Episode-73- To Bee Or Not Two Bees

Honey Bee on guard duty
Honey Bee guard and a forager returning
nurse bees, eggs, and larvae
nurse bees, eggs, and larvae

To Bee a beekeeper at this time in life for me is the natural and right thing to do  – The benefits of beekeeping

Two Bees?

  • Part of things to do for a better life 
  • Beekeeping for Dummies and the Back yard beekeeper really got me excited to want to know more. 
  • Been thinking about it for two years and started last year 
  • Had some gardening skills and experience put to production and this seemed like a logical step to get bigger and better fruit 
  • Even they forgae over a 2 square mile are they are stuill found all over my yard. Pretty sure they’re mine for the most part 
  • Wanted to be part of the bigger picture of trying to help these animals 
  • The amount of knowledge I now have compared to two years ago and how the confusion has been tempered through more or an observe and interact mode at this point. 
  • Wanted to see if I could actually get a little honey harvest 
  • The benefits of being with the bees, observing their efforts and realizing how little i do compared to them. They are hard workers. non union and working towards the procreation of the colony. 
  • Apitherapy is the use of beee by products like pollen, propolis , honey and  to for treating of health disorders. In fact it is beleived that bee sting therapy can be used to ease arthritis pain. I can’t attest to that but bee stings are less painful with frequency. Though I do have to rember to remove my wedding ring before inspections 

Or Not Two Bees ?

  • After I realized the honey bess came through the winter swimmingly well I needed to question whether or not I would continue with the current hive but would I add more bees. And I came across some intersitng information from Rusty at Honey bee suite. She helps to beekeepers to stay calm in mids of all the advice out there. 
  • Why Beekeepers quit after a while. In fact 80% of new beekeeprs quit within the first two years. 
  • The bees die. there are at least 28 different major bee ailments that can overcome and kill a colony of bees, These include From American Foulbrood, european foulbrood,  nosema, chalkbrood, sacbrod, stone brood, and there are many more. 
  • Additionally there are are the pests such as as varroa mites, tracheal mites, small hive beetle, wax moths, ants, bears, raccoons, skunks, mice, and birds 
  • No honey after a year or two 
  • harder than anticipated 
  • More expensive than anticipated 
  • Time is required to get to know your bees 
  • Need to learn and be prepared for eventualities. Finding answers is not clear cut 
  • There’s no profit 
  • Neighbors get  noisy 
  • Insurance can sometimes be an issue 
  • With all these things it’s easy to understand why there aren’t more beekeepers. 

What I’m planning for is more bees and honey

  • With all of the new perrenial plants i will have i the groun d in another 5 weeks having more bees seemed the only appropriate thing to do.will be planting blueberry, elderberry, more blackberry, raspberry, asparagus all in addition to the lsit of plants already growing. See the todolisthome.com website for list of all plantings this spring. 
  • Having two hives will allow for easier ways to address problems through brood sharing or queen raising. 
  • could be twice as much fun 
  • if the first hive dies or swarms i don’t lose everything 
  • honey harvest plans have been implement. checkerboarded hive in early March. Added more honey supers. Not medicating for diseases or pests because I don’t see the need to. You can see some of the natural precautions ive taken in the videos and episode located in show notes at todolisthome.com
  • In for a penny in for a pound. Hve things in place to let them live well. have large sugar supply, and other necesstites so might as well help them produce 

When I think of the knowledge i have gained and shared with others especially my family over the past year it has not been an expensive investment. Although everyone seems to be waiting to see if I can actually harvest some honey. Many things remain to be seen and i’ll keep posting about them. That’s it for today now go and bee useful.

Resources

Song of The Day – Enrique Iglesias – I Like It – I Like It VIDEO 

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One thought on “Episode-73- To Bee Or Not Two Bees

  1. It took way to long for me to listen to one of these and I picked a dandy. Funny and iinformative. Keep up the good work!

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