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Author Topic: Greetin's from So. Cal.  (Read 4172 times)

Offline DennisD

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Greetin's from So. Cal.
« on: September 24, 2008, 02:57:27 am »
Greetings to the members here.

I have a brood box and two supers and an outer cover that I found and in pretty sad shape (albeit in better condition than the rest of the brood boxes and supers present there) in a long abandoned bee yard that had been obviously decimated by our local bear population. After some replacement wood sections, sanding and painting, my brood box, supers and outer cover are filled with plastic frames that were salvaged from the same bee yard. (The ones that weren't chewed up or warped) They now sit neatly stacked on a platform of cinder blocks awaiting a few items such as an inner cover and bees next spring.

Beekeeping is something I have spent years reading about and considering, although having surplus honey would be a great additional thing, I more interested in the keeping of bees out of my own curiosity concerning bees themselves, my interest will more than likely never evolve beyond a hobby where I keep one to a couple of hives at most. I've retired from my full time job as a paramedic an retire from the Army guard in a few years, the abundance of free time on my hands leaves me with little excuse to delay doing this any longer. I'll spend the winter months reading more (providing that I have left anything to read) and picking up a bee suit, veil, smoker and the inner cover and bee feeder.

As far as a mentor, they are in very short supply here, there is one bee keeper locally who I have spoken with via phone once for a few minutes that seems like he has much going on, from what I understand, he's a commercial keeper and probably has little time for mentoring. I am located in the Southern California Mountains, thus, there aren't any clubs in the area and a call to the county agriculture department yielded no contacts for a mentor other than one county employee that has been very helpful over the phone. There are no inspectors and there is no registration and such where I live, thus, most of not all the information I will gather is confined to what is available in print, web and forums.

With this being said, I have no "cool" beekeeping stories to tell, I imagine I'll spend most of my time here lurking to absorb various threads.

Cheers!

Dennis

Offline JP

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2008, 10:48:43 am »
Howdy!


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Offline mtman1849

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2008, 11:47:52 am »
Welcome to the forum this is a great place to gain knowledge and make friends

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2008, 02:44:26 pm »

With this being said, I have no "cool" beekeeping stories to tell, I imagine I'll spend most of my time here lurking to absorb various threads.

Cheers!

Dennis
You dont have any cool stories........YET! :-D
welcome to the forums!
your friend,
john

Offline DennisD

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2008, 05:02:29 pm »
Thanks folks for the welcome!

John,

I do have ONE "cool" story to tell, well, *chuckle* it's cool to me, it's probably small potatoes for the beekeepers here.

As I mentioned the abandoned bee yard I have been visiting over a few years that is in an area where I do some hunting and shooting, I had salvaged and refurbished somewhat a few other brood boxes that were not in as good shape as the one I elected to bring home. I had filled it with frames that had some drawn out comb, however no honey as the bears dined on that long ago. I placed the outer cover (No inner covers were found to my disappointment) on top with some stout rocks on the cover. A recent visit to the bee yard while I was entertaining some game birds with my shotgun yielded that two of the brood boxed had LOTS of feral bees in them. Of course, since I am one of those guys that can sit down and stare at bees for quite some time, I spent some time sitting beside the hives to watch the busy critters buzz about working their little gold and black rumps off. Had I a smoker, some duct tape and at least a veil, I might have just sealed up a box and brought it home. My best guess is they are not Africanized as they paid me NO attention at all and acted like I wasn't even there, so, I deduce that they are simply "happy" European honey bees. Anyway, that is my "cool" story.

I am not sure if it would be a good idea to move them since they are doing so well where they are at. I don't particularly care for the shape the wooden ware is in, I wonder if it is possible to simply remove the frames from one of the hives and place it in my nicely re-built brood box with a super on top without losing bees. I would be rather tickled to launch into actually keeping bees having used these feral bees. Maybe a few of you folks that know more about this can advise me if that is a notion worth pursuing or not.

As far as my lack of a smoker and veil, I am absent these items as I have just not got around to driving down the mountain into the city where there is a beekeeping supply business to buy these items. Something easily remedied. Of course, my original plan was to wait until January and order a package of bees to fill my brood box this spring.

