stanisr
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Location: Eastern Oklahoma
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« Reply #20 on: February 09, 2012, 12:47:50 PM » |
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Last year I trapped two swarms, but lost one due to the drought. So I have wintered one and plan to increase to 4 hive this year. I have aquired 3 that I will be moving as soon as they begin building up.
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Rick
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Vance G
Field Bee
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Location: Great Falls,Montana
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« Reply #21 on: February 28, 2012, 11:04:39 PM » |
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I have 12 hives wintering so far sucessfully. I have five five frame nucs ordered. I have 15 queens ordered and I plan to both make splits for the purchased queens and do the MEl Disselkoehn On the spot queenrearing described on mdasplitter.com. My goal is to end the season with thirtysome to fortysome colonies and nucs to overwinter. Any honey crop I get will be purely incidental this year though I expect some. I have too many plans for my resources and hope to learn a lot and have a good time doing it.
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MTWIBadger
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Location: Bitterroot Valley, Southwest Montana
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« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2012, 01:49:00 AM » |
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Vance
Sounds like you are planning on a serious bee business venture from your post. Are you planning on honey production eventually paying for your investment because 30-40 hives gets expensive?
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Vance G
Field Bee
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Location: Great Falls,Montana
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« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2012, 10:16:23 AM » |
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I sell honey and next spring I may sell nucs. I just bought the used equipment from an old gentleman winding down to run maybe fifty. I am more worried about my physical ability to handle it than expense. So far it is still cheaper than golf and seems to me to have more of a purpose. But on a lighter note, when I read the original question of goals for the year, I wanted to say World Peace, the end of Global Warming Mythology and training my body to turn toxic waste into pennicillian.
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syphon1
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Location: Central Alberta, Canada
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« Reply #24 on: May 09, 2012, 12:19:47 AM » |
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To go from 40 to 75 or 80 hives, have them as strong as possible without swarming to maximize honey production.
And also have 20 - 25 extra nucs going into winter.
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Jim 134
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« Reply #25 on: May 09, 2012, 02:49:42 AM » |
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More importantly for my wife and I wake up every morning!  And be able to have a few bee hives. BEE HAPPY Jim 134  |
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"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb "The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. Kennedy Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/ |
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gardeningfireman
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Location: Richfield, OH (Summit County)
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« Reply #26 on: June 10, 2012, 05:45:37 PM » |
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Well, I have already passed my goal! Right now I am at 19 hives and nucs. Mostly from removals and swarms. Still have several removals lined up. Even gave a couple swarms away!
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ronwhite3030
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Location: Red Bluff, CA
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« Reply #27 on: June 15, 2012, 11:09:43 AM » |
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That is very nice to here gardening. have they been easy swarms to get too?
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gardeningfireman
Field Bee
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Location: Richfield, OH (Summit County)
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« Reply #28 on: June 16, 2012, 08:56:04 PM » |
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Mostly. Had to climb two spruce trees about 10 feet above the 24' ext. ladder and use my swarm bucket with one section of pole to reach them. Luckily, spruce trees are easy to climb with all the branches! Wouldn't have done it if they were in a deciduous tree. Five were in swarm traps, and the rest ranged from ground level to just needing a stepladder. Also smoked/Bee-Quicked one out of a stone pillar a day after they moved in.
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