Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: dissapointed beekeeper!  (Read 7444 times)

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20359
  • Gender: Female
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #20 on: July 08, 2007, 06:23:03 pm »
Quote
$$$ = the root of all evil

it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.  an often made misquote.

newbee must do as he sees fit. i would suggest that if he can not beat the guy, he find a way to join him.  if the guy crashes and burns, a friend or mentor might be the first to benefit.  if the guy is successful, a friend or mentor might also find a way to benefit.  there does not seem to be any upside to petulance.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline beemaster

  • Site Founder
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6457
  • Gender: Male
  • It is my pleasure to bring the forums to you.
    • http://www.beemaster.com
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #21 on: July 08, 2007, 06:23:49 pm »
Newbee07:

I might have missed something, but how many hives do you have? I read it is your first season and I'd be really impressed if you had enough honey to sell the first season. I mention this because netting excess honey is not an easy thing to do in year one, except that for gifts for family and friends.

I can imagine the felling you have seeing such a large operation moving into your area, but if he knows nothing about bees, but has an bottomless checkbook - as mentioned before, chances are YOU will make out better as he sees his money flushing down the drain.

Honestly, unless you have dozens of hives as your first attempt, I'd keep the mindset of a backyard beekeper in mind and not look for a profit - your first and main concern is survivability of your colonies. Leaving them the most honey you can (considaring your location and length and brutality of Winter) is critical, anything after that is yours BUT trying to guess what they will need and what you should take SHOULD BE more of an after-thought in Spring, not a guess in the Fall before setting them up for Winter.

I can understand your passion and your concerns, but work and grow your hives as best you can, what goes on OUTSIDE of your beeyard is out of your hands and surely shouldn't eat you up at night - remember that all things out of your control should never worry you, having knowledge of his intent is worth more than worrying about his effect.

Chances are with a THOUSAND HIVES, he is unlikely to keep them all there permanently anyways, he is his own worse nightmare when it comes to food sources, unless they area you live in can sustain his hive count - and if it can sustain his, it can also sustain yours.

If his plans are to migrate the bees, then he won't effect you nearly as much as you suspect. So honestly, build your hives UPWARDS not OUTWARDS to keep strong viable hives as you closely watch him. Building OUT in numbers (increasing your hive count) sounds great and early in the second year it is really possible, but in year one (in my opinion) try building upwards with plenty of room for hive growth and honey storage as the hives build up and needs the extra space. Don't stack supers on any sooner than your bees call for them. Keep them capable of protecting their home, give them just enough room to grow and super up rather than letting them go to swarming.

Collecting your neighbors swarms are fine, but splitting your own this soon usually leaves one or both hives weaker this late into the Season. Of cource I've seen 7 and 8 pound swarms before, they sure sound capable of growing fast, but remember unless you have predrawn frames, your housed swarms will spend most of their energy drawing comb and trying to make a viable home before cold weather sets in. You play a great role in all this, learn the basics from watching bee-behaviour - our forum is wonderful in helping newbees spot the unique signs bees have, and bees react in very predictable ways - learn all you can here and apply it when looking at and in your hives.

Hope this has helped some. I would watch your neighbor, but surely wouldn't let it upset me - your job is to grow your beeyard in a logical and well paced way, he may effect food sources if he ever gets his yard in operation, but you need to adjust to his operation by observing your bees - not his. Good luck and keep us informed.
NJBeemaster my YOUTUBE Video Collection

Please enjoy the forum, and if it has helped you in any way, we hope that a small donation can be made to support our FULLY member supported forum. You will never see advertisements here, and that is because of the generous members who have made our forum possible. We are in our second decade as a beekeeping forum and all thanks to member support. At the top right of every page is a donations link. Please help if you can.

Offline indypartridge

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1131
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #22 on: July 09, 2007, 08:22:47 am »
i was asked by him if i could show him how the equipment worked and tell him a little about beekeeping. :-X :-D was my response. I didn't learn for nothing to teach someone else thats trying to hurt me, even though i thinks he won't be able to.
If you're managing a small number of hives, I'd show him EXACTLY what you do! It won't help him. There's a huge difference in managing a 1000 hives versus a few. As a hobbyist, I can spend a lot of time on my hives: regular, frame-by-frame inspections; counting mites on sticky boards; powdered sugar treatments for mites, etc. It's impossible to apply that level of micro-management to 1000 hives. That many hives require a different beekeeping skill-set.

