# keeping bees for beekeeper!



## Ellie (Mar 10, 2009)

Hi,
I live in northern Califonia on 15 acres. A commercial beekeeper has 120 hives and the thing is asked me to keep 60 of them on my property. He is coming down to talk to me on Friday so I have some questions if y'all don't mind answering.

1. What would be a fair amount of honey for keeping the bees? Honey is all I want.

2. I have a pool probably 2 acres away from where they will be... will they want to go to it or can I supply water closer to them and how much for that many?

3. If my home is 2 acres away, will they likely stay out of the home area for the most part? There are 500 acres behind me with cattle and irrigated fields. 

Thanks very much and pardon the ignorance...

Ellie


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## danabee (Nov 25, 2008)

as for asking for honey i think i would ask to just have honey as i need it. 60 hives puts out more honey than you could use in a lifetime. be more greatfull for helping the envirment. bees like water you will not keep them away from you pool. but remember bees dont want to die. their olny aggresive when their hive is in trouble of danger. the more water you keep close to the hive the better off the pool will be. i sit in a chair between two of my hives within one foot of each of them my bees land on me all the time. rarely does one have an attitude and starts buzzing my face. them i will walk away not run walk. my hives are 50 feet from my house my wife is allergic and does the gardening within feet of the hives. they dont bother her. bees sense fear. just enjoy the benefits. danabee


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## Ellie (Mar 10, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. I am definitely one to help the environment, as I contacted the beekeeper, asking to keep the bees. I probably didn't relate that well, sorry. 

I really appreciate the news about the pool. I can provide water closer to them if they need it. 

I did not realize how often the beekeeper will collect honey. He lives two states away! I only need just enough for my family since I don't eat it.

I am not afraid of bees, but have not been around a LOT of them at once so want to treat them right and teach my grandchildren how to behave around them.

Ellie


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## iwombat (Feb 3, 2009)

w/o trying to come off as picking nits . . .

An acre is an area, not a distance. So "an acre away" doesn't make a lot of sense. Specifying the distance in yards or feet would get you better answers to your question.


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## AndreiRN (Jun 13, 2008)

I would sugest to start learning about beekeeping.
Buy a suit and when he is working on the bees join in.
Ask for one hive for you and locate it 20 yards away from the rest and work on the hive yourself. 
Take this as an opportunity to be contaminated with beekeeping love virus.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

I usually pay one lb per hive as rent so asking for that would be reasonable. Usually you will get the honey after extraction so you may not get any right up front. Don't worry about them coming by your house or getting in it. They will be too busy to pay you a visit. They may come to your pool if there is no other water source or if they like the water in the pool. I have heard that they sometimes favor pool water because of the chlorine. go figure. :scratch:

If there are irrigated fields near the hives they will most likely get their water from that...they like moving water (at least mine do) 

Find out if where you want him to put them and where he wants to put them are the same place. Important because he will need access to the hives to work them. How long will they be there. Will he pull them in the fall. Get contact info in case you notice something bad happened to his hives. Don't be afraid to ask him anything about bees. 

Lastly, thanks for letting him put bees on your property. It is a huge help to us beekeepers and the environment when people allow for bees to be spread out.


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## K&L HONEY (Mar 21, 2008)

I give my CA. landlords 1 case of spun 12# and one 24# bucket of my raw honey or I pay them cash if they prefer $300-$400 I put 300 - 400 hives or nucs per location. One location is 50 cents per hive 1200 hives there. Always looking for good locations!


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

We keep bees in Shasta County and I have to tell you, I spend a lot of time hauling water to bees when it gets dry in the summer.I get phone calls from people with pools because the bees will fly over a river to get pool water!


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

K&L HONEY said:


> I put 300 - 400 hives or nucs per location.QUOTE]
> 
> Is that for summer honey production? If so is it sweet clover in all directions as far as you can see. My per hive production starts to drop with anything over 40 colonies per yard.


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## Ellie (Mar 10, 2009)

Iwombat, I just don't know the distance, but you are right... I will count the fence posts... they are 10ft. apart. Mike it really does get hot and dry and I don't have any shade trees out there, so he may not want to keep them there anyway. Good point, Alpha. It would be an adventure to learn about the little guys though.

If this is a go, then I will absolutely read up on this. Say, won't it be hard for him to take care of them from Washington when I am in Ca.? 

Love the comments, and am learning so much already from reading here.

Ellie


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

I believe K&L is referring to Ca. holding yards. We do the same-bunch up 60 to 400 in a wintering location before almonds. Then after almonds , we scatter them into smaller yards for honey production.
(We are also always looking for more locations to set hives )
---Mike


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

As for living with bees, I have a hive, on a scale, right next to the back door, and another, right next to the garage door. The girls don't bother me, and I don't have to lock the doors.

Roland


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## K&L HONEY (Mar 21, 2008)

300-400 in a yard in the foothills out of almonds in CA. dont see much clover in Cali. Make nucs out of these hives from mid March to mid April. 300-400 singles in yards till they go home in May. some years they do really well other years we feed alot of syrup. At home we run yards of 40-48.
Winter indoors in Idaho so dont need a bunch of holding yards before almonds just one for a few weeks before bloom. Too many scary things down in the valley of bees.


