Can Bees Be Self Sufficient?

[Nyboy]

I always thought bees where fascinating and wanted a hive. My yard in city is way to small, I have plenty of room at country house, but am only there a couple of days a month. I don't care about collecting honey. How much care to bees need ?

 

[so lucky]

The information I have seen indicates that they need attention and maintenance more often than twice a month. And in winter they may need feeding, if you do take the honey. I know very little about bees, and will be watching this thread with interest.

 

[Carol Dee]

I missed this post. But bees take more care than one might suspect. (Time and expense.) DH started 2 hives last spring then added on over the summer. All 3 perished this winter. A VERY LONG and COLD winter. He even supplemented pollen patties and candy boards. I don't even want to think about how much money has been spent on this hobby. We just drove 5 hours to pick up 3 queens and 9 pounds of bees! Starting over. A small yard really is O.K. unless you have neighbors that would freak out!

 

[Nyboy]

Thanks Carol was afraid of that.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I don't know much more than most people about keeping bees. Never expected that there would be a lot of money and time involved in bee keeping, makes me appreciate those small scale bee keepers that indirectly produce our honey more.

One thing that I do know about bee keeping, and it's kind of interesting - to produce a new queen bee, you stick one of those little maggot bee-baby things into a special cell in the hive, predictably called the queen's cell. That little bee-baby will turn into a female and develop into another queen. This is according to memory - I once considered bee keeping and read a very informative book about it (not the whole book). To be honest, I wasn't that interested in it at first and any interest that I did have in it disappeared fast, I only ended up reading a few pages. Bees don't have leaves are feathers, and poultry and plants don't sting.

 

[journey11]

I missed this post. But bees take more care than one might suspect. (Time and expense.) DH started 2 hives last spring then added on over the summer. All 3 perished this winter. A VERY LONG and COLD winter. He even supplemented pollen patties and candy boards. I don't even want to think about how much money has been spent on this hobby. We just drove 5 hours to pick up 3 queens and 9 pounds of bees! Starting over. A small yard really is O.K. unless you have neighbors that would freak out!

Oh, that's a bummer, Carol. I am sorry to hear that.

My poor bees have been sadly neglected since I got pregnant with my second DD, 2 years old now. I've not done much for them other than wrap the hive for winter and feed occasionally. They have survived 3 years without much help from me. I credit the biodiversity of forage they have in this area though. That, and we have little to no ag chemicals being sprayed in this 6-mile radius. I really was pleased that they made it through this harsh winter. I hope to get more time to work them this summer, now that my dear MIL is finally retiring!!!

Nyboy, another option is to get in contact with some local beekeepers and offer to work out an agreement so that he or she can put a couple of hives on your property. Most beeks will eventually have more bees than they know what to do with and I know several here that have more than a couple of locations for their apiaries. If you have an abundance of things that the bees can forage in the area and a nearby water source (even a small fountain will do), someone may be very happy to have you host their bees there and do all the work so you don't have to. Win-win!

 

[Carol Dee]

Oh, that's a bummer, Carol. I am sorry to hear that.

My poor bees have been sadly neglected since I got pregnant with my second DD, 2 years old now. I've not done much for them other than wrap the hive for winter and feed occasionally. They have survived 3 years without much help from me. I credit the biodiversity of forage they have in this area though. That, and we have little to no ag chemicals being sprayed in this 6-mile radius. I really was pleased that they made it through this harsh winter. I hope to get more time to work them this summer, now that my dear MIL is finally retiring!!!

Nyboy, another option is to get in contact with some local beekeepers and offer to work out an agreement so that he or she can put a couple of hives on your property. Most beeks will eventually have more bees than they know what to do with and I know several here that have more than a couple of locations for their apiaries. If you have an abundance of things that the bees can forage in the area and a nearby water source (even a small fountain will do), someone may be very happy to have you host their bees there and do all the work so you don't have to. Win-win!

Great Idea Journey, I hope NYboy looks into that.