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So I'm going to pick up my first hive and queen tomorrow. This will hopefully help solve the lack of pollenators I have noticed in my garden.
Anyone on here ever kept bees?
Have any tips/tricks?
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
Beekeeping
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Anne
King Lincoln
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City Folks Farm Shop has resources on that.
http://www.columbusunderground.com/city-folks-farm-shop-offers-urban-homesteading-tools-and-educationPosted 10 months ago # -
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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In the old Lithuanian customs, when a new farmer neighbor moved in, you'd bring a colony of bees as a welcome gift. Then that established a relationship, and the word for it roughly translates as "bee brothers."
In some old Russian paintings, I've seen beehives that were hollow birch trunk sections.
Posted 10 months ago # -
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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I've got two top bar hives in our yard. Where are you buying your bees from? It's usually best to start a new hive in the spring so they have enough time to collect food and draw brood comb. You might end up feeding your bees a lot more than if you'd started in April to make sure you have strong hives going into the fall.
Another thing to be careful about is working your hives in the heat. Once installed you normally give them a few days for the queen to get out of her cage and start laying before removing the queen cage, however in the temps that we've been having, opening your hive could potentially damage any comb they've drawn unless you're using foundation frames.
I stopped at City Folks Farm when they opened and was a bit disappointed in their beekeeping supplies, seemed more like a display more than anything I could buy from the store. Perhaps that's changes in the past few months.
One recourse I use constantly is Central Ohio Beekeeping Association. They hold monthly meetings at Franklin Park as well as beekeeping classes and workshops. I bought my bees as well as some equipment from one of their members Barry Conrad out in Canal Winchester.
OSU also has a bee lab and offers webinars and the like.
Are you just getting the one hive?
Best tip...never work a hive sweaty and avoid stepping on any bee on the ground. Bees have a very sensitive sense of smell and bees that have been stepped on release pheromones that essentially warn the others of danger so they're looking for a fight. Same thing for being sweaty. I noticed my bees were bearding because of the heat, and stupidly thought to prop open the top of one of the hives right after a yoga class (and while in workout clothes and not my bee suit)closest I've come to being stung.
Posted 10 months ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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How much space do you need for a small hive? One of the many things I'm considering for my little urban homestead, just a lot of concern about the proximity to the neighbors. I'll keep an eye on this thread. Can't wait to see the results!
Posted 10 months ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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We'll also be keeping an eye on this thread. Carl has considered having bees for decades, but never lived somewhere to keep them. We're hoping to have them in Hermann in about 5 years, so we're ramping up our learning. We knew a couple who recently tried beekeeping, but the hive failed, so that worried us a bit. Thanks for the links, mrsgeedeck. OSU has some webinars that we'll take a look at, and we'll see about going to some of the workshops from either organization. I'm curious, too, though. How large are your yards? How close are the hives to neighbors? Do the neighbors know about the hives, and did they voice any concerns? Our other home is also urban, but is on 4 city lots, at the top of a hill, and has a ravine at the back, so it's a little more removed from other homes than most homes in town. I think we can place a hive reasonably far away from neighbors there. Still, it's a bit of a concern, and I would love to hear any experiences anyone has had in urban settings.
Posted 10 months ago # -
RandomVisitor
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I know of a couple in German Village that have 3 or 4 hives in their small yard. They did inform the neighbors before they brought the first hive in.
Posted 10 months ago # -
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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We live in IV so its a pretty dense area with a small yard. Here's a picture of my two hives and you can see where our fence is from the photos. None of the neighbors have complained, or seem too worried about it, and really the only time they can even see the hives over the fence is if they're standing on the back step. Bees tend to fly out and up so chances of them going over the fence for anything other than gathering pollen is slim.
We have a cat that we let outside under supervision and his favorite spot in the yard is to sit out between both hives and watch the bees flying around. We have to pass the hives to enter/exit the yard on a daily basis and haven't been bothered at all, they go about their business and we go about ours. Leaving in the morning the hive is just waking up, coming home in the evening the hives are definitely more active and I've bumped into a bee or two as they make their way home for the night.
If I'd gone with the standard Langstroth hive I could have probably fit 4 maybe 6 gives in that space and they'd be a lot lower to the ground. I'm not beekeeping for honey production though and didn't want to risk spending my summer fighting with racoons.
Sometimes hives fail, it happens. Most beekeepers recommend having at least two hives so that if one is weak you don't lose everything. The hive on the left in the picture doesn't seem to be doing as well as the one on the right and I fully anticipate them not making it through the winter successfully, but I'll do my best to keep them going, re-queen in a few months to ensure they have a strong queen and food available going into winter and take it from there.
