So my Carniolans arrived at Ruhl Bee Supply, and I waited in line with the other bee keepers yesterday to pick up my two packages. It is such a trip to hold a box with 3 lbs. of bees in it. That's somewhere around ten to 15 thousand bees, I do believe. 
The hives are up on our carport roof. The bees will get a good flyway up here and nice early and late season warmth, as well as morning sun.
I'll post more later, I'm going to hit the sheets and nurse this sore throat of mine for now.
Bp
21 comments:
very cool! I want to have bees too...are you in the city limits? what do your neighbors think about it?
This is absolutely wonderful -- wish I could watch daily! your va momma
Hello Jean Ann, I am very excited by this new project.
I am in city limits, and my neighbors are duly silenced by the threat of loss of their fresh egg supply -- so they all say they're excited I have bees. Extortion is an amazing thing! Gifts of honey will finish the bribe I'm sure.
None of my immediate neighbors are allergic, which helps immensely. But, to be honest, even if they were it wouldn't be a problem. Glen Andresen (see other bee post, I took a class with him recently) has 8 or so hives on his NE lot, and his WIFE is allergic for crissakes, so it's just a matter of awareness.
I'll be posting more as I work into this new endeavor. Thanks for your interest.
your stands need some architecting.
Are those sawhorses! Aesthetics be damned says the bee man.
Give me a ring next time you're going to build something for chrissake!
Dude, they look like Imperial Walkers -- the aesthetics are spot on LOL.
I am sorry I didn't call, but bringing in an architect to the project just hadn't occurred to me. Silly I know... LOL.
BP and I both got our bees on Sunday. Given my drive home, I didn't get mine installed until yesterday.
Regarding neighbors and bees: you have many more friends than you realized one the prospect of fresh honey is in the mix.
OK. I'm almost convinced to try roofbees. I have a flat roof, so this seems perfect. I'm looking at the Ruhl's catalog and trying to figure out which hive you bought . . . care to tell me?
http://www.ruhlbeesupply.com/catalog/pdfcatalogbksfeb1608v1.pdf
Alan,
If you have a flat roof, I say go for it. Considering how cold this "spring" is, ordering bees right now is not going to be too late at all either. You will wait about 2-4 weeks before they arrive and it will actually be spring by then (knock on wood).
I built my hive, with the help of some friends, it's called a top-bar hive. Here is a link to some instructions. Here is a great site [www.biobees.com] with Top-Bar information, to help you decide whether you want to use this style or the more standard type.
There are people building top bar hives as well, and if you do some internet searching I'd bet you can find one in Portland. They're cheaper, even when custom built, than the standard hives.
Make sure you have 1/8" mesh on the bottom of your hive!! It's becoming clear to me that this is a big huge deal. If you are building your own, Hankins tru-value on MLK has it, and probably Winks too.
If you want help finding or building a hive feel free to email me I'll do what I can to help you.
I chose a top-bar hive for many reasons, and one is that they are less technologically advanced, so I could actually build and adapt them a bit. Langstroth (sp?) hives are a bit too highbrow for me, though to be honest the honey production with them is way way higher. I'm going the bee friendly route, and will get plenty of honey I'm sure, just not hundreds of pounds like the Langstroth folks do.
I'm going to put up a list of links to bee resources in a new post for you to look at. I'm a little crazy with school but feel free to email me and I'll do what I can to help you get set up, etc.
Also, look on the right bar of my blog, and scroll down to "labels." There is a "backyard bees" label with more posts as well.
B
Thanks for the quick and lengthy response! I'm checking the links and labels. I have a tablesaw, but I'm not so great using it yet, but I'll ask my friend to help me build the top-bar. Why did you start with more than one hive, if you don't mind?
Answer when you have time . . . school first.
Thanks.
I'm home sick today, so no worries sir.
I actually have 3 hives built, I bought two package sets of bees. The third hive is all set up so I can go get a swarm, that's just something I want to be able to do. Without a hive ready to go there's nowhere to put them. I'm going to endeavor to always have an extra hive in storage and ready to go because eventually, inevitably, your own hives will swarm and you'll want to go get your next hive-full.
Also, bee colony mortality (colony collapse disorder or no) is really high, so if you have two going you can combine them if you lose a queen for instance. It gives you more flexibility.
Bp
Hope you don't get high winds up there.
Nope, it can get gusty but thats about it. the neighborhood has big trees and some hills nearby that break up the local winds, so it's not an issue.
I was concerned at first, and going to screw the stands to the roof then the hives to the stands, but honestly now I see that it's not going to be necessary.
I hereby start a petition to officially change the tag to "roofbees".
(By the way, kickass dude, congrats :D)
Alright, I'm going to expose my whorish ways...
backyard bees gets more hits
HAHAH
seconded. even more whorish is double tagging.
i have a question, i know that bees can usually self regulate for heat, how will they handle the summer heat we get around here especially exposed like that? is that not an issue with hives??
My understanding is, not much of an issue at all. There will always be a breeze up on the roof, and they keep the inside of the hive around 92 degrees when they are making brood (babies). If it gets too hot they ventilate with wings to cool it down.
Think of how many times you've seen hives right out in the open in fields in the summertime.
Again, I'm a newb and this is all an experiment -- but from what I understand avoiding shady damp areas is much more important than areas in full sun.
nice, yes i see a lot of hives out in the open, but i know that roofs give off a lot of heat. but i am also not a beekeeper do have no Idea
I'm a newb, so only time will tell. I definitely thought about it.
The bees will let me know by summer's end I'm sure.
bman is a NOOOB HAHAHAHAHAHA
sorry WoW days coming back to me
holy CRAP! I've been off running around with my camera and had no idea all this was going on! THIS ROCKS! WAY TO GO BP!!!!!!!! plus I love your use of the word Ominous. it sends a warm soothing feeling down to my toes and reminds me of Soul Coughing. I think it is one of my favorite words. Sorry I'm off topic. Plus - does Sara know about your bees?? She is a bee lady you know. You should check out her photos of the bees all on her.
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