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John, she is a doll baby!


Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
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Way back in the spring of nineteen hundred and seventy six I set-up a beehive for my high school FFA project. I ordered the entire kit, including the bees, from the "Sears" catalog. I distinctly remember that the bees were advertised as high producing "African Honeybees."

The whole kit, including the bees were delivered via the US postal service. First, I received the hive kit and protective gear, and a couple of weeks later the lady postmaster at our small, rural post office called to tell me that my bees had arrived, and she insisted that I come and pick them up ASAP! The bees were crammed into a small, wood framed cage, (approx 6"x6"x10" long) which was wrapped with window screen. Suspended in the center of the cage was a much smaller cage containing the queen. At the time, that was the neatest thing I had ever received in the mail. Of course, since then, I've received some pretty neat stuff in the mail, some of it unmentionable.

Anyhow, after I got home, I reviewed the instructions, suited up, fired the smoker and introduced the bees into their new home. It went pretty well. I was stung a couple of times on my wrists where my skin was exposed, but no biggie. I think I was stung due to my nervousness. However, later on, when I got used to them, I could open the hive and inspect it without smoke or protective gear, and not be stung. Apparently, these weren't Killer Bees, although, I still wonder.

To make a long story shorter. The bees took to their new hive and did what bees do, up until the late summer, when they all disappeared. I don't know what happened to them. My dad speculated that they were poisoned when the power company sprayed defoliant around nearby power lines. God knows what they used back then. Probably Agent Orange or something just as nasty.

The bees never posed any problems the short time they were around. I wish the same could've been said about my sister's lamb project. Damn! that thing was annoying. Every time someone went outside, that lamb sounded off, and would not shut up. Baaah!...baaah!.....baaah! One day my dad jokingly threatened to duct tape it's mouth shut. I told him not to bother, because I had already tried that. Muuuh!...muuuh!...muuuh!


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Thanks KenC, She gets it from her Mother. LOL

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Tums...ya gotta get the little cutie one of these!



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e-Bay #2


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Originally Posted By: Dave Davidson1
I saw a story on Yahoo News this morning about the decline of the European honey bee in the US. It's getting serious.

Mark, those wild bees are about as rare as huge bucks and double digit bass. I wouldn't mess with them unless they become overly aggressive. Every beekeeper will wind up with some wild colonies around when they swarm.

H_L, I don't understand it. I never get stung by anything. But, every wasp and mosquito zooms in on her. One time, we were fishing a neighbors pond/lake and buffalo gnats got on her but didn't bother me. It looked like I had beaten the dickens out of her.


I don't know if it is the soap, shampoo or perfume (even deoderant) anyone is using. We used to keep a thing called an Eppy Pen. It was used for anyone allergic to insect bites (bees and wasps mainly). Thank god we never had to use them....but I'm going to get some more this week "just in case". I "HAVE" to be on the safe side. To many young family members running around here.

Thanks for reminding me....Appreciate it.

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Epi Pen

Short for epinephrine

Please remember that the effect can be short lived and the individual still needs immediate medical attention

Also, it's able to pierce through jeans. Instructions are here for anyone interested

http://www.epipen.com/How-to-use-EpiPen

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Cuties, cuties, cuties.


My littlest are three and five and I worry nonstop when they are out at the farm with me.


I am overrun with fire ants and have lots of snakes. Found an inside out rattlesnake skin Friday about four feet or so.


Never seen honeybees but usually have several large paper wasp nests around. Always a wonderful surprise cleaning out the deer stands to stir up a swarm of angry wasps fifteen feet up in the air.


To Hell with Georgia...
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Great info gallop.... Thanks!

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Got our call, heading down to Georgia this coming Thursday to pick up 12-15 nucs of small cell bees. Only keeping 4 ourselves, the rest are for others in the local club who have an interest in giving small cell a try. Just had my first beekeeping article published in "The Kelley Newsletter", it involves having bees build comb honey in a jar, we top it off with liquid honey. Kind of a neat thing to try which sells good, although you need to really crowd the bees to get them to work in the jars. Link below, Issue 35, May 2013,

https://kelleybees.com/



Bushwacker,

Here's some online resources on beekeeping:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/forum.php

http://dixiebeesupply.com/Dixiebeesupply/Don_Kuchenmeister,_The_Fat_Bee_Man.html

Good luck.

Bryan

Last edited by bryani289swmi; 05/05/13 02:07 PM.
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Bryan, enjoyed your article on having bees create combs in the jars. Some of it I didn't really understand.... crazy Thanks for the reference locations. Those are filled with good information.


