As per a request from another forum member. Some pictures of my beekeeping.

 

 

A Beehive on a hot day.

 

 

 

Some frames of honey ready to be uncapped…note frame on left not sealed by the bees as yet…the others are already sealed, which has to be removed by uncapper before going into the extractor.

 

 

 

Some frames uncapped ready to be placed in the extractor.

 

 

Our extractor room, most larger beekeepers these days uncap using a machine we still only use a steam-heated knife.

 

 

Edited January 13, 200817 yr by Norm

Many thanks for posting this Norm. Its very interesting.

The photo taken on the hot day looks like they are all out on the "balcony" getting cool.

How often do you have to process the honey from the hives like this and what sort of quantities do you get from it ?

 

We once had bees coming through our bathroom. It was found we had bees in the wall between the weatherboards and interior. A friend of my Dads came and smoked them out. He took the queen bee in his hands and walked 500 metres to his car with a swarm of bees around him. He drove them home like that and set them up at his house in some new hives. Then we took apart the weatherboards and took down the honeycomb. We got 10 gallons of honey from all that. It covered the whole side of the house bathroom wall.

I got stung twice and we worked out I was allergic to bees by the severe reaction I got as a kid. I think I dont have the same reactions now.

Hey Norm, did you feel guilty after seeing Bee Movie??? :(Laughing out loud):

Wow Norm that looks awesome!!!! If only i weren't allergic to bees doesn't it suck getting stung so much?...

i'm afraid of one sting let alone thousands...

around how much honey would come out of each of those frames?

Very interesting .

 

I love the taste of 'fresh' honey, much better than the store bought variety , a friend of my grandparents used to give us tubs of red gum honey from her bee hives (I'm pretty sure it was red gum honey )

 

How do you get started with bee-keeping i.e. how do you get the bees to start using the hive?

thanks for posting, it is very interesting

Wow, that's a nice hobby . I love honey . But I'm very scared of all flying stinging insect, I panic and run if I hear them around me .

Many thanks for posting this Norm. Its very interesting. The photo taken on the hot day looks like they are all out on the "balcony" getting cool. How often do you have to process the honey from the hives like this and what sort of quantities do you get from it ?

Yes Kaz that’s basically what they are doing, they keep their hive at a constant temperature, so if it gets too hot some move outside to cool it down & some will be at the entrance fanning to create draughts of cool air going in & hot coming out. It varies on the area where you are or if you move the hives all the time, we just keep them basically in the one place, so we get honey only in three or four months of the year. The amount varies also, some hive get almost nothing if something is wrong, others get lots more than others, because of the strain & it’s ability. It’s common to get three or four boxes of honey off of a good hive, I haven’t ever weighed it but maybe something like 100 kilos.

Hey Norm, did you feel guilty after seeing Bee Movie??? :(Laughing out loud):

I haven’t seen that movie Andrew…but I saw some shorts about it on TV…of course they got the basic thing wrong…the characters in the movie are all boys, whereas bees the Queen & the workers are all females…the Queen is the only sort of complete female, she mates & produces fertile eggs which mostly turn out female workers, unless they want to swarm then some Queens will be raised…Male bees are produced from unfertilised eggs, they have half the chromosomes of the females [virgin birth]. Workers are controlled by a chemical called Queen substance the Queen produces that the workers eat that stops them laying, but if the Queen dies & they don’t raise another, some workers will start laying eggs, but these are only Drones & they call them Drone layers & the hive will die out.

Wow Norm that looks awesome!!!! If only i weren't allergic to bees doesn't it suck getting stung so much?... i'm afraid of one sting let alone thousands...around how much honey would come out of each of those frames?

I don't know exactly Libby, but maybe something like 5 to 7 Kilos. Each bee only produces about a teaspoon of honey in it's life, but a strong hive can have something like 60 to 100 thousand workers in the summer.

Very interesting .I love the taste of 'fresh' honey, much better than the store bought variety , a friend of my grandparents used to give us tubs of red gum honey from her bee hives (I'm pretty sure it was red gum honey :glare: )How do you get started with bee-keeping i.e. how do you get the bees to start using the hive?

