# Hello and Why I'm Here Asking About Bees



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome! Even European bees would be a problem for an allergic person. Epi-pens contain Epinephrine. They also have a pseudophedrine auto-injector (a few others also). Florida beekeepers frequently change queens. Changes the genetics back to the docile European bees. Some say it is difficult or impossible. I guess Florida beekeepers are super-beekeepers. Harbor Freight has the security screw tool set with the peculiar shape. Many people I have met recover feral colonies from Africanized regions like the port areas of Florida. It takes experience and a full bee suit. Swarms are a different story. if you have to ask what is the difference of a swarm from a feral colony -- You need the bee suit. I have removed bumblebee nests without killing, but they do not make a suit thick enough for that to be pleasant.


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

If you mowed 20 feet away the hive was not Africanized you needlessly killed the bees. Next time call a beekeeper.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

i love this post.. not killer bees just mean ones... i suspect you may soon become a beekeeper, you are fearless and stuburn enough. let alone willing to put more in a lost cause. welcome to beekeeping/ you already know more than 2/3 of the beginers. :shhhh:


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

"What's the cheapest, smallest, "experimental" investment one can do to try it out, and also about production. How much honey could a backyard beekeeping operation produce?"

Depends on how many hives are on the property and yearly nectar flows. One of the cheapest routes would be to find a beekeeper in your area and have them use your property as an out yard, all the benefits of learning/watching/participating on how to care for bees, without the expense. WARNING: all beekeepers have different personalities and management techniques, so try to find one that aligns with yours


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

i am not sure about your sense of humor tighty.... your handle should be wylye. as in wyle-e-coyote going after road-runner bees. you need stuff from acme bee supply for best results.


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## Jim Hancock (Dec 30, 2016)

Don't try to crack those transformer boxes open without the proper training! There's a reason they use a penta socket to secure the box. You'll find something a lot worse than bees to contend with because there's most likely 3-7000 volts in that transformer and most insecticides are not di-electrically rated, meaning the voltage could track right up the stream and kill you or cause an arc-blast explosion and burn or kill you. 
Are you sure they were honey bees? All my years of working on electrical equipment I only ever ran into wasps and yellow jackets in the boxes.


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## Vectorjet (Feb 20, 2015)

Sounds like your reasons for keeping honeybees is for the FREE honey. If this is the case, pay the 14.00 dollars a pound you'll be much happier and wealthier. That said, if your still interested there are a number of ways to control cost in a backyard apiary. A topbar hive made with scrape wood, which also enables honey harvesting without an extractor is probably the least expensive way to go. Lots of info here and on the web about this type hive. Cost almost zero.


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> if you have to ask what is the difference of a swarm from a feral colony -- You need the bee suit. I have removed bumblebee nests without killing, but they do not make a suit thick enough for that to be pleasant.


Right. I wouldn't know the difference. I also didn't know that bumblebees are somehow "worse" than regular bees.



Dan the bee guy said:


> If you mowed 20 feet away the hive was not Africanized you needlessly killed the bees. Next time call a beekeeper.


Good to know. How far away from an Africanized bee colony can you get with a running lawnmower before you have problems?



mathesonequip said:


> i love this post.. not killer bees just mean ones... i suspect you may soon become a beekeeper, you are fearless and stuburn enough. let alone willing to put more in a lost cause. welcome to beekeeping/ you already know more than 2/3 of the beginers. :shhhh:


Thanks. I AM stubborn, and combative. Mostly because I have this beautiful natural area behind my house and 99% of my neighbors think it's a landfill. They throw all sorts of trash over the fence, to include TV sets and rotten food waste.



fieldsofnaturalhoney said:


> "What's the cheapest, smallest, "experimental" investment one can do to try it out, and also about production. How much honey could a backyard beekeeping operation produce?"
> 
> Depends on how many hives are on the property and yearly nectar flows. One of the cheapest routes would be to find a beekeeper in your area and have them use your property as an out yard, all the benefits of learning/watching/participating on how to care for bees, without the expense. WARNING: all beekeepers have different personalities and management techniques, so try to find one that aligns with yours


I'll look into it. This might be ideal. I've heard of bee keepers driving around dropping off and collecting boxes.



Jim Hancock said:


> Don't try to crack those transformer boxes open without the proper training! There's a reason they use a penta socket to secure the box. You'll find something a lot worse than bees to contend with because there's most likely 3-7000 volts in that transformer and most insecticides are not di-electrically rated, meaning the voltage could track right up the stream and kill you or cause an arc-blast explosion and burn or kill you.
> Are you sure they were honey bees? All my years of working on electrical equipment I only ever ran into wasps and yellow jackets in the boxes.