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## stangardener (Mar 8, 2005)

i saw a couple posts about helping the environment. how does putting 60 hives at a location help the environment? sounds warm and fuzzy but delusional to me. i live in the ca foothills and the fact is anybody putting 60 hives within a couple miles of my bees isn't helping me or the environment.
a less intrusive alternative would be to work with a local beek who has a knowledge of the forage capacity of your shared area.
don't forget that european bees aren't the only pollenators. i know my area of the foothills isn't all that rich. another spin is that 60 hives in one spot might just kick the locals in the teeth.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

>>60 hives in one spot might just kick the locals in the teeth. 
It happens. It is NOT appreciated.:no:


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

K&L HONEY said:


> 300-400 in a yard in the foothills out of almonds in CA. dont see much clover in Cali. .


:scratch:

I looked at your user location and seen Idaho. Maybe I should pay attention to all the words and I wouldn't have had to ask such a stupid question.:doh::applause:


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

K&L HONEY said:


> Too many scary things down in the valley of bees.


Nov. to after bloom? Elaborate please? Curious!


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## JBJ (Jan 27, 2005)

Loggermike do add anything to your bee water? Somebody once mentioned sea salt or something like that really made the water more enticing. Have any of you heard anything like this? It was supposed to be very good for them also.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

We always add a cup or 2 of chlorine bleach to the water(55 gallon drum) to keep down bacteria. It is also attractive to the bees .The bleach smell dissipates quickly.
There is some suspicion that nosema can spread through contaminated water sources.Possibly ,as there are always some drowned bees in the water,no matter what I use as float material.
I don't like hauling water,but some yards go completely dry,and my USFS permit requires providing a water source. Those yards will go through a barrel of water per week.
Never have tried salt,though I think I read that bleach breaks down into sodium.


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## K&L HONEY (Mar 21, 2008)

Nov. to after bloom? Elaborate please?

whith thousands of hives coming in from all over the country with every kind of mite, beetle, virus and two stains of nosema we feel like keeping our bees out of areas with thousands of hives is better for us. We know what problems we have, no reason to add some unkowns.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

You are right about that. Almond pollination is a giant brothel, and we are the pimps,exposing our girls to strange diseases!


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## Ellie (Mar 10, 2009)

I appreciate the replies pertaining to the post and the others too. I think I have decided not to have the bees.

I have no water source other than my pool.
I have no shade.
I don't want to upset the local beeks as you call them.

I would, however like to someday have two hives of my own after I do more research and learn much more so that I might take good care of them.

Ellie


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

*Winter indoors in Idaho*

K&L

What kind of building do you use for indoor winter? Also how bad are your winters? Thanks.


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## K&L HONEY (Mar 21, 2008)

What kind of building do you use for indoor winter? Also how bad are your winters?

We use potatoe cellars these are large buildings here. But are set up to hold potatoes at the same temprature for long periods of time. we set at 41-43 degrees. Very large fans are set to run for 30 min and off for 30 min.when the fans run they push air building pressure in the building drawing fresh air in and pushing old warm air out. When the fans are running you cant open the door because of the pressure. There are two bays to each unit, each having its own fans and set of controls..They can also be set up to refrigerate and all have humidicells for adding moisture to the fan blown air if it is needed to cool. 
Winters here are windy and not as cold as what you get for the most part. We do get below 0 for maybe a week we used to get snow but the last sevral years not to much. we had more rain than snow this winter we are definitley not mild but no where near what you have.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

We have been really cold this year....and windy...very windy. I been thinking about putting up a windmill..but knowing my luck the wind will quit blowing.

I'm working on building "bee" houses to block the wind...and bears (hopefully).

Do you grow them spuds ya put in them buildings?


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

Quote "An acre is an area, not a distance. So "an acre away" doesn't make a lot of sense."

I chuckled when I read this, only because people not from around here laugh at us when we talk about distances in minutes rather than miles. "my bee yard is about 7 minutes down the road"


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## JBJ (Jan 27, 2005)

*Training bees to a water source*

Ellie, I think the trick here is to exploit the fact that bees can be a creature of habit. The trick is to get them conditioned to an appropriate water source before the get a chance imprint on the pool. Could the pool be covered while the bees are initially imprinting on their water source? Also the spot you are training them to must be reliable, do not let it run out or they will go looking. Also I believe sea salt or mineral salts can make the water more appealing and provide some useful micro nutrients. All things being equal (attractive elements like chlorine) they will usually prefer the nearest water source. Floats valves or irrigation timers could help.


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## RobertLorge (Mar 17, 2009)

I agree 40 colonies per acre usually is the maximum unless you want the weakest hives robbed out. The exception is nectar flows. But without strong flows, like in clover or citrus or other orchard in bloom, anything over 40 will tend to promote robbing and weaker colony strength in general. You take a look at California holding yards and it is amazing any of the bees survive that ordeal.


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