Any beekeepers on icmag ?

[beek]

Just wondering if there are beekeepers among herb lovers.

When bees swarm and you are in the middle of the 30 000 strong cloud of bees the buzz is phenomenal, medical, relaxing

 

[Denial N Error]

dont they sting u ? everytime i see a bee it tries to sting me

 

[KharmaGirl]

Beekeeping...Not my Forte. But that is -------->


Couldn't resist

 

[iGro4Me]

Not a bee-keeper per sey, I just keep a hive or two for sexual pleasure....I like getting stung on the nuts.....That's a form of treatment too btw.

It's like seeing the stars in the day time

 

[beek]

dont they sting u ? everytime i see a bee it tries to sting me

Bees do not sting just out of the blue. If they feel threatened then they do of course. The swarms are really in harmless state since they are full and following queen to a new home. They just ignore you.

Beekeeping...Not my Forte. But that is -------->


Couldn't resist

Damn I wish I could understand this.....

 

[LolaGal]

Keeper of the Bees

Keeper of the Bees

Just wondering if there are beekeepers among herb lovers.

When bees swarm and you are in the middle of the 30 000 strong cloud of bees the buzz is phenomenal, medical, relaxing

I think I'll start us up a club... there are a few of us around.

I use a joint to puff smoke at the door... lol calms em right down. No smoker me!

Look for my club.. Keeper of the Bees In honor of Gene Stratton Porter.

 

[T.Baggins]

i really wanted to start a hive or two.... even found a local guy to sell me some bees and equip. and help.... but my wife got all freaked.... its a real dieing art, good luck

 

[beek]

I knew there has to be some. A group, club is nice. Let's do that.

You would not believe it but a local beek was actually doing some tests with pot as varroa treatment. Crazy shit....

But it is nice to just watch them coming and going loaded with pollen when you are baked. They look like little f-16s hehe.

 

[beek]

i really wanted to start a hive or two.... even found a local guy to sell me some bees and equip. and help.... but my wife got all freaked.... its a real dieing art, good luck

You have to get her involved and educate her. There is really nothing to freak out about bees if you take care. Also this hobby can be very cheap and rewarding financially and spiritualy if you keep it simple and low-scale. As soon as you go huge it is business and not quite at the top in terms of roi.

 

[T.Baggins]

she has lots irrational fears... like the bees will become africanized and attack the neighborhood, lol...

which bee do you prefer A. mellifera?

 

[sirgrassalot]

I like to keep a nice buzz going. I have heard the bees are disappearing & our future food crops are in danger as most of the pollinating is still left up to them.

Scientists estimate the domestic honey bee to have decreased
in population by about 50% in the past 50 years.

Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left".

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1130799/disappearing_bees.html?singlepage=true

 

[LolaGal]

Oops! I haven't been here for a year, so I can't start a social group. somebody else that has been here longer can though.

Can we call it Keeper of the Bees ? Thanks.

 

[ljjr]

funny i should see this thread, there is a bee keeper less than 2 miles away from me that sells honey and offers tours of the bee areas sometimes, a friend was telling me of the different types of honey the keeper sells and how nutritous honey is. gotta go check it out the tour sounds cool.

 

[TwoOhSix!]

Sounds like a sweet hobby, lol no pun intended.

Is the financial side to it possibly lucrative? How much does honey sell for, ect.

 

[iGro4Me]

Sounds like a sweet hobby, lol no pun intended.

Is the financial side to it possibly lucrative? How much does honey sell for, ect.

Not sure about the dough....but these oughta sell pretty good...

 

[Polsevogn]

This is cool; I've never thought of beekeeping as a hobby before.

What sort of startup equipment and costs would one face if they wanted to start a hive or two?

Could always put a couple around a guerilla grow, nobody will be looking at your plants with a giant beehive coming down on them

 

[LolaGal]

Well you need a hive, basic supplies like a smoker, bee tool, gloves, hat, and of course bees.

You order the bees through the mail. The postal service will call you bright and early when they show up at the post office... lol.

Sooner or later, you will think you are "bee immune" and you will stop using your smoker. That's when the bees get you... lol.

Once I popped the top on a hive that hadn't been worked for years. No smoker, no gloves, no hat.... Those bees got mad at me and crawled up both arms, covering both arms and hands. I had to go ahead and do my work and put the lid back on the hive.

I got stung 2 times... That'll teach me to use smoke....

 

[dankitydank]

Not a bee-keeper per sey, I just keep a hive or two for sexual pleasure....I like getting stung on the nuts.....That's a form of treatment too btw.

It's like seeing the stars in the day time

you sir are nuts....no pun intended.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

dude a buddy of mine makes a whole shit ton of honey, its amazing the relationship he has formed with the honey bees, he can go out there with no protective suit and come back bite free!! yummmmm

 

[Euphrates]

I had written this a while back in another thread that got horribly hijacked...

No one is really saying the world is going to end. . . It's just the probability of things getting a hell of a lot worse on many levels is very high ... I don't see how thats so hard to believe.

If indeed bee's do continue to die off/disappear, food supply's will be shorten, the first one's to feel the real effects, will be the poor people who live in such place's within Africa's continent, that rely on food donations. Much famine will ensue… Whether your pessimistic, or optimistic, you shouldn’t ignore the truth , No, the world is not going to end, and yes, living life on this planet, the way it’s headed, will be pretty severe. . .



Beekeepers in 24 states across America are encountering a strange phenomenon: bees—which seemed to be healthy days earlier—are abandoning their hives. Millions of these insects have been reported lost, with no trace of where the colonies may have gone, and no apparent cause for their disappearance. In a few other cases, whole colonies have been found dead in their hives.

Scientists and beekeepers alike are unsure as to the source of this problem, which is tentatively being called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Suspected causes include pesticides, mites, viruses, cold weather, fungus, the use of antibiotics and low-quality food for the bees.


There are signs that the immune systems of infected bees are collapsing, again for no known reason, causing some to call it “bee HIV/AIDS.” With weakened immune systems, the bees are unable to fight off diseases. In fact, found in the stomachs of infected bees are traces of nearly every disease that has affected bees over the last 100 years.

Honeybees, contrary to popular belief, do not simply make honey. They are also a crucial element needed to pollinate fruit and vegetable crops—amounting to a $14 billion share in the United States’ fresh produce. Farmers rent hives from beekeepers to ensure widespread pollination and, in turn, a good harvest. The success of crops such as almonds, apples, cranberries, and many other fruits and vegetables are all linked to bee pollination.

The vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation said, “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food” (International Herald Tribune).


While beekeepers consider a 20% loss to be normal for a season, losses of 30-60% have been reported this season, and the problem continues to spread. CCD is also being reported throughout parts of Canada and Europe.

If the problem continues to accelerate, and the causes of these mysterious disappearances are not determined soon, food supplies on both sides of the Atlantic will be dealt a heavy blow.

Not to change the subject of this thread, though it is related. It would be nice to have some bee keepers chime in on this though.

I my self wouldn't mind beeing a bee keeper.