Official Kiwi Farms Bee and Bee Adjacent Thread

Wasps eat crop pests, they're cool. You might even say that the caterpillar FEARS the Wasp Samurai.
I'm germinating flower seeds now so my garden can be buzzing once the last frost clears. Pic related, it's a bee.
 

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I've never been stung by one but they use to fly around where we had a small pool and I would hold my breath underwater until they went away. I later learned that wasps are the ones you shouldn't relax around.

Love their products, honey is exceptionally healthy.
 
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Cloaca Rimjob said:
I'd be interested in hearing about it. I've heard it can be quite a profitable hobby. I've gotten less squicky with insects as I've gotten older. I still despise wasps though.
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It can be profitable, but most people do it for love. It's pretty hard work, since the hives can be pretty heavy (a full box--called a super--can be about 90 lbs), but in a good year a hive can produce 100 lbs of honey. I think my best year ever was 125 lbs per hive, but more normal was 30 to 40 lbs per hive. If you have specific questions I'm glad to answer.

Not a bee said:
What kind of bees do you have
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I only ever worked with honeybees. Some people work with solitary bees, but I was never one of them. I mainly had Italian honeybees, who are the really yellow ones. Those are pretty standard. I had a few Caucasian and a few Carniolan. Those are other strains or races of bees. Each one has its advantages. Here is a page that has differences between the races of bees

different races

and before anyone asks, yes I've been stung hundreds or probably thousands of times over the decades. I got nailed once inside my nose. _That_ hurt.
 
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LateNightMuffin said:
It can be profitable, but most people do it for love. It's pretty hard work, since the hives can be pretty heavy (a full box--called a super--can be about 90 lbs), but in a good year a hive can produce 100 lbs of honey. I think my best year ever was 125 lbs per hive, but more normal was 30 to 40 lbs per hive. If you have specific questions I'm glad to answer.
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I've been caretaking a hive for some family while they're away for the winter. This year has been unusually warm to the point where they were out buzzing in February. Weather cooled down a lot since then and we're back to freezing at night. My question is about weatherproofing a hive, if maybe building a small insulated structure (like a simple A frame shed) would help keep the ambient temperature of the hive more uniform and preserve them better. I've also thought about making a treated lumber enclosure with dirt mounded against the walls for insulation, my concern there is keeping the hive too warm and encouraging early activity again. How do you keep your bees from freezing to death in the wintertime?
 
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