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2008, 07:58:52 pm »
I dont see why you couldnt just replace the box with your new box and move the frames over. I think its best to keep the frames in the same order as they are now when you move them. Somebody else will chime in and tell you more. I'm in my second year of beekeeping and I consider myself still very "Green" about bees. I guess, what you have on your hands can be considered an "Automatic Cutout"..All the work is pretty much finished except for moving the bees :)

Oh yeh,....The way you came across the old apiary and fixed stuff up IS a really cool story in itself!. It sounds to me like you already have you first two hives to start with already!. I think most people here like captured bees alot better than bought bees as they are already used to the environment.
 I'm looking forward to seeing what happens!
 JP will tell you more about what to do as he's the "KING" of catching bees!

Good luck!!!

your friend,
john

Offline 1reb

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2008, 10:29:53 pm »
hello and welcome Dennis
There is alot of great information on the forum !!
The members here will help answer your question, all you need to do is to ask
Johnny

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2008, 10:45:02 pm »
hey Dennis!


heh heh heh.... :) By the way, speaking of "Small Potatos"...
 Did you see Irwins potato? Irwin posted it within the last couple days so you might be able to find it!

We talk about EVERTHING in these forums..From bees to broken lawn mowers!
You're gonna love this place!

your friend,
john

Offline Irwin

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2008, 11:54:23 am »
It's in the gardening form look for spud. Good to see ya here Dennis I look at three different form's and this is the most helpful form and they are all friendly :-D
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Offline DennisD

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2008, 03:15:30 pm »
Irwin,

Woah, I've never been mooned by a spud before, that is until now! :shock: I have grown some really bizarre looking carrots and an onion that had more in common with Dolly Parton than it did with veggies. I would not be a bit surprised if in the near future, someone posted a pic of a spud that looked like a bee.

Offline Irwin

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2008, 08:43:00 am »
I thought the people here would get a kick out of it :-D Good to see ya here on Beemaster's it's a great place to talk and have fun :-D
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2008, 11:34:13 am »
Dennis, welcome to our forum.  Your introduction was fascinating and the story of the feral bees was not small potatoes to anyone, I am sure of that.  You are up to some very interesting stuff, and I bet you will have many more tales to tell us, we love to listen....you will find that out.  You spend alot of time watching those feral bees, that is most exciting for sure, the bees are worth watching, never a dull moment, and one day, you will get that taste of honey.....

I think that it is wonderful that you are working so hard to fix up those boxes and learn all you can about beekeeping.  Let us all be your mentor.  You don't have to actually have one to physically work with you, you will see that.  You can learn so much, just doing it on your own.  Any time that you have any questions, we are only a few keystrokes away, you can lean on this forum for information, anything you need, just ask, we will all help, and put in our two or three cents.  I loved to hear your story that you told, welcome.  AND....have that most beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi
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Offline DennisD

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Re: Greetin's from So. Cal.
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2008, 07:47:58 pm »
Dennis, welcome to our forum.  Your introduction was fascinating and the story of the feral bees was not small potatoes to anyone, I am sure of that.  You are up to some very interesting stuff, and I bet you will have many more tales to tell us, we love to listen....you will find that out.  You spend alot of time watching those feral bees, that is most exciting for sure, the bees are worth watching, never a dull moment, and one day, you will get that taste of honey.....

I think that it is wonderful that you are working so hard to fix up those boxes and learn all you can about beekeeping.  Let us all be your mentor.  You don't have to actually have one to physically work with you, you will see that.  You can learn so much, just doing it on your own.  Any time that you have any questions, we are only a few keystrokes away, you can lean on this forum for information, anything you need, just ask, we will all help, and put in our two or three cents.  I loved to hear your story that you told, welcome.  AND....have that most beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi

Thanks Cindi!

As far as me being up to ery interesting stuff, I had to chuckle, I am a pretty boring guy. I had fun fixing up the boxes, I even got to wear some of the paint I was slathering on the boxes! I had a white knee and a white forearm, don't ask me how I managed to get some on my forehead, I just don't know, I really don't.

As far as watching bees, I like it, it is calming on me.

Again, thank you (And everyone else that has posted) for the welcome! I knew I would come out of lurk mode eventually and set up an account.

-Dennis

 

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