taniaaust1
Senior Member
- Messages
- 13,054
- Location
- Sth Australia
They can be quite tame if one can say that lol, I found this fascinating
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2RV_tz95Qc haha guy at end
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTLgSqu4r3E (this would have to be the weirdest youtube video Ive seen yet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DobxqhczJyQ another video showing how they can be handled (there are lots of beekeeping videos on youtube where the people aren't even wearing protection.. apparently many bee keepers become immune to stings if the bees sting. I wouldn't count on that though with ME/CFS!)
I had a bee issue the other day so had to call in the bee professionals. I offered to have them set up a beehive in my backyard if the bee nest could be moved (turned out they had to kill it as it was in electrical wiring). The guy if he could of moved it, offered to mentor me in beekeeping, that is how many people learn.
When things didn't work out and the bees had to be killed, he's still willing to mentor me.. I told him Im homebound and he thought it would be a great interest for me to get. He's going to give my name to the local bee association to see if anyone wants to set a hive up at my place so I can learn (people often like to set hives up at places and love to teach others this art of bee keeping). In my state of Australia in a little property like I rent in urban area, one can put in a couple of hives.
Anyway, since then I've been watching youtube videos (its great now I no longer have dial up!) on bee keeping and it looks easy (other then the racks containing the honey can get a bit heavy but on my good days I could lift those). I can see I can easily make up using waste wood from my old friends place a bee box to breed them in and also extremely easily make up a trap box to attract and trap a bee swarm to breed (I guess one could think of trapping a bee swarm as a community service.. better in a bee box then in electrical wires!)
Anyway, this is looking doable for me over a time period and could be a good money gainer for homebound people (unless I collapse onto the hive! ah well, I have an epipen due to all my allergies.. so far Im fine with bees). I was told that one bee hive can produce 60-100kg of honey a year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvaphnin8Iw (easy to sort out once out of the hive . I used to buy it in its natural state like that to eat).
I've seen that quiet bred queen bees can sell for 100s of dollars ($600-800 dollars I saw queens advertised). The process of making queens and setting up new nests is a little more complex but I think also possibly doable for me?. (the bees would have a good water source as I have the fish pond I set up last year or was it year before). (Im more confident in just having a hive and getting honey from it).
......................................................................
Anyway if anyone is interested in looking further into this either as a possible interesting hobbie or as a money maker ...
Basically a swarm trap box is just a wooden box with a hole in it in which a few drops of lemon balm essential oil is used to attract the bees (many just use that) . Bees mostly swarm in spring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KHQSjYMsRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrtLGZysaPE (this novice hasn't painted the box which should be done to keep the water out and his slat bits I think may be are spaced wrong but it gives idea of how simple one could make a swarm trap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBABg3fEgc (guy catches a swarm with a biodegradable flower pot)
(After catching bees in a swarm trap, they are left for a little while to settle in and start brooding..they don't like to leave brood.. before moving them and brood and queen into their new home. One blocks off the enterance once they are all in for the night before moving them. They can also be smoked slightly to quiet them to do that).
all looks easy enough to catch rather then buy bees, it could be a very low cost, money gaining project using things a person could already have at home (I would need to buy one of the protective head things.. could get away with heavy clothes, overalls duct taped on me etc and gloves with the rest. Colour of clothing may be important as bees can apparently see colours and may react differently to them).
Permanent bee home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZDYgBkCx0 (this one has wax on the parts you pull out which bees do the honey and brood so the bees build comb straight but that isn't needed). There is lots of great videos on bee keeping on youtube
If I do ever do this.. I'll share how it goes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2RV_tz95Qc haha guy at end
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTLgSqu4r3E (this would have to be the weirdest youtube video Ive seen yet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DobxqhczJyQ another video showing how they can be handled (there are lots of beekeeping videos on youtube where the people aren't even wearing protection.. apparently many bee keepers become immune to stings if the bees sting. I wouldn't count on that though with ME/CFS!)
I had a bee issue the other day so had to call in the bee professionals. I offered to have them set up a beehive in my backyard if the bee nest could be moved (turned out they had to kill it as it was in electrical wiring). The guy if he could of moved it, offered to mentor me in beekeeping, that is how many people learn.
When things didn't work out and the bees had to be killed, he's still willing to mentor me.. I told him Im homebound and he thought it would be a great interest for me to get. He's going to give my name to the local bee association to see if anyone wants to set a hive up at my place so I can learn (people often like to set hives up at places and love to teach others this art of bee keeping). In my state of Australia in a little property like I rent in urban area, one can put in a couple of hives.
Anyway, since then I've been watching youtube videos (its great now I no longer have dial up!) on bee keeping and it looks easy (other then the racks containing the honey can get a bit heavy but on my good days I could lift those). I can see I can easily make up using waste wood from my old friends place a bee box to breed them in and also extremely easily make up a trap box to attract and trap a bee swarm to breed (I guess one could think of trapping a bee swarm as a community service.. better in a bee box then in electrical wires!)
Anyway, this is looking doable for me over a time period and could be a good money gainer for homebound people (unless I collapse onto the hive! ah well, I have an epipen due to all my allergies.. so far Im fine with bees). I was told that one bee hive can produce 60-100kg of honey a year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvaphnin8Iw (easy to sort out once out of the hive . I used to buy it in its natural state like that to eat).
I've seen that quiet bred queen bees can sell for 100s of dollars ($600-800 dollars I saw queens advertised). The process of making queens and setting up new nests is a little more complex but I think also possibly doable for me?. (the bees would have a good water source as I have the fish pond I set up last year or was it year before). (Im more confident in just having a hive and getting honey from it).
......................................................................
Anyway if anyone is interested in looking further into this either as a possible interesting hobbie or as a money maker ...
Basically a swarm trap box is just a wooden box with a hole in it in which a few drops of lemon balm essential oil is used to attract the bees (many just use that) . Bees mostly swarm in spring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KHQSjYMsRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrtLGZysaPE (this novice hasn't painted the box which should be done to keep the water out and his slat bits I think may be are spaced wrong but it gives idea of how simple one could make a swarm trap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBABg3fEgc (guy catches a swarm with a biodegradable flower pot)
(After catching bees in a swarm trap, they are left for a little while to settle in and start brooding..they don't like to leave brood.. before moving them and brood and queen into their new home. One blocks off the enterance once they are all in for the night before moving them. They can also be smoked slightly to quiet them to do that).
all looks easy enough to catch rather then buy bees, it could be a very low cost, money gaining project using things a person could already have at home (I would need to buy one of the protective head things.. could get away with heavy clothes, overalls duct taped on me etc and gloves with the rest. Colour of clothing may be important as bees can apparently see colours and may react differently to them).
Permanent bee home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZDYgBkCx0 (this one has wax on the parts you pull out which bees do the honey and brood so the bees build comb straight but that isn't needed). There is lots of great videos on bee keeping on youtube
If I do ever do this.. I'll share how it goes
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