You can buy a hive from another beekeeper, but I started off by just catching a couple of swarms & putting them in a box. You have to register your bees with the department of agriculture & keep them in proper hives.

Wow, that's a nice hobby . I love honey . But I'm very scared of all flying stinging insect, I panic and run if I hear them around me :hap: .

If your not allergic to bee stings after some time you don’t usually swell up anymore, as your body adjusts, but allergic people can die in a couple of minutes, from shock. I have been keeping bees for about 46 years, it still hurts, some times more than others depending where you get stung, if it’s a sensitive part like your finger tips, but they say that beekeepers cut of the pain signal to the brain…but after the initial pain it usually goes away.

Wow, that's a nice hobby . I love honey . But I'm very scared of all flying stinging insect, I panic and run if I hear them around me :glare: .

If your not allergic to bee stings after some time you don’t usually swell up anymore, as your body adjusts, but allergic people can die in a couple of minutes, from shock. I have been keeping bees for about 46 years, it still hurts, some times more than others depending where you get stung, if it’s a sensitive part like your finger tips, but they say that beekeepers cut of the pain signal to the brain…but after the initial pain it usually goes away.

 

 

I think I'm allergic - at least I was a couple of years ago - I went for a tests. But they said I'm allergic only a little bit. I don't think I would die.

I like bees, they don't fly over to you to sting you, like wasps do :hap:

I think I'm allergic - at least I was a couple of years ago - I went for a tests. But they said I'm allergic only a little bit. I don't think I would die.

I like bees, they don't fly over to you to sting you, like wasps do :hap:

 

 

 

Most people will react at first if your not used to stings, but allergic People get allergic through having stings & then becoming allergic to them. Bees mostly will only sting if you touch their hive or if you squash one.

Edited January 14, 200817 yr by KAZ

I think I'm allergic - at least I was a couple of years ago - I went for a tests. But they said I'm allergic only a little bit. I don't think I would die.

I like bees, they don't fly over to you to sting you, like wasps do :glare:

 

 

 

Most people will react at first if your not used to stings, but allergic People get allergic through having stings & then becoming allergic to them. Bees mostly will only sting if you touch their hive or if you squash one.

 

I don't know if it's possible, but when I was a baby my mum used to give me honey to stop crying - which was very often. But I don't think I can get allergy from this . All my live I thought I'm allergic (my parents told me) and now when I went for tests, they were something like 0.3 % for bees and nothing for wasps . So no serious at all I guess. It's just the fear I have to fix now :(Laughing out loud): . I even broke our camera last year - I dropped it as I was running away from a wasp :hap: . At the same time my wedding ring flew away (but we found it ), silly me

I just found out one of our new neighbours has bees, so we will be having lots of fun in summer :(Laughing out loud):

Really interesting stuff there Norm. I'm scared of Bees. I've never been stung, but have a massive fear of them. I don't run if I see them, but freak out if they're flying around near me... good on you though, great hobby.

Yes severe allergies suck!!! i'm quite allergic but it's not a death sentence for me, however my cousin has to carry an "epi pen" around at all time incase of emergency ( it's a small pen like thing with a needle inside filled with adrenalin)which he must stab himself with and call an ambo :S now that'd be scary!!!

Norm that is really neat. Bees in themselves are amazing creatures. When you think about all they do to make the honey and how they work together (us humans could learn a thing or too :hap:. Thank you for sharing.

Yes severe allergies suck!!! i'm quite allergic but it's not a death sentence for me, however my cousin has to carry an "epi pen" around at all time incase of emergency ( it's a small pen like thing with a needle inside filled with adrenalin)which he must stab himself with and call an ambo :S now that'd be scary!!!

Yes Libby that's what people with true allergic response to bee or wasps & maybe even peanuts, have to do…lots of people say they are allergic, but everyone swells up for about three days when they get their first few stings & I think that's what most people think is being allergic.

 

Thanks for being interested guys, I'm glad you enjoyed it & yes Elly bees are very interesting & amazing creatures, if you want to know more about them maybe I will be able to answer your questions. Like apparently years ago scientists looked at the cells made by bees & after checking they were amazed to find out that the cells were built in such a way as to use the minium amount of material, with the greatest strength & greatest storage ability, given the problem they had to do in making the cells. They decided that the bees were only a few degrees out in making the perfect cells. But later on as scientists got better at working out things they found out the bees were correct & it was them that made the mistake…The cells were perfect.

