Terri, Yes , I do have clover and dandelions, maple trees, tulip poplars and some plants in the
gardens and I just noticed i have honeysuckle blooming down by the stream . But, with
still restoring the house and not having any gardens I have a lot right now.

Plus , a job will help

You will find some lists of plants for honey bees here at NGA
http://garden.org/ideas/search...

@shannon I have flowers blooming everywhere in my yard and I have not seen any of my bees on them but they are coming to the hive with there legs full of pollen. I think they are going across the street to a field that's cut for hay.

Cool . I think someone around here must have bee's as our Pet bee Only
visits then goes home LOL

A friend of mine wants me to cut a bee hive out of his tree. But I don't have a lot of equipment and I can't afford to buy much right now. Is there a way I can do it with a empty medium and frames

Can you cut the tree down and just bring the part of the tree with the bees (called a gum) in it back to your site? A friend of mine did that, and he was able to keep them in the gum for a few weeks, until he was able to build some boxes and frames.

I'm assuming you don't have a bottom board, inner cover or any outer cover? You could just put the medium on a board, cut a hole in the box at the bottom for an access hole and use a lot of rubber bands to put up the comb pieces on the frames, then just cover it with another board, like they do for top bar hives. I'd just watch to make sure the box doesn't get too hot inside or the bees may leave. The purpose of all the equipment we have is not only to make it easier for us to collect the honey but also to appeal enough to the bees to keep them in the hive

Thanks @dragonfly53 I do have a bottom board and a outer cover but I have to get a inner cover. He doesn't want me to cut the tree down. I'm hoping I can cut a hole in the side of the tree with a saw saw.

plantcollector said:@gardengoober I'm just curious to know what you will do with the varroa mites we were told we have to treat in order to keep the mites down in the spring. I don't want to have to use chemicals either I've always hated using chemicals on anything and they said that powdered sugar doesn't work.

Sorry for the delayed response. We just got back from your neck of the woods!

Actually, we don't treat. We let the bees do their thing. If we start seeing evidence of mites, then we'll figure out what to do. So far though, both of our hives are very strong!

Shannon said:Terri, Yes , I do have clover and dandelions, maple trees, tulip poplars and some plants in the
gardens and I just noticed i have honeysuckle blooming down by the stream . But, with
still restoring the house and not having any gardens I have a lot right now.

Plus , a job will help

I too wanted to wait until I had more bee-friendly plants but a friend of ours found a well-established hive for sale in the next town, texted me the link and said, "Just do it! Don't think about it." So here I am with two hives now! You know what, I've learned that they don't hang around my yard (3 acres) but head out to the neighbors!! You don't even have to have any plants because they will go, I've heard, up to 2 miles to get pollen and nectar. As for the job; however, it is DEFINITELY helpful because this hobby ain't cheap!

Off I go to pick up six more brooder boxes and frames!!! Ka-Ching!!!

If it wasn't for a friend of mine who builds all my box's I could not afford it. I still have to buy frames and foundation.. Crazy expensive

We don't treat our hives anymore either. The bees are doing fine. We have lost hives due to cold winters and sometimes they got sick during the spring thaw but no mite problems so far.

I did a search on the active ingredients in the mite medicines offered. Only seen two with ingredients I recognized as natural ones in two of them. They both had thymol. The second one also had menthol and eucalyptol and camphor. The study I read said the extra ingredients didn't seem to make much difference than the one with just thymol.
So I'm wondering if planting thyme which the bees do visit when in bloom would help?

Tori it's only expensive if you keep adding to the bee yard

It is true most bees like to travel to find their food but I have found that certain plants attract them in the yard every year.
Lavender
Crocus
Sunflowers
Blue hyacinth
are the most visited in my yard every year without fail unless I don't have them growing

Mindy03 said:We don't treat our hives anymore either. The bees are doing fine. We have lost hives due to cold winters and sometimes they got sick during the spring thaw but no mite problems so far.

I did a search on the active ingredients in the mite medicines offered. Only seen two with ingredients I recognized as natural ones in two of them. They both had thymol. The second one also had menthol and eucalyptol and camphor. The study I read said the extra ingredients didn't seem to make much difference than the one with just thymol.
So I'm wondering if planting thyme which the bees do visit when in bloom would help?

Good observation. Although so far, so good, I'm going to plant some thyme.

Mindy03 said:Tori it's only expensive if you keep adding to the bee yard

So true!! lol.

Mindy03 said:It is true most bees like to travel to find their food but I have found that certain plants attract them in the yard every year.
Lavender
Crocus
Sunflowers
Blue hyacinth
are the most visited in my yard every year without fail unless I don't have them growing

I have lavender ... and privet (which they seem to be fond of) and tulip poplars (but I don't know if they visit them since they're so high up). I scattered some raw sunflowers seeds but I'm pretty certain the birds ate them up. I love Hyacinth. I planted a bulb that's been in my garage for a couple of years. Pulled it out of the garage and set it on the porch with the intention of planting it and it started coming up but that won't be blooming till next year. Still working on amending the soil (clay/rock) so I can plant more bee-friendly stuff.

I just came across the following on Pinterest. Very interesting!

http://stacylynharris.com/live...

Comment on Pinterest:
Good to know: ***plant mint around our beehives. Wax moths do not like mint at all.***
There are also a few tips on how to prevent wax moth infestation.
1. Make sure you have plenty of bees per hive. Combine two hives if necessary. This will make the hive much stronger to take care of the moths before the moths destroy them.
2. Freeze honeycombs before storing, and store them in a cool, well ventilated building.

Bag up comb in plastic trash bags. If it's sealed the moths can't get to it.

We just finished installing our second nuc.





This is were we got the bees.
http://www.theburnsandthebees....

Ordered Georgian black mated queen. Winter's apiary is the place we ordered from.

One of the frames in our year old hive that was loaded with capped honey kind of fell apart. The bottom broke off, so we decided to harvest the honey. Quite an interesting - and sticky - experience. I'm still mashing comb through a strainer and collecting the honey in a stock pot beneath the strainer. So far, almost eight cups from the one frame!!!



Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to assemble a solar heater to melt the comb. Found instructions for one that I actually have all the components required to put it together. This should be fun! =)

Looks good Tori
If you have time take step by step pictures for us on making the solar wax melter.
You could post it as an article for everyone to see.

Mindy03 said:Looks good Tori.

Tastes good too!! lol.

Mindy03 said:If you have time take step by step pictures for us on making the solar wax melter.
You could post it as an article for everyone to see.

Okay! I can do that. =)

Your car makes a good solar heater