# New Beekeeper W/ some questions.



## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Evening All!

I am really pleased at the numerous responses to the questions posted throughout the forum and I am hoping that perhaps y'all might answer a few for me. I have tried to research these questions and these are the ones that I can't pinpoint.

My youngest son and I set up an 8 frame Lang type hive that we bought at a yardsale. There are three brood boxes with a few supers. We boiled them in 10-15% lye solution to dissolve the masses of wax worm cacoons and silk. We found evidence of deceased SHB, carpenter ants, and a mouse nest or two also.

After consolidating the best of the equipment, we got ourselves some bees from a local keeper. To my unimaginable pleasure, the bees are very busy doing whatever it is that bees do whilst flying about and scurrying around in their hive.

My question are thus:

1) I will not be using any non-organics in the hives. Is FGMO considered non-organic?

2) Are bees normaly placid? I was stung once, and it was caused by me ( I squashed him a bit against my neck) rather than the bee doing it as an aggresive reaction to my intrusion. We (We as in four of us humans, three to five dogs, two cats, a chicken and a ducks. We don't let Charlotte the pig out, on account that I am certan she has a sweet tooth!) sit with the bees morning and afternoon, in shorts and short sleeves. The bees land on my wife once in a while and no-one but a curious cat has been stung. (Cat stuck its nose in the hive...Guess it served it right for being so nosey...)

3)I'm seriously considering a straight sided TBH. I'm not sure I understand how to put the bees in it, and what sequence to follow in order to rearrange the frames/bars as they are worked by the bees.

4) Does anyone still make the comb honey supers that have the little wood rectangles for sections in them?

Well, we would be much obliged to y'all if you could help us out.

Thanks, Albert

PS I'm in sunny West Central Florida.


----------



## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

>Is FGMO considered non-organic?
Depends on who you ask







FGMO is not recommended by any of the following:
	Summary of comments by members Association of Professional Apiculturists (AAPA): [ABJ, 7/04, p519]
a)	Mark Feldlaufer - His experience (has been testing Burgess fogger for Varroa control) give him no reason to think mineral oil alone is effective [ABJ, 7/04, p519].
b)	Medhat Nasr - A beekeeper used this fogger machine for 2 years. In winter of 2nd year, she lost 600 out of 800 hives to Varroa [ABJ, 7/04, p519].
c)	John Gruszka - After treating all summer, menthol-treated hives had 1 to 4% Tracheal mite levels and fogger treated hives had levels of 17 to 32% [ABJ, 7/04, p519].
d)	Paul van Westendorp - Using a fogger to apply Oxalic acid, had very low or no Varroa mite counts in spring [ABJ, 7/04, p519].
e)	Patti Elzen - Can demonstrate mite fall w/ water spray [ABJ, 7/04, p519].
f)	Keith S. Delaplane, Phd - Efficacy record is weak, or at best incomplete for FGMO foggers. There is grave concern over hive contamination and non-target effects [ABJ, 7/04, p519].

>Are bees normaly placid? I was stung once . . .
Your comments sound normal - squash 'em and they sting







but bees away from hive dont usually sting.

>considering a straight sided TBH . . .
Why? Bees allowed to make "natural" comb may not fill in bottom corners.

>Does anyone still make the comb honey supers . . .
Have you checked supply catalogs.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>1) I will not be using any non-organics in the hives. Is FGMO considered non-organic?

FGMO is mineral oil, meaning it comes from petroleum. So if you don't want anything from petroleum to contact your food, then you wouldn't want to use it. On the other hand as opposed to most petroleum products, FGMO is inert. It does not react to anything and you can't digest it, it just goes on through. Also, according to tests that Dr. Rodriguez has had done they found no FGMO residue in the honey.

There are no official organic standards currently, but it's likely they will not allow FGMO because it's a petroleum product.

>2) Are bees normaly placid?

Nice bees under good conditions are.

> I was stung once, and it was caused by me ( I squashed him a bit against my neck) rather than the bee doing it as an aggresive reaction to my intrusion. We (We as in four of us humans, three to five dogs, two cats, a chicken and a ducks. We don't let Charlotte the pig out, on account that I am certan she has a sweet tooth!) sit with the bees morning and afternoon, in shorts and short sleeves. The bees land on my wife once in a while and no-one but a curious cat has been stung. (Cat stuck its nose in the hive...Guess it served it right for being so nosey...)

You need to keep in mind that a hive CAN turn mean. This happens for a variety of reasons from genetics, to queenlessness, to pests (like skunks or neighbors). By the time you realize they have turned mean, you will have a lot of stings if you're not wearing any protective equipment.

>3)I'm seriously considering a straight sided TBH.

They work fine.

> I'm not sure I understand how to put the bees in it

The same way you put bees in any hive. If it's a package you shake them in and hang the queen cage somewhere or else direct release her. I like to direct release her.

> and what sequence to follow in order to rearrange the frames/bars as they are worked by the bees.

At first you just let them build. Pull or straighten any badly drawn (crooked and running from one bar to the next) combs. The only time I rearrange them is for swarm prevention to get some space in the brood nest.

>4) Does anyone still make the comb honey supers that have the little wood rectangles for sections in them?

Walter T. Kelley.
www.kelleybees.com


----------



## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Dave,
Thanks for the response. Nice library BTW!

OK... so FGMO may or may not be considered a non-allowable substance in terms of organic agriculture. And according to the references cited, it may or may not be effective.

These bees seem pretty mellow all things considered. I think the are extra docile.

I have tried to find references to the comb honey in wooden packaging but I must not know the specific terminology for them.

Again, thanks for the quick response. Oh, what purveyor would you recommend for supplies and which for books?

Thanks, Albert


----------



## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

MB,

Thank You for your response!

FGMO = Petrochemical product... of course.

Figured I might just be temporarily lucky. Then again maybe they'll just stay that way, nice, calm, and placid!

I like the idea of the TBHs, especially with a young fellow who wants to learn and do it himself. All of it can be built with handtools and scrounged materials. This minimizes power tool dangers.

And thank you very much for the Kelly website.

I bumped into your website a couple of weeks ago and found it to be very, very informative. I really appreciate the time you took to transcribe the the books that you did, and thus making them available to all!!!

Thank You, Albert


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Certain kinds of equipment are sometimes only available from one or two suppliers, such as the basswood section boxes. For that reason you will want to peruse the catalogs of the big names at least and maybe some of the lesser know ones.

Walter T. Kelly has many things that no one else has.

Mann Lake has things other people don't have.

Dadant has things other people don't have.

Brushy Mt Bee farm has the most eight frame equipment and many things other's don't have.

Betterbee has things that others don't have.

As far as price, shipping is often a big part of the price, so I'd start by pricing, including shipping, from a dealer near you. If there is a Dadant's or some other store within driving distance it is sometimes worth the trip to save on shipping.


----------



## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Michael,

Thanks again for the info.

Albert


----------