Yes, because there's honey in the combs in the bucket behind the fence. I've tasted it. It's sweet. Smells like diesel due to the insecticide. As it turned out, it wasn't a "transformer box", like I originally thought. It was a simple connection. Imagine an over-sized electrical wire nut/screw cap connector, and a mass of electrical tape. I suspect that when the development went up, someone dug and broke the cable and the simply connected it and put a box around it, instead of replacing the whole length of cable. Had I known what was really in there, I might have had the courage to try to crack into the box and extract the bees/honey, etc... This was the service going directly to the house, just prior to the meter, so I assume that's the stepped-down residential voltage of 240 VAC.




Vectorjet said:


> Sounds like your reasons for keeping honeybees is for the FREE honey. If this is the case, pay the 14.00 dollars a pound you'll be much happier and wealthier. That said, if your still interested there are a number of ways to control cost in a backyard apiary. A topbar hive made with scrape wood, which also enables honey harvesting without an extractor is probably the least expensive way to go. Lots of info here and on the web about this type hive. Cost almost zero.


No stop giving me economic common sense. There is no economic outlay so extravagant that it cannot be justified with a lot of loud wailing, and unfounded accusations of discrimination and injustice.

I did some reading and I've already been confronted with the question of "crush and filter" vs. scrape, drain and reuse (or however best to characterize it), in terms of who's time and energy is used most efficiently, the bees or the beekeeper's. I'll be reading around at least for the next couple of days, mostly looking at pictures and trying to associate the (new) words I'm seeing with them, example "scrape wood" and "topbar hive". Thanks for the welcome. I'll post back here, or start a new thread if I have any questions that I think aren't already covered in the forum. I'm a good user of the "Search" function.


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

mathesonequip said:


> i am not sure about your sense of humor tighty.... your handle should be wylye. as in wyle-e-coyote going after road-runner bees. you need stuff from acme bee supply for best results.


Glad you noticed. The "over the top" style is something I've spent years trying to refine. It gets me into a LOT of trouble. So much so, that now I put effort into trying to dial it back. I'll spend some time looking at acme bee supply. I wonder if they make a motorized bee smoker. If not, maybe I'll invent it and get rich.


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

mathesonequip said:


> i am not sure about your sense of humor tighty.... your handle should be wylye. as in wyle-e-coyote going after road-runner bees. *you need stuff from acme bee supply for best results.*


I just got back from Googling "Acme Bee Supply" and the last thought I had before the light bulb went off was "Why did that guy give me the name of a company that doesn't even exist? Is he some kind of IDIOT?"

Derp.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

The larger bumblebees can penetrate the thickest suit sold worn over heavy clothes. They also do not die like honey bees so they keep stinging. Smoke just irritates them too.
I actually went to the ER for heat exhaustion and dehydration from the heavy outfit. The paramedics kept wanting to shoot me with epi and I was not having an allergic reaction. Two liters of saline later they let me go home.


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## Delta 21 (Mar 4, 2016)

Tighty_Whitey said:


> So the lesson I learned was: DON'T MESS WITH BEES. They'll tip over your Bobcat, set it on fire and burn your fields.


Its good to start with a healthy respect. :applause::lpf:


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

Dan the bee guy said:


> If you mowed 20 feet away the hive was not Africanized you needlessly killed the bees. Next time call a beekeeper.


So a couple days ago my neighbor calls. It's his backyard that has the electrical box in the ground where the bees had been evicted from. He says they're back, after two months of being dead (by the thousands), they've all come back and are trying to get inside the box again.









There's a big mass of bees next to the box and on the fence. Is this possible? I wonder if my neighbor isn't pulling my leg. Like maybe he got some of that bee hormone stuff like what they use in hollywood to make masses of bees appear to swarm all over someone. Can bees come back 2 months later?


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

NOT the same bees. This is a swarm coming in that found what smells to them like a nice place.
Now, your problem is...are these africanized honey bees, or just regular old honey bees? You will know in a few days. WHen you go out to look at them, if they are africans, a few thousand of them will come right out to greet you, bearing shotguns. At that point you run like crazy. Fast enough and far enough, and you may survive! If they are just honey bees, a few may come out and might even sting you. If they are an african/regular cross, any response is possible between those two extremes.

Have fun!


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Tighty_Whitey said:


> Can bees come back 2 months later?


Despite the power company crews previously having removed most of the comb, the box still smells like a hive, at least to a bee. So a swarm from another colony is trying to (or has) moved in. 

If you had available a more suitable (either a purchased or homemade hive) for them, they may have been persuaded to move into your nearby box instead of the power box. A piece of comb is often used as an attractant. In addition to comb, there are also commercial bee lures, or lemongrass oil can be used.