Hives fail for a lot of reasons aside from colony collapse.
Posted 10 months ago # -
racheltb
clintonville
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Looks great! I can't wait to get hives at our next house.
Some other resources: Franklin Park Conservatory has a pollinator garden and hives on display. They occasionally offer classes.
Beekeeping 101 is a book written by Dana T. Stahlman, an Ohio beekeeper. It's full of great information.
Lithopolis Honey Fest is supposed to be great fun and would be a good place to chat with beekeepers. It's September 8th this year.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Patch
Schumacher Place
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RandomVisitor said:
I know of a couple in German Village that have 3 or 4 hives in their small yard. They did inform the neighbors before they brought the first hive in.What block are they on? I know of a home in Schumacher Place that has one, but I didn't know someone else in the "neighborhood" had one.
I would love to have a hive or two, but have two pups and a 1 year old.
I'm betting they won't mix well with the bees.
Posted 10 months ago # -
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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Back when I was a kid, the trailside museum at Glen Helen had a beehive cased in glass built into one wall, so people inside could look through the glass at the combs and all the activity. I don't know if they still have that.
Posted 10 months ago # -
derm
Grandview
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Dont tell anybody else, but Craigslist always has beekeeping stuff on sale. I check it periodically but have not pulled the trigger yet due to other projects.
http://columbus.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=42&subAreaID=&query=hive&catAbb=sss
Posted 10 months ago # -
Schoolboy
Columbus
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I'm not an actual beekeeper myself, but nearly every farmer I know has one now... and I know a lot of farmers.
Here are the 2 simple tips that I know are essential...
#1... You need a close by water source. If you don't have one within 25 yards or so, they won't thrive like they could. Over 50 yards, and it hinders them greatly. Also, new hives seem to be very wierd about their selection of where they get their water. I've heard from several people that they set something up for them, only to find them going out of their way to an alternate source. Some people think it's just because that was just the first reported source back to the hive, and that became option A. In any case, if you can, move the hive closer to their chosen source. If not, I don't know the solution, but you may find it online.
#2... If you want to also harvest honey, then you have to start your hive in the early spring. Start w/ a 2 tower system, then add the 3rd once they have their egg factory set up. They will then use the 3rd for the honey, which is then removable and won't harm the nursery. Regardless, early spring is the optimal time to begin your hive.
Good luck. We need more bees! :)
edit... Not to be a downer, but this may be a bad year to start a new urban hive mid summer. The lack of rain has crushed the flower population. Unless you have a very large flower bed in addition to your garden, I'm not sure that your bees could find enough pollen to sustain a new colony.
Posted 10 months ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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Interesting. Carl and I just never imagined having bees that close to neighbors. The folks whose beehive failed live on a few acres outside Newark, and the bees were far from homes. Guess we were pretty ignorant of how close they can be. Great to know! One thing, though, we do want honey. There's a lot of wildlife on the property out there (it's a stone's throw from the Missouri river). I haven't seen raccoons, but I'd imagine they are around. That's something we need to consider, too. Thanks for giving us food for thought. We're really just beginning to learn, and if all else fails, we may just find a local source for honey (part of why I want local honey is to help with allergies).
Posted 10 months ago # -
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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@chrisgillespie most beekeepers have Langstroth hives, so while there is a risk of wildlife trying to get at the hive its not a make or break deal. For those types of hives you can put them up on some cinder blocks to keep the hive directly off the ground and you should be fine for most pests. From my encounters with this IV raccoon he's sort of had the run of the place and isn't afraid to jump on your front porch to rummage through recycling bins, so I didn't want to make it too easy for the critter.
The thing to consider with the Langstroth's though is size and weight when dealing with honey production. A full super (the box with honeycomb) of honey can weigh 20-30lbs easy and you need to lift that off of your hive to harvest it. At 5'1 I wasn't ready to commit to that kind of lifting if I wasn't trying to get a lot of honey from a hive so I opted for the easier method. They do come in different sizes though so you can create a hive with say 8 frames of comb instead of 10 etc., to account for weight.
I fully expect to be able to harvest about 4 combs of honey this fall which should be enough for our household's use. I am however considering adding a third hive next spring in the standard Langstroth style just for comparison.@schoolboy I completely agree about the seasonal timing being difficult to get a hive started. Bees will travel several miles to find pollen, but I'm not sure they can find enough between now and fall to build a strong hive.
Posted 10 months ago #
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