Edited January 14, 200817 yr by Norm

Thats a great hobby! Have the African bee's gone to Oz? They seemed to be in the news a lots a few years back here in so cal, but you dont hear so much about them attacking now. Now we are more worried about colonies dying off in Cal, that will kill the crop production! No bee's = No life!

Thats a great hobby! Have the African bee's gone to Oz? They seemed to be in the news a lots a few years back here in so cal, but you dont hear so much about them attacking now. Now we are more worried about colonies dying off in Cal, that will kill the crop production! No bee's = No life!

 

As far as we know we haven’t got Africanised bees here…yet…got just about everything else…I have heard about your die off disease, there is talk that we have it too…nobody seems to know what is causing it…but maybe environmental damage as bees are very sensitive.

 

But with climate change on it's way & a lot worse than they tell us, I think...it probably is all academic...we all will be in trouble.

Thats a great hobby! Have the African bee's gone to Oz? They seemed to be in the news a lots a few years back here in so cal, but you dont hear so much about them attacking now. Now we are more worried about colonies dying off in Cal, that will kill the crop production! No bee's = No life!

 

As far as we know we haven't got Africanised bees here…yet…got just about everything else…I have heard about your die off disease, there is talk that we have it too…nobody seems to know what is causing it…but maybe environmental damage as bees are very sensitive.

 

But with climate change on it's way & a lot worse than they tell us, I think...it probably is all academic...we all will be in trouble.

 

I say pools are the problem!!! i swear, i pull hundreds of bees out a day, maybe that's where their population is going into my creepy crawley!!

Yes Libby for some unknown reason they seem to be attracted to chlorinated water. But not enough of them to kill them out. We beekeepers get lots of complaints about that.

Personally, I would blame pesicides and the things sprayed on growing produce. Pollution etc. If bees are really sensitive then the poisons of our world would be affecting them. Amazing creatures.

MMMM natural honey , LOVE it Norm, Ive actually still got some left from my last visit to Eungai Rail which was my exs uncles place , But I cannot rememder the type of tree that was there , some sort of iron bark I think ? . But Im very partial to the Yellow Box MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM .

Well im off , talking bout honey , Im having some.

Personally, I would blame pesicides and the things sprayed on growing produce. Pollution etc. If bees are really sensitive then the poisons of our world would be affecting them. Amazing creatures.

Yeah they are amazing…Bees, cockroaches & crocodiles & others have remained unchanged for millions or years, they are so adapted for life on planet earth, but whether they can handle what humanity [the so called smart animal] is throwing at them remains to be seen.

MMMM natural honey , LOVE it Norm, Ive actually still got some left from my last visit to Eungai Rail which was my exs uncles place , But I cannot rememder the type of tree that was there , some sort of iron bark I think ? . But Im very partial to the Yellow Box MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM . Well im off , talking bout honey , Im having some.

Eungai Rail isn’t that far from here, the honey would be similar & you are right the main coastal honey is Ironbark…Yellow Box is nice, it’s the western area honey, at least the tablelands anyway, it’s supposed to be the worlds best honey, a pure sample never candies.

I have a friend who injured herself badly, creating an open wound that refused all medical efforts to heal. So she began using natural honey as a poultice. What medicine coud not cure, the honey did. Its amazing stuff.

I have a friend who injured herself badly, creating an open wound that refused all medical efforts to heal. So she began using natural honey as a poultice. What medicine coud not cure, the honey did. Its amazing stuff.

 

Yes Kaz, it aids repair & apparently stops scarring, with wounds or burns & now there is a special Medihoney, which comes from Leptospermums, one of the plants commonly called a Tea tree, it produces a jelly like honey & has antibacterial properties, I think the New Zealanders did all the experimental work on them.

But with climate change on it's way & a lot worse than they tell us, I think...it probably is all academic...we all will be in trouble.

 

 

That we will... its a scarey thing!