# I built it will they come?



## BaB (Nov 17, 2010)

Putting the finishing touches on my Kenyan style hive, my wife thinks I have gone a little over board, I don't, it's all about the Bees, am wondering where to mount the heater and air conditioner.

Question, I really want to do this as close to natural as I can, Anyone think I'm wasting my time to try and bait to get Bees to make a home in my hive or should I buy a package?

Is it permitted to post pictures here? If not ok but if we can how do I go about doing it?


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

> Is it permitted to post pictures here? If not ok but if we can how do I go about doing it?


http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225753

Buy a package


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Not likely.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

By all means, feel free to bait them -- you could end up waiting a month or 10 years for them to arrive! I've been successful baiting colonies to swarm traps, but I definitely wouldn't count on it for your first hive. Especially one upon which you've toiled so diligently!

I generally recommend catching swarms over packages, as I've had significantly more success with my swarms, and they are "free." If you've got a mentor or a friend that can help you, this may be a good route. Otherwise packages are your next best option.

Cheers,
Matt


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## BaB (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks to all, looks like a package if I really want to be sure. Would be great to find someone with knowledge of the Kenyan hive to help me get started but living here in no mans land that may be a problem. Now to search for a place to buy a package. 
Thanks


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## LenInNorCal (Feb 28, 2009)

If you live in a bee yard or about 10 feet from a great bee hive, wait for a baited hive to atrack bees and you will be OK. If you live where where there is a mentor and they know that there are several hives you might get lucky and pick up a swarm. I had about 6 calls here last spring, but the problem where you live is that you may have a short window period for swarming and THEN having the bees build up strength to make top bar comb/wax AND store honey all before your winter arrives. If you do buy a package, try to make it as local as possible and from bees that have been around your area for a long time so they are acclimated. Oh, and as for building one TBH, it would be good, now that it is winter, to build another hive with the same bar dimensions as the one you have now. Trust me, you'll only use it often, and good luck
PS: Your wife is right.


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## raosmun (Sep 10, 2009)

I had a long "Lang" setup waiting to get a swarm. One showed up on a tree trunk about 2 feet from the long and showed no signs of making it home. Opened the long gathered several hand full of bees and put them on top of the frames, must have got the queen because in a half hour or so the rest of them flew over and setup housekeeping. I got lucky, my next step would have been a split. I have not had good luck packages, arround here the packages come from the south, do good all summer and fall then freeze or starve overwintering, regardless of feeding. Local "mutts" work great.


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## BaB (Nov 17, 2010)

PS: Your wife is right.[/QUOTE]

Oh thanks a bunch as I don't hear that near enough. Getting excited to show off my work and have as many people as possible tell me what I need to change.
Still looking for a spot to place the heater and A/C unit, pipe in music and an electrical outlet for their HD TV.
I figure even if the Bees don't like it, it will look pretty sitting out back next to the barn.
Here's my web page of stuff I build, love being retired. I'm the son. 

http://thompsonandsonwoodworking.com
PS. Anyone reading this live close to me so I can see first hand what a Bee looks like?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You have to bait it properly. I caught a small swarm in this brand new packing crate using a moth eaten SC comb, melting beeswax and propolis around the entrance, and a few drops of lemongrass oil. I also helped to have it on top of a faux granite column with the fancy steel sculpture on top.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t7/odfrank/IMG_0890.jpg


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## coopermaple (Aug 30, 2009)

BaB I ould plan on getting a package to give them enough time to build up before winter. 
Great looking furniture on your web site!:applause:


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## indypartridge (Nov 18, 2004)

Hey Mike, 

Your furniture & woodcraft look great. I'm sure your top-bar hive will be a thing of beauty. Looking forward to seeing pictures of it.



BaB said:


> Anyone reading this live close to me so I can see first hand what a Bee looks like?


There's an East Central Indiana Beekeeping club near Muncie. The contact person is Brad Truax. email: btruax2907(at)earthlink.net
You also might try posting on the IN State beeks forum to see if there a nearby beek:
http://hoosierbuzz.freeforums.org/

If you're thinking about package bees, consider ordering them from Grahams:
http://www.grahamsbeeworks.com/
Roger Graham brings the packages up from the South. He watches them make up the packages, usually on a Friday afternoon, then drives thru the night so they can be picked up at the store in Morgantown on Saturday. The bees are usually in much better shape compared to having them shipped and spending 3-4 days being jostled about.


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## BaB (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks for the information, I have contacted every person listed on the Indiana BeeKeepers association list that shows selling packages and so far only two people have replied and one of them no longer sells packages.

I may have to order from the south but being a newbee I have read you should get them from your own state so they have a better chance of living during the winter.

I should be finished with my hive this week, I hope, about all there is left to do is mount the tv antenna, put the address on it and clear coat it to protect the wood.

I'm looking forward to other Kenyan hive owners comments on what needs to bee changed.


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## indypartridge (Nov 18, 2004)

BaB said:


> ...packages...I may have to order from the south but being a newbee I have read you should get them from your own state so they have a better chance of living during the winter.


Yes, I'm a big advocate of "buy local bees", but if you're looking for packages, almost by definition, they come from the south. You can buy Indiana nucs, raised from survivor stock, but when it comes package bees, I don't believe there are any Indiana producers. It's a matter of timing: by the time Northern colonies are strong enough to shake out to make packages, the package "season" is basically over. People want package bees in early spring, not early summer.

That said, you could always re-queen with an Indiana queen once the bees are established in your topbar hive.


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