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Originally Posted By: liquidsquid
One thing to have around at all times (whether you have bees or not) is an Epi-pen. When you are isolated from immediate care where it may take more than 1/2 hour for an ambulance to reach you, it will save a life.


liquidsquid:


got mine today



Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Don't forget, Epi-pens are one of the few medicines that actually do expire. You have to replace them on a regular basis.

I need to get some myself, but my son's crazy doc will not let me >:-( I have to find another way as my GP won't either. I used to have my father-in-law who was a GP (retired) write me a prescription, but now my doc won't unless I have a proven allergy.

Me and him are going to have a frank discussion. Sure, let my son die first before letting me have one. Doesn't make any frigging sense.

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+1 on that frank discussion. That's BS.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Gentlemen,

How much of the talk of massive honeybee die offs is true? Here's a link that says 1/3 of U.S. bees died last winter.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/winter-honeybee-losses/

I say this because being privy to inside aquaculture stats etc. and seeing what the media prints can be far off the truth.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Not a bee keeper but this did pop up today on a brush pile I was getting ready to burn.. Any suggestions on what I could do..



I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

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More than likely they will leave in a day or so. That's not an acceptable nesting site. They need a cavity of some kind.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Cecil, I think it's mostly true. 20 years ago, I saw a lot of bees on my flowers. Now, they are rare.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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As far as the swarm, you can spray them with some sugar-water to keep them busy, then brush them into a 5-gal bucket with some screen windows. Wear protective cloths if you have them, just in case they are Africanized.

Better yet, contact the local bee-keeping club (most have web groups and sites). They usually have a network of people to find and capture swarms, so it could be a matter of hours to get someone out there to get them.

From what I understand, those losses are true, but mostly commercial bee-keepers that move the bees from place to place. The assumption is that new classes of pesticides are accumulating in the hives to a critical threshold.

The Europeans have made these new pesticides illegal in an effort to help the bees, but us good old Americans are going to wait and see until they are all dead to do anything about it. Perhaps that is a good strategy if we see the European bees bounce back when the pesticides are gone, and the American bees severely struggle.

If it is killing the bees, it cannot be doing humans much better. Not entirely trusting our government to be regulating this stuff.

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Originally Posted By: Cecil Baird1
Gentlemen,How much of the talk of massive honeybee die offs is true? Here's a link that says 1/3 of U.S. bees died last winter.


Cecil the bee-keeper that came out to our place was basically saying the same thing...he said the bee population has been decimated the last few years. If I remember correctly he mentioned something about a beetle or mite that invades the hive and does a lot of damage.


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Honey bees regularly go through declines and recoveries. We rely mostly on wild native bees for the insect pollinated crops (vegetables) on our farm. Those European immigrants (honey bees) don't want to work a full day, and they expect too many goverment benefits smile

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Zep----- varroa mite

Lots of misinformation and confusion out there, ( not you guys). Especially "colony collapse disorder"

Most of the experts agree that the varroa mite weakens the hive and serves as a vector for other diseases, especially viruses. It's these diseases that kill the bees, plus other things like pesticides, man etc.. Leading to colony collapse.

The bees would/will eventually breed increased resistance on their own, which they are, and man is trying to speed that along. The problem is of course man cannot financially wait for bees to do this on their own, so many are forced by their wallet to treat bees with chemicals to get rid of the mite. This of course breeds mite resistance to these chemicals, makes the problem worse, and hinders evolution of resistance strains of bees

There are many beekeepers however, and several large govt/ university projects that are breeding increasingly resistant bees

Long story short---- the bees will eventually evolve and be fine, our agriculture dependent on bees may take a hit in the meantime.


Oh and liquid you have a pm

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Relying so heavily on honey bees is a risk. More research into alternative bee species would be nice! Glad that all our habitat enhancement provides us with lots of wild bees.

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I have a small orchard, a few thousand feet of assorted berries, and a 5 acre garden. Therefore,I depend heavily on bees. I also noticed my hive swarmed yesterday. Many people are bringing in mason bees or bumblebees to help with pollination. Actually, both are better at pollinating certain crops like blueberries. I also grow a lot of gourds, and they bloom at night and are pollinated by moths. Those nasty tomato hornworms become beautiful hummingbird moths.

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isn't a swarm many times the result of when a new young queen is "kicked out" of the hive and takes some bees with her looking for a spot to build a new hive?


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Ok, I just took my tin foil hat off for a minute. I read somewhere, probably on the Internet that the cell phone signals, pesticides, and GMO crops are killing the bees. It said the new faster cell phone signals are confusing the bees and they can't find their way back to hive. On the GMO side the bee lands on plant to pollinate and the poison in it kills beneficial organisms inside bee. Pesticide I believe is self explanatory. Now putting my tin foil hat back on.


If you ain't gonna fart, why eat the beans?
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RES,HBG,YP,HSB,SMB,CC,and FHM. .seasonal trout.
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