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Author Topic: Hi from Oregon  (Read 2509 times)

Offline tracerracer

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Hi from Oregon
« on: April 15, 2013, 08:09:10 pm »
I have just recently started lookin' into getting a couple hives, maybe next spring, at the latest, the following .........( don't want to rush into it  ;) ) I have found the Southern Oregon Beekeepers, they seem to be the 'closest' group, my only 'issue' is the 100 mile RT (and the price of fuel) to where they meet weekly ( it seems) That said, I do plan on contacting them and attending 'some'.....

I don't have a 'lot' of acres (3), but do have hair sheep, chickens, the occasional hog, dogs, a LDG, barn cats, a large garden, fruit trees and blackberries (oh, heavens, do I have blackberries)..... Why WOULDN'T I also have bees  ;) ..............

I have had a long 'fascination' of bees and the older I get, the more important it seems to be to me, to 'know' where and what's 'in' our food......

I confess, I tend to 'lurk' more than post, but I will ask if I have a question...........
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Offline Lone

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2013, 08:28:10 pm »
Hello Traceracer and welcome,
Bees will love blackberries.
I have a 160 mile round trip to our bee meeting.  You will find fuel is only a tiny expense compared with what you'll end up spending on your bees!
What is an LDG?  And hair sheep?

Lone

Offline Joe D

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2013, 09:52:36 pm »
Welcome to the forum, Traceracer.  Kathy is from Boring, Oregon, don't know if that is anywhere near you.  Beek is addictive, once you get the Bug you wont want to quit.




Joe

Offline Sunnyboy2

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2013, 10:43:26 pm »
Welcome.  Seems you are in a great spot for bees.  I think that the $5 to $10 spent on trip will easily be made up on the money saved by learning to avoid mistakes and getting leads on useful items or ideas.  One saved bee package will pay for a years worth of travel. ;)

Offline tracerracer

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2013, 10:50:20 pm »
160 RT? I stand impressed, I thought I lived in the 'sticks' ;) I do plan on goin' to meetings, just not every week..... Boring Oregon is only about 300+- miles or so ( I'm at the southern end, she's at the northern ) My 'grocery getter' is a 3/4 ton Dodge Cummins 6 pack 4x4, a short bed ...... Not quite $5-10 in fuel to travel 100 or so miles  :-\ ......... Like I said, I 'do' plan on goin', I just realistically afford every week..... Thinkin' I might try to talk to a friend about it, maybe we could carpool ( in HER rig, 40 mpg :-D )

Ok, 'hair' sheep........... Mine are Dorpers and Dorper/Katahdin crosses (ewes) my ram is Dorper........... Hair sheep are meat sheep, there is no 'mutton', as there is no lanolin or wool........ They 'blow' their coat, kinda like a lab does ( there is a 'sheep term' for that, but I can't remember it ;) ) They tend to be not as 'high maintenance' as the 'woolies' ( don't have to dock, shear, better resistance to parasites) a BIG 'plus' for me is mine don't jump..... Can't get any height, too short and heavy, I spent too many yrs workin' with LOTS (1200+ ewes) that would give me the 'hairy eyeball', decide I was short enough to jump/run over/bully outta the way............ Can't count the times some 200 lb romney took a 'leap' ( for NO discernible reason) and hit me upper chest/back and her 10-15 woolie sisters would run right over the top  :roll: ...... We just finished our ( and their) first lambing, 3 ewes and 2 rams (now wethers and destined for my freezer)

LDG.... Livestock Guardian Dog........ Most think of Great Pyrenees, the dogs that live with the livestock, most often sheep and goats..... Mine happens to still be a youngster ( just turned 7 months and 89 pounds)  She is 1/2 Spanish Mastiff 1/4 Anatolian Shepherd and 1/4 Maremma........ All LDG breeds...... Though I do REALLY like GPs, they tend to LOVE the sound of their own voices as a breed, and I do have neighbors....... I got Txiki (say 'Cheeky') because were I am, we have a fairly bad cougar 'issue'... In 18 months there were 7 cougars 'removed' from the about mile circumference around my house, 15 sheep were killed, 20 goats, 3 mares attacked and a 3 day old colt was severely damaged................ I have been very 'lucky' to not have had any losses........ So, she is a 'deterrent' to predation, and will be big enough if the 'warning' doesn't work, she can 'back it up' ( her Momma, 100% SM, is 160#)

She did her 'job' beautifully last night......... Like I said, we have lambs............. About 2:30 am, I wake up to the coyotes barking, pretty dang close ( about 60 or so yards out from my fence) I 'hit the floor' and take off ( as well as I could at that time of night  :-D) for the back door..... Before I got there, Txiki goes OFF, that 'spit throwing', I AM GONNA EAT YOU  :whip:, kinda 'bark' ............... Just as I open the back door I here the coyotes, now about 3/4 of a mile away ( or so, just a MUCH farther way away) As soon as she heard them so far off, she turned and checked her 'babies' that were wide awake and all standing on the back side of her kennel ( she is still too young to leave totally 'loose' with the sheep ( especially the lambs, she LOVES them, and their ears are the BEST 'chew toys', OH! and those 'wiggily' tails,  ;) )
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Offline Lone

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2013, 11:55:58 pm »
Hey that is a great explanation Trace.  Thanks.  They tend to have maremmas here as LDGs.  There are a few goats around here but I have only ever seen one sheep.  There was something that attacked the ducks and cattle recently.  The neighbours saw a pack of 3 wild dogs around.

Lone

Offline Sunnyboy2

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2013, 01:18:00 am »
My poor math.  Group here meets monthly.  I had that in my head, not what you clearly wrote. The dodge, well, that does change the math even more.   :lol:

Offline tracerracer

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2013, 11:12:08 am »
My poor math.  Group here meets monthly.  I had that in my head, not what you clearly wrote. The dodge, well, that does change the math even more.   :lol:


No harm, no foul  :-D (actually, I looked at that and thought, wow, what kind of mileage do they get? lol  :-D
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Offline NotactJack

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2013, 07:58:59 pm »
Where are you? Maybe a club in NorCal would be closer?
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Offline Georgia Boy

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Re: Hi from Oregon
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2013, 09:58:14 pm »
Welcome.

As to only having 3 acres....

There is a guy in Lula Georgia called the fat beeman. You can look him up on You tube he has all kinds of videos up to help us new beeks. Anyway I am getting two nucs from him soon. We have talked on several occasions and in one of them I asked him just that question. I said Don I only have 10 acres just how many hive can I keep? He laughed and said he only had 3 acres and he runs between 200 to 300 hives on his 3 acres. So he didn't seem to think I was going to run out of room anytime soon.   :)

Anyway Good luck to you. Hope to see you around on the forums.

David
"Give it All You've Got"
"Never give up. Never surrender."