# Hello from Mackenzie, BC!



## dougzdanivsky (Feb 22, 2017)

Hi!

This is almost literally the first thing I've done since my 16y son expressed an interest in beekeeping, so I don't even know if we will end up following through with this, but it looked like a good place for info..

The FIRST thing I did was do some looking at those Flow hives we saw on Facebook.. Pretty $$$$! So we'll probably go the conventional route? Though it would mean we wouldn't need honey extraction devices.. Hmmm..

I also ordered Backyard Beekeepers and Beekeeping for Dummies.

We live in a small community of 5,000 people and are surrounded by pine forest, mostly fireweed (lots of clear cutting) and dandilions for flowers, besides the flower gardens some people have in their backyards. I live in town, surrounded by other houses (should see if the bylaws are such that we can even keep bees in these circumstances, but I know a person in town has a Flow hive, but his property abutts the greenbelt), the greenbelt is about 275m (900ft) from our house, and we have a small vegtable garden in our backyard (30ft squared).

My son did experience some pronounced localized swelling (no airway trouble or hives) when he was stung 3x by a wasp when we were hiking, so we took him to see a dr and as a precaution he prescribed an epi pen.

The closest place to get nucs would be 3 hours away in Vanderhoof. Will look at attending some of his instructional courses.

Anyhoo, enough blather..


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Doug! If you do not have access to an extractor you can still scrape the capped honeycomb into a mixing bowl, mash up any comb to free the honey and spoon the wax and debris off the top. The honey will sink to the bottom.


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## dougzdanivsky (Feb 22, 2017)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> Welcome Doug! If you do not have access to an extractor you can still scrape the capped honeycomb into a mixing bowl, mash up any comb to free the honey and spoon the wax and debris off the top. The honey will sink to the bottom.


Thanks!

I should mention that my relatives in Ukraine are beekeepers, so I'm not totally new to the process of extraction, at least.. The rest I was too scared of getting stung to attend to very closely.

They regularily broke up mishapen combs to eat, wax and all (well, we'd spit out the wax, eventually). Nothing more delicious!

And they'd make a cure-all (and I mean for anything, but mostly cold and flu season) remedy drink of propolus (neat! exactly how it is said in Ukrainian) and who knows what else that was very foul, you had to chase it with something like a piece of bread or throw it back up..


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## SouthTexasJohn (Mar 16, 2015)

Welcome to the forum.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Welcome!


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## IsedHooah (Jan 13, 2015)

Welcome, hopefully you follow through with this adventure, it can be a great experience!


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## dougzdanivsky (Feb 22, 2017)

IsedHooah said:


> Welcome, hopefully, you follow through with this adventure, it can be a great experience!


I'm sure! 

I'll have to figure out whether I want the hive in my backyard (if it's even allowed), or put it on a friend's property more out of the way and on the greenbelt.

Most importantly I have to see if my boy really is developing an allergy to stings or if it was just slightly worse than normal swelling. We still have him carry around the epi pen.


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## frogpondwarrior (Aug 2, 2016)

Welcome from the East Coast. This is a great place for info and help.


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