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BEE's

Wow, very interesting! I think I would be freaking out in that situation, calm bees or not.
 
Congrats! That's really exciting. My husband's father and grandfather both kept bees when he was a kid. He has a lot of fond memories of helping his dad with the hive. Good luck.
 
I just had a funny daydream of my mailman coming to the door and handing me a big package, and then he says "what's that noise?" and I say "IT's BEES!!!!" And then he drops it and the package bursts open and they swarm.


Haha
 
uuuugh beeeees.... that would scare the bejeezus out of me.

they don't get at all pissed off when you're banging the box around?
 
The most simple answer is they are honey bees, I have stepped on one bare foot without being stung and the bee was fine I was shocked I wasn't stung.
 
Honey Bee's are super nice, they aren't aggressive at all. They can get upset if you open a more mature hive. But you would be Pissed too if i started taking the roof off your hive often. They can be aggressive, if lets say a skunk keeps pestering the hive? They will get mad they just kinda assume, thats how African bee's became so aggressive, that race of Apis melifera just is that way thats why they are aggressive. But People up north don't have to worry as much about Americanized bee's.

Jlap, They would know that their were bee's in the package they arrive pretty much how you saw the guy holding it. If they dropped it they would probably stay in a lump on ground for a min or two.

But when people here the word bee's they generally just think of something like say a wasp, similar coloring and it is just what comes to mind. Its allot like how you here Skunk, but you can still keep them as pets with out a problem but theirs that bad smell rep with them. Bee's just have a bad rep.
 
Cool! Are you going to harvest the honey?

xvart.
 
  • #10
If he dosen't the frames will break from the wieght of honey build up.
 
  • #11
what? where did you here that ant. I hope to harvest at least a Jar for fair, i don't have to, the more stores the better, im thinking of leaving at least 1 super on for the coming year. (super is a small box they put honey in *ill edit my post so you can see it once i find a good diagram*) And hopefully i have a ready to go colony that doesn't need to much feeding in the spring.

*edit*

http://www.msstate.edu/Entomology/Beekeeping/hivegray.jpg

The only difference is their Super has a special kind of "frame" im using just the rectangular frames, if you want more pictures with explanations of what these terms are let me know.
 
  • #12
This is all really fascinating to me. Thanks for sharing and keep it coming! Is it true that honey tastes differently when harvested at different times of the year? I suppose since the pollen is from different flowers it would have to be. Also, how many bees are in a colony?

xvart.
 
  • #13
Yea they make Honey from nectar of plants, pollen is used as food. Honey can take the flavor of many nectars. What the bee's do is kind of evaporate the nectar, get rid of allot of the water in it, and breaking it down to simple sugars as well.

The number of bee's in a colony Depend on the time of year, In winter their numbers decrease significantly, 10-15 thousand (I'm not sure though) but I do know the the biggest a hive can usually get is like 40 thousand, and thats not common but it can happen
 
  • #14
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Ill get the Video Uploaded eventualy. It was trying to snow hence the no veil, to cold for them to fly.
 
  • #15
Did you take any pics. of the queen in the chamber? Nice, did your mom yell at you for doing it unpertected any way?
 
  • #16
It was 35*F dude no way they would fly, the 4-5 that did died. It was to cold to get video of the queen i will get some pictures of the queen I promise!
 
  • #17
Man, thats really cool!!

Almost makes me want to give it a try but I don't know if I have room for another hobby, CPs keep me pretty busy as it is. :-D

Out of curiousity, would I be able to keep them in South Florida? Someone told me once that theres a risk of having africanized bees or something take over.

If that doesn't make sense, don't worry. I'm completely clueless when it comes to bees.
 
  • #18
yes, and their is a risk of Africanized bee's but if you are careful who you get the queen from. Heck im at risk, but not so much as you are. I know some people up north have gotten them but they were quickly destroyed, so they didn't become used to cool weather.
 
  • #19
Is there a way to tell the difference between africanized and the regular passive ones?

Will they just take over or do you have to start out with the wrong colony?
 
  • #20
Only way to tell with africanized is when the colony gets bigger, thats when it gets very defensive.

All bees get defensive when they get larger but africanized bee's are insain, and they travel farther to get you, where EHB only fly like half a mile to chase you. AHB fly in miles, and half the hive usualy fallows, EHB uses significantly less bee's to chase you down. But with the way they look, no They are still Apis melifera just a different "race".
 
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