Submitted by BorgesBorgesBorges60 t3_104vv7v in Futurology
tdreampo t1_j3cz7da wrote
Reply to comment by groundhogcow in A biotech firm says the U.S. has approved its vaccine for honeybees by BorgesBorgesBorges60
So Im reading about bee barns and it looks like those are for non honey bees mainly? Is that correct? I use Warre’ hives because I do want honey but I try to do everything as aligned with nature as possible. I have a substantial organic garden and I use similar principals. I got very much in to the work of Masanobu Fukuoka and I try to apply his principles of working with nature to almost everything I do including bee keeping. My main goal is to produce almost all of my own food and have enough extra to sell at farmers markets to pay the mortgage on my property. Making my property self sustaining. I should reach that goal in one or two more seasons. Interestingly enough working with nature in a garden like this is substantially less work then regular yard maintenance. As I use cover crops and mulch, as well as Ollas for extra watering if needed. So it’s basically, plant seeds direct, then harvest when ripe. I can leave the garden alone for weeks with very little consequence and I want to bee keep the same way. Thats why Warre‘ is so appealing to me, I basically leave the bees alone, then weigh the hive to make sure they have enough honey for the winter and then harvest what honey is left. So I only bug the bees once a year, and boy does my garden like the bees! I admittedly have never used a Langston hive, although I do own one. I just don’t like the idea of constantly invading the bee’s home. I’m only a few seasons in, so I’m very new to this. But it’s an incredible world!
groundhogcow t1_j3eeqea wrote
Not the bee barns I am talking about. Likely we are in the wrong bubbles. Go here and watch vino farms in there fist year experimenting with the bear barns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z768OIA3bMo
I am interested in that type of bees you have. Are they wild bees from a caught swarm are did you buy them someplace?
Different types of bees need different types of care. I think wild bees might be ok in what your setup is but something like Italian bees would have an issue. I like the Warre hives but the low inspection rate concerns me. There are cases where it would be ok though.
When I inspect my hives I am looking at several things.
- Do they have enough space.
- Are they bringing in enough food.
- Has anything happened to the queen.
- Are any pests damaging the bees, wax moths, hive beetles, mites, mice, and bears. (Bears are easy to detect)
- Have they caught any diseases. Like Foulbreed disease remember that one. Or several others.
Tame bees should be kept from swarming. They can't make it on there own and become big bundles of disease and mites that infect others with there drones or robbing. Wild bees require much less attention but it would be good to still check them occasionally for deceases.
You can not be sure about honey production with wild bees so I hope you got some good ones.
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