos
The Honey Page
Honey Flowers Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Comb Honey Page
Dr. Kerr: How He Brought Africanized Bees to Brazi
EB White's The Song of the Queen Bee

How to Begin Beekeeping
Leo Tolstoy: Bees in War and Peace
Magazine Articles by Ron Miksha

Blog
http://www.beesource.com/
Resource for beekeeping

http://www.beemaster.com/honeybee/beehome.htm
Online tutorial for beekeeping

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/beekeeping.html
This publication discusses various aspects of beekeeping or apiculture, including state inspection programs, beginning basics, income sources and budgets, insurance, Africanized bees, organic certification, and various bee pests and diseases. Information on educational and training opportunities and further resources are also discussed.



Why are bees dying?
http://dels.nas.edu/pollinators/?gcl...FQ1dPgodkhf1LQ
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...7beesdying.htm
http://www.economist.com/science/dis...ory_id=9070846

They arrived yesterday in the trunk of our car. Two Italian queens and forty thousand loyal hand maidens.
We successfully homed them in their new hives which are about as large as a portable documents file box.
They are so gentle that it is easy to forget they fly armed. If you stand still they buzz about you in a chorus
of natural music.

After twenty four hours the workers had eaten the marshmallow sealing the entrance of the queens prison. The colony
has settled in and are busy doing what bees do. This year is an experiment to see how we do. If thing go well, come
the harvest we will have 180 pounds or roughly eight gallons of honey to eat and barter with. If we succeed as good
stewards we will expand to twenty five hives next year.

For the small holder they are an ideal livestock. Our tiny four acres would not support
one cow. We must purchase feed for our chickens as we cannot raise our own. But the bees
will support themselves once they are established. As good stewards we must only watch them for disease and allow them to do what they do.

They are a welcome blessing here at Fancy Dutch Farm

Anyone here who knows us is aware that we are neo-luddites who seek to
minimize and selectively employ technology. In many instances we have
found that the ways of our grandfathers or the ways of nature are
superior to what is offered in the marketplace Why buy a tractor when
you can
do the job with a cow, a horse, or a goat?

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/9XfPTCafVIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/9XfPTCafVIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>



This hand operated honey extractor would also nicely convert to bicycle power to capitalize on the strength of YOUR CHILD'S legs.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/G9vnBls0tDM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/G9vnBls0tDM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

I wish you well with your colony of bees Baggywrinkle .
Living myself in the middle of a big city listening to your wonderfull
life close to nature is of great joy to my heart .
These tales have become much too rare nowadays .
To me this wisdom that should be shared
from generation to generation ...
How many citizens nowadays have still a clue of what it
took to have a jar of honey made ?
Part of my childhood I have spend in the country playing
and helping around in a nearby farm . These are dear
memories to me of my roots with mother earth.


Love from me
mudra

Is urban beekeeping really possible? Can you really keep bees in the middle of a huge metropolis? Yep, it is possible, and many people do it. If you’re skeptical about the feasibility of keeping bees in the bustling city, would beehives kept on the roof of the Chicago City Hall convince you?
It’s true. Since 2000, Chicago has maintained hives on the City Hall rooftop. The honey from these hives is harvested each year and auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charity. Recently, the City of Chicago has expanded their involvement in urban beekeeping by also placing bee hives on the roof of its Cultural Center. So it is quite feasible to keep bees in an urban environment.


Bees do Great in the City!
In fact, honey bees seem to thrive in an urban environment. And it could even be argued that in some ways, city bees are better off than their country cousins. Bees kept in the country or even in a suburban environment are often at great risk of being poisoned by pesticides.


Whether encountered in a farm field sprayed by a crop duster, or in a homeowner’s back yard sprayed for dandelions, exposure to pesticides is devastating to honey bee colonies. But the risk of bees being exposed to a pesticide is much less in the middle of a city.

You might think that there wouldn’t be an adequate supply of nectar and pollen to support bee hives in a city, but that generally is not true. A city environment actually offers multiple sources of forage for honeybees. A city park with flowering trees, clover growing in the grass of roadside medians, potted flowers on windowsills and balconies, and many other sources provide an abundance of bee forage.

In fact, there are professional beekeepers that keep their hives on city rooftops and balconies specifically to harvest and sell the honey.


Want to Give it a Try?
If you’re a city dweller, and you’re considering becoming involved in urban beekeeping, there are a few things to think about before ordering your hive.

You need to make sure it’s legal in your city. Most cities nowadays not only permit beekeeping, they even encourage it. But there are a few exceptions. One notable exception is the City of New York, which does not permit ownership of venomous insects. However, there is an effort underway to change that law in New York. (In the meantime, there are a number of residents who keep bees on their rooftop anyway. Not that I’m encouraging anyone to violate the law, of course!)

You should also be sure that you have a suitable location for your hive. It should be located where the flight path of the bees will not come close to pedestrians. A rooftop or balcony will make an excellent location, but be sure that you have control over who has access to the hive. You don’t want a neighbor’s child, for example, to have unsupervised access to the hive location.

Take care to work your bees when conditions are good, and the bees likely to be gentle and non-aggressive (obviously a good idea no matter where you live!). Also, be sure there are no pedestrians or bystanders around (other than those who have your permission to watch) when you work your bees. If the bees should become a bit testy, you don’t want anyone getting stung.

So if you’re interested in beekeeping, don’t let the fact that you live in a city keep you from giving it a try. Become an urban beekeeper. I can’t think of a better way to connect with nature in the middle of the big bad city!

My dad, before he passed away, had a small bee hive. One quick lesson was to ALWAYS use white gloves! He had but one pair, and gave a neighbor who was helping, a pair of brown jerseys.
Not realizing that the brown jersey glove sort of looks like the bee's predator, a huge brown spider!
Within seconds, our neighbors hands were covered in bees. He quickly pulled the gloves off. They didn't even bother his bare hands. Just went after the brown gloves. lol
I would have loved to taken my dad's hives when he passed away. But. I didn't know enough to keep them alive. Plus, I have horses on the property. And my mom was worried I'd be allergic to the bee stings. So she gave them to an experienced bee keeper. Hives, extractor, suites and all.

If I ever manage to expand our land to more than our small 10 acres though. I plan to try bee keeping though.

Baggywinkle,

Thankyou for who you are and the info you give on the Bees. I am a honey baby. Love the stuff, the only suger you need.

Although I do not keep bees at the moment I would like to. I was told once that it is possible to build an "attracting Hive" in order to allow the colonisation of a queen to happen. Is this any different to a normal hive, and do you have experience in this?

I would like to follow the instructions you may have.

L&L

t