brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Oct 16, 2020 18:43:11 GMT
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So the bees have been consistently taking sugar water every day (Weaker hive still has the edge though, taking the 16 every day, stronger hive is more like 16oz every other day). Happily Costco is still only $5 for 10Lb of sugar.
Also feeding them protein patties in the top box. Mite treatment is in for the winter.
Electric fence in place for bloody bears. I have set up one of my ARLO cameras pointing right across the front of the hives. Every night I can see we have visitors sniffing around the hives, but seemingly able to navigate the electric fence without shock. Opossums, Skunks, Raccoons. I can post some video if interested.
Have got some hay bales for putting beside the hives, to cut down wind through the winter as they are a little exposed where they are. If I put them closer to the edge of the garden, they are on much more of a hill, AND we get deer ticks in the brush here. They carry Lyme disease. I would not like to actively try to get Lyme disease.
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Oct 16, 2020 20:04:15 GMT
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Yes please for vids. Do the smaller animals bother the hives/bees much? We don't have bears here thankfully but we found that wooly sheep and one particularly hairy billy goat would push through a three wire electric fence and graze right up to the hives without seeming to care about the clouds of bees flying all around them. Not sure how pigs would go. They don't like the electric fence so it might keep them away. Are there wild pigs where you are?
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Oct 16, 2020 20:20:55 GMT
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I actually had to go look it up. Aparently no native wild pigs, but small population of wild boars. We do have things like Fisher cats and wild turkeys are common.
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Oct 16, 2020 20:35:53 GMT
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Last Edit: Oct 16, 2020 20:37:47 GMT by brc76
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Had an interesting day today. It started with my mate Joe arriving at our place on foot with a story about a hive of bees in the bedroom wall of his country house and him having had an ambulance ride to the local hospital in the early hours of the morning after being stung by a stray bee. Discussion ensued. Some of you may recall at this point that my wife is a hobbyist beekeeper. Discussions culminated in us mounting an expedition to Joe's place to remove the bees from his bedroom wall. Took us a while but we managed it with only minimal demolition work. We shot a bunch of still photos and about an hour of video footage which in due course will be edited and posted on the boy's youtube channel. Check out jetret's experiments on youtube for more. But not tonight cos he hasn't done it yet.
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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will check it out!
news here is that I have already lost one hive, and the other is very much reduced in numbers but clinging on. We are entering the coldest 2 months in New England.... fingers crossed!
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Is it common to bring your hives indoors during winter in the higher latitudes?
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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not really, seems to be a reduce down to brood box and then shield from the wind.
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Removing bees from a house.
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Forgot to update this!
Bees did 2021 not great, everyone in the area struggled to get much, and I never got enough in the hive that I felt comfortable taking any. Winter is hard enough, and I figured that the bees deserved to keep what little they had managed to make.
One of the 3 survived the winter.
I installed 2 hives earlier this year, and already have signs that this year will have some decent honey. So far the 3 hives are mite and beetle free.
I stole a little honey already, I traded it for some homebrew IPA.
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I regularly walk past a log on the Sydney Harbour foreshore that has had bees in it for about 15 months now. Only bother it seems to get is the odd butcher bird swooping down and plucking some unlucky bee from the air. Interesting fact is that native Australian bees don't sting. Not sure if these are native though so I'm not sticking my hand in. Pleased to report after 18 months away from Neutral Bay I went on my old walk and the hive is still in the log so that was nice to see.
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CaptainSlog
Part of things
Posts: 506
Club RR Member Number: 180
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Bee keeping? CaptainSlog
@captainslog
Club Retro Rides Member 180
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Jun 14, 2022 14:11:17 GMT
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Amazing that native Aus bees do not sting, must be the only creatures that are not trying to kill you there!
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Jun 14, 2022 15:48:03 GMT
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They realized that everything else was, and decided to just not try.
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Honey bees don't tend to sting it's their last resort and will die after stinging, Late in the season bees appear to be a little more aggressive usually due to the lack of foraging and the need to maintain their stores to survive the winter months. Some colonies are calmer than others simply don't bother them and they won't bother you.
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Even a dummy or empty hive on your property can be a good deterrent, as most two legged prowlers are scared of getting stung.
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,107
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Yes, but we have a lot of bee-unfriendly scavengers out here, inc. skunks, opossoms and bears.
I have a arlo camera set up to watch the front of my beehives, there is not a week that goes by that something doesn't have a go, although so far I've been lucky and the bears haven't appeared.
One of the other local beekeepers wasn't so lucky last year and lost all 15 of his hives, and he is only 1/4 of a mile away.
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