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May 2, 2011 12:36 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
In addition to disease honey bees have pests that make life harzardous.

Skunks
Scratch at the hive entrance to lure bees out so they can grab them and eat them. Guard bees who fly out and sting them do little good because skunks are almost completely immune to their stings.
Best defense is to place your hive on a hive stand 2' to 3' off the ground.

Raccons
Are attracted to hives when wax or propolis is carelessly discarded near the hive. They remove the top and inner cover and pull a frame out. They drag the frame a few feet away and the guard bees and any bees on the frame fly back to the hive, leaving the raccoon to eat the honey and brood in peace.
Best defense is to dispose of wax and propollis away from the hive and place a brick on top of the hive to prevent the raccoon from opening it.

Opossums
Wait for the opportunity to catch a bee for a snack.
Placing the hive up high as for skunks helps prevent them from getting their snack.

Wax Moths
Lay eggs in the hive box and when the moth larvae hatch out they go through the hive eating the wax, honey, pollen, larvae and pupae.
Honey bees normally take care of these pests on their own in a strong, healthy hive. Frames and supers can be put in the freezer to kill all stages of the moths. Storing unused hive bodies where light and fresh air can circulate around them will also kill them.

Small Hive Beetles
Hide out in dark places where the honey bees can't go.
Traps containing oil are used to trap and drown them. Honey bees will build prisions around them if they can find them.

Tracheal Mites
Affects all stages of the honey bee. They enter the breathing tube of the honey bee and feed on the blood produced when they pierce the tube to feed.
Chemical products or grease patties made with shortening, sugar, honey and peppermint are used to kill them. . Some breeds of honey bees are resistant or tolerant of them.

Varroa Mites
Affects drone pupae. Like tracheal mites they feed on blood but outside the honey bees body. Some strains of honey bees are resistant to them.
To control them screened boards, powdered sugar and using drone brood traps is effective.

Bears
Bears love honey and brood. Best defense is an electric fence around your bee yard.

Birds
Insect eating birds may eat honey bees while they are foraging or mating in the air.

Humans
Humans are reponsible for the use of pesticdes which are toxic to honey bees.
Some people kill them because they sting or they are allergic to them.
Some people will destroy a bee yard out of spite.
Humans are also reponsible for the diminishing food supply of honey bees.
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May 2, 2011 1:50 PM CST
Name: Cheryl White
Butler, Texas
Charter ATP Member Cat Lover Seller of Garden Stuff Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Region: Texas
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Well no bears here but thats only 1 out of 10 I wouldn't have to worry about Rolling on the floor laughing
check out my new store Metamorphosis Upcycled/Recycled Glass
http://www.facebook.com/Metamo... , http://cubits.org/diycomforthe...
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May 2, 2011 4:14 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Lucky you. We have them around our area. Not here where we live yet but close. Thanks to the Dept of Wildlife people.
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May 4, 2011 9:01 AM CST
Name: Christine
North East Texas (Zone 7b)
Shine Your Light!
Heirlooms Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Hummingbirder Bee Lover Herbs
Butterflies Dragonflies Birds Cat Lover Dog Lover Garden Photography
Hi Mindy,

great info!
what do you know about wasps being a problem for honeybees? dh was talking about them being a problem invading the hives for the honey. We have multiple kinds of wasps around here... not sure which varieties.

Cheryl, same for me! lol I haven't seen any bears but everything else....yep!!!
Whistling Hilarious!
May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb

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May 4, 2011 9:50 AM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Christine I checked that out and found the following information.

Some wasps eat honey bees and the honey
Best control is to maintain your colony so they are the strongest they can be so they can defend themselves and to make sure your hive box is well made and fits together tightly. Any gaps in the hive box will encourage predators to come in and make themselves at home. Using entrance reducers will also help keep wasps and other flying inscets out as well as mice.

Thanks for mentioning the wasps I knew they would rob a hive but didn't know some of them eat the bees as well.

Another problem is ants. Using a moat around the hive they can't cross , putting your hive stand legs in cans filled with motor oil if you use one with legs and sprinkling cinnamon around the hive will deter the ants.