There are lots of threads on this topic in the Swarms sub-forum.

The hole in the power box that the bees use as an entrance would need to be plugged to get a new swarm to move into your new hive. Bagging the box with a large garbage bag or sheet of plastic might work to deny the bees access (depends on shape/size etc.)

You might have to wait for the _next_ swarm to arrive. Get prepared in advance. 

.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

You wanted a cheap investment, free bees are pretty cheap, go collect the swarm before they are gone, or move back into the tainted box or worse


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

Be carefull you won't know what the new bees are like until the hive grows bigger. They might be nice now when there numbers are low but when it gets bigger they'll have the numbers to make a big problem if they are Africanized.


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

Thanks for all the responses. My neighbor said the swarm moved on by the evening of that very same day.

What I want to know is how these bees can smell the hormones or whatever 2 months later and after at least 3 significant rainfals. And why were they all massed on the fence? The wood from the fence you see in the pic was used to repair the original, rotten wood that I removed in order to gain access to the electrical box, meaning the wood the bees are all massing on was in another county, on the couch, watching TV at the time the crime was committed. A totally disinterested, and unscented bystander.

Yet the bees love this wood, and formed almost a perfect rectangle. I think the neighbor guy squirted bee hormone on this wood. The lid to the electrical box is also new. True the box underneath the wood is original, but I don't think they have access to the box; I don't think there's any "holes" for them to get into (and out of).

And PLUS, the honeycombs from the destroyed hive are in a bucket on a shelf on the back side of my property's fence about 4 houses down, so if the bees were attracted to "scent", you'd think they'd have moved into the bucket and taken over the vacant honeycombs. There's still honey in the combs (but remember the electric company sprayed it with insecticide so it can't be eaten now).

As far as trying to get these bees, I've decided the economics don't make any sense to me. A lot of learning, significant outlay for equipment, etc... and a lot of time to get only a little bit of honey. Now I'm enthused about raising chickens in my ditch and am reading all about that. At this point, my primary concerns are making sure the bees don't kill me while I'm mowing the ditch, and also making sure my neighbor doesn't get away with pulling a joke on me. If necessary, I'll go buy some bee hormone stuff and cover his car with it, and play dumb too like he did. IF he did, that is. Which is why I'm asking.

Is this hormone stuff cheap and/or readily available? You know the stuff. When Hollywood wants to creep people out EXTRA they cover some stunt guy with bees and he staggers around screaming while they douse him with gasoline and set him on fire.

BTW I don't think they were Africanized. I had my camera less than 2 feet away from them when I took the pic. It was a warm, sunny day, so they would have been "active", IMO.


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

When they are in swarm mode they won't be violent. That comes later. So keep an eye out a week or so from now! If Africans you will know it sooner than you would like.


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## frogpondwarrior (Aug 2, 2016)

I can't stop reading this. lol


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## Tighty_Whitey (Jan 18, 2017)

Okay so today I have an update and while re-reading I don't see the picture I thought I uploaded, so I'll attach it now (again).









It appears that the bees a B. A. C. K. like Dawn of the Dead or Freddy Krueger, these bees have the amazing ability to smell 2 month old hormones after rain and everything. They seem to have managed to penetrate the newly-recovered electrical box and while I only see about 30 or so milling around outside the box, it seems like more go in than go out. It's hard to see without sticking my face right up in there. So I'm thinking about finding a beekeeper to extract the hive, or whatever it is that they do.

But I want to know. If I find someone to extract the hive, what keeps some OTHER swarm of bees from just showing up like a band of grubby Okies from Muskogee, Maw and Paw Clampett with a double-barreled shotgun and a hot jailbait daughter named "LuAnne"? I get the feeling that these 2 month old bee hormones are like a big huge neon sign that says "Free Housing: Mothers With Illegitimate Children Welcome".

And, while I'm thinking about it, who are these bees, anyways? Are these the descendents of the previous hive, just released on early parole for good behavior? Or are these undocumented immigrant bees, that illegally entered this country by flying over the Rio Grande (drybacks), hoping to pollinate the fields for multinational honey manufacturing conglomerates, for less than federal minimum wage? One night, while quietly monitoring the hive for activity, a gust of warm Texas breeze blew past me and I think I just barely heard this:

"Si, se Puede" and then (even quieter) "Viva!" and it smelled a little bit like fresh tortillas and chicken fajitas, but that could just have been my neighbors making dinner.

So anyways that's my question, Dr. Laura. Are these bees related to the previous hive in some way? Survivors? Descendents? Or just wandering illegal pollinators that found a hormone saturated electrical box, and decided to move in and force someone to file notice to evict with the County?


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