Offline Moonshae

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 988
  • Gender: Male
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #23 on: July 09, 2007, 08:30:46 pm »

Now here's the question,  is there anything wrong with that? No, but this guy cant expect to remain, or become friends with newbee07 or any other small beekeeper with the same goals as newbee in this area. I know I wouldnt help him learn how to keep bees the least bit. It would be a major "learn from your mistakes" move for him. $$$ = the root of all evil.

If money is his motivation, surely he wouldn't expect you to teach him for free? Offer to serve as a consultant for $150/hour to help him out.
"The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer." - Egyptian Proverb, 2200 BC

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2007, 10:35:19 am »
Newbee707.  Read John's post carefully.  He has some very deep insight into how you should manage things, a wise man, that says wise things.  Listen, listen, learn and learn more.  I have been keeping bees now two years, I have taken courses upon courses, the most recent one, a five day course, that I attained a certificicate of "Beemaster".  Now, I do not consider myself even coming close to being a beemaster, so this certificate may apply to me well enough in about 5 years, but certainly not now.  I am still listening, learning, applying knowledge.  I consider myself to be still on the tip of that iceberg.  It takes years and years of working with bees, studying about bees to even begin to (in my own opinion) understand, and feel really comfortable that you will know your bees.

I would not worry one little bit about your neighbour.  With 1000 hives, he will I am positive, not have enough food for these girls to forage on without taking some of them elsewhere.  I would be very surprised if he had enough food actually.  Have a wonderful day, don't fret, as John said, especially don't worry about things that are out of your control.  That will bring you a very unhappy life.  Good luck with things, and the best of these days.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline newbee07

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 68
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #25 on: July 12, 2007, 08:57:48 am »
I talked to the guy yesterday and he said there are no tops on any of the hives and they are all exposed to the weather and open air some in the shop. He said it will be next spring if he does anything at all and he is just doing it for a hobby. He has no idea what he is doing or is getting into if he is planning to care for a lot. I told him he'd have to replace some foundations and he said "What is foundation?" I told him so he is fresh thats for sure. I have my request in on the equipment for me later though.

Offline BeeHopper

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1122
  • Gender: Male
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #26 on: July 12, 2007, 09:07:13 am »
I talked to the guy yesterday and he said there are no tops on any of the hives and they are all exposed to the weather and open air some in the shop. He said it will be next spring if he does anything at all and he is just doing it for a hobby. He has no idea what he is doing or is getting into if he is planning to care for a lot. I told him he'd have to replace some foundations and he said "What is foundation?" I told him so he is fresh thats for sure. I have my request in on the equipment for me later though.

What  :shock: NO TOPS  :?  Something is amiss here. Again, does he have Bees or just woodenware.

Offline Scadsobees

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 3198
  • Gender: Male
  • Best use of smileys in a post award.
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #27 on: July 12, 2007, 10:37:01 am »
Uh...how many hives? 1000 isn't a hobby.  100 isn't a hobby. I'd argue that > 10 isn't a hobby. (I just extracted from 4 hives, and it didn't feel like a hobby).

Something doesn't add up.  I wouldn't worry about it, keep in touch with this guy.  If he's doing 1000 hives for a hobby, there well be some cheap woodenware on the market soon.  Maybe he bought it all but will start out slow.  If you are selling honey, just make sure you have a different market.

Rick
Rick

Offline newbee07

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 68
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #28 on: July 12, 2007, 03:12:49 pm »
no bees just has some he said that came along with the ride and of course some local bees thats robbing the hive of what s left.

Offline BeeHopper

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1122
  • Gender: Male
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #29 on: July 12, 2007, 03:17:53 pm »
no bees just has some he said that came along with the ride and of course some local bees thats robbing the hive of what s left.


OK  :-D 

Offline rdy-b

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2286
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #30 on: July 12, 2007, 11:41:21 pm »
sounds like a false alarm- tell him to put the boxes out in the fields and the bees will fill them its that easy-the bees do all the work :-D

Offline BBHJ

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 44
Re: dissapointed beekeeper!
« Reply #31 on: July 14, 2007, 05:28:55 am »
Something to think about also, he wouldnt know a disease or pest infestation (like mites) if the small amount of bees that he brought back with him had something. Or if something was in the wooden ware/ old foundation ect. especially without having tops on the hives. IDK but the whole thing just seems like an all around BAD situation to me.