Generally any other type of bee will try to rob your hive if there's a shortage of food. We've not had any problems with any of them so far. Which may be due to living in a rural area that provides plenty of food for everyone.
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May 4, 2011 5:41 PM CST
Name: Cheryl White
Butler, Texas
Charter ATP Member Cat Lover Seller of Garden Stuff Vegetable Grower Region: United States of America Region: Texas
Hummingbirder Garden Art Farmer Dog Lover Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge)
Wow a good way to recycle motor oil
check out my new store Metamorphosis Upcycled/Recycled Glass
http://www.facebook.com/Metamo... , http://cubits.org/diycomforthe...
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Jul 11, 2011 12:52 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Spiders
Most spiders are predators and honey bees are one of the insects they will eat.
Generally, spiders aren't a real problem for honey bees and no action is needed.
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Jan 5, 2012 1:48 AM CST
Name: Linda Williams
Medina Co., TX (Zone 8a)
Organic Gardener Bookworm Enjoys or suffers hot summers Charter ATP Member Salvias Herbs
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This one sounds kind of bad!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/si...
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
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Jan 5, 2012 5:58 AM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Very serious one Linda. I did some quick research on the fly itself but there doesn't seem to be much on it other than what is in the link you provided. I'll do a more through research later today and see what I can find out.
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Jan 5, 2012 8:12 AM CST
Name: Charleen
Alford, Florida (Zone 8a)
Walk in Peace / I'm Timber's Mom.
Miniature Gardening Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! I sent a postcard to Randy! Tip Photographer I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
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http://news.yahoo.com/zombie-f...
I saw this earlier and meant to ask you if you knew anything about these little monsters. Very interesting article....
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Jan 5, 2012 9:31 AM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Thanks Charleen very interesting indeed. I'm going to check the beekeeping sites to see if there's more information on this.
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Jan 5, 2012 9:59 AM CST
Name: Charleen
Alford, Florida (Zone 8a)
Walk in Peace / I'm Timber's Mom.
Miniature Gardening Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! I sent a postcard to Randy! Tip Photographer I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Mules Garden Ideas: Level 2 Sempervivums Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: United States of America Beekeeper
Oh, Great. did you see the tiny things on that little bee??? How terrible. Maybe they haven't got to Kentucky yet. I hope not...
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Aug 18, 2013 9:39 AM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
Nicely put together information. Life as a honey bee seems to be quite hard.
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Aug 18, 2013 4:35 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
Thank you Rita
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Aug 18, 2013 11:20 PM CST
Name: Elaine
Sarasota, Fl
The one constant in life is change
Amaryllis Tropicals Multi-Region Gardener Orchids Master Gardener: Florida Irises
Herbs Region: Florida Vegetable Grower Daylilies Birds Cat Lover
Hope you folks don't mind a question here. I am in Salt Lake this week helping my daughter move. This afternoon we had a great number on bees flying madly around the neighborhood. They were not in a swarm but spread out over an area of a couple of blocks at least. Flying about randomly and very fast. It was late in the afternoon and quite hot. Not windy or stormy.

Anyone have an idea why this happened?
Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
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Aug 19, 2013 8:42 PM CST
Name: Arlene
Grantville, GA (Zone 8a)
Greenhouse Region: Georgia Garden Sages Organic Gardener Beekeeper Vegetable Grower
Seed Starter Cut Flowers Composter Keeper of Poultry Keeps Goats Avid Green Pages Reviewer
This is a video a friend of mine put together about building an ant proof hive stand. He's been having a terrible time with ants.

http://bubbatanicals.com/blog/...
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Aug 20, 2013 5:42 AM CST
Moderator
Name: Margaret
Delta KY
I'm A Charley's Girl For Sure
Forum moderator I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Beekeeper
Seed Starter Permaculture Region: Kentucky Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level
I'll have to go to the other computer to watch the video. This computer doesn't want to play them for some reason.

I can vouch for the cinnamon to repel them. We use it on our hives.
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Aug 20, 2013 9:04 PM CST
Name: Cindi
Wichita, Kansas (Zone 7a)
Charter ATP Member Beekeeper Garden Ideas: Master Level Roses Ponds Permaculture
Peonies Lilies Irises Dog Lover Daylilies Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Elaine,
I wonder if those bees lost their hive?
I've seen birds act that way when their nests weren't where they left them, either because something destroyed it or, in one case, because the nest was under a trailer that was moved.
Our bees get kinda stirred up when the beekeeper moves a box in or out.
Confused
Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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Aug 22, 2013 11:37 AM CST
Name: Elaine
Sarasota, Fl
The one constant in life is change
Amaryllis Tropicals Multi-Region Gardener Orchids Master Gardener: Florida Irises
Herbs Region: Florida Vegetable Grower Daylilies Birds Cat Lover
That may be it Cindi. Thanks. They seem to have settled again. Phew it was a bit scary though.
Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
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Aug 24, 2013 8:26 AM CST
Name: Drew
Piedmont N.C. (Zone 7b)
Havent seen a be in probably 6-7 years... Just bumblebees.

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