I've been reading this site for at least a year. I guess I never had anything to add, just gathering information. Now I have information overload. I have 6 hives and more on the way. I have decided to go full tilt. It's been pretty warm up here in the north, the last few days. All of my hives have been out cleansing. That's a nice thing to see.
Back in the 80's, I lived in Arizona. I bought a box load of beekeeping stuff at an auction. A few weeks later, one of my friends called me. He had just bought 20 acres out in the middle of the desert, and while he was out looking it over, he found an abandoned beehive that looked as if it had been there at least 5 years. He called me and asked if I wanted it. But of course.
I went out that night and covered the entrance and a few holes the bees had chewed through, loaded it on my pickup and took it home. The next day, I put on all my new/used bee stuff and went out there and cracked her open. In less than 3 seconds, I had really ill tempered bees inside my veil, trying to eat my eyeballs out! I took off running, and as I passed my big picture window, I remember seeing my two young boys laughing to the point of hysterics, at me swatting and flailing about. I think I got stung 20 to 30 times...that time.
Well, turns out, they were Africanized. I finally got rid of them and repacked all of my beloved beekeeping stuff back in the box. I remember thinking that someday, I would have some nice bees and we would make honey and bee happy. Well, this is that someday.
Topic: Howdy-Do (Read 1412 times)