Bees

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Makes great dramatic news, but fizzles in reality. 2 colonies were found last year, one in Vancouver & one in Washington State. Both were destroyed. Beekeepers in the regions are on full alert to see signs of another colony of these hornets. I predict they have been/will be stopped in their tracks. Japanese bees have adapted to kill these hornets.
 
Makes great dramatic news, but fizzles in reality. 2 colonies were found last year, one in Vancouver & one in Washington State. Both were destroyed. Beekeepers in the regions are on full alert to see signs of another colony of these hornets. I predict they have been/will be stopped in their tracks. Japanese bees have adapted to kill these hornets.

 
Yup... see the video. The guy is an idiot. Total moron. He may or may not know about beekeeping, but he has zero knowledge or experience dealing with defensive bees.

I've dealt with far worse. At 10:25, he shows his glove with plenty of bees. I've had 5 times that many bees on my face trying to sting through my hoodie, plenty of times (1000's of times). To the point where it can be hard to see. To me that is not a big deal. But old farts who've done this over and over change some of our equipment and understand the nature of the bees. And if your bees are not like this around my area, just wait 6 months and your colonies will change. I've spoken to two friends just this week who've caught multiple africanized small swarms trying to take over one of their hives.

BTW, my average hive is about as defensive as that video (average!). And I have no problem with them. But compared to Italians, it's like saying you have a pet cat vs saying you have a pet tiger!

Edit: look at 22:30. Look at how he zips his hoodie. Can't even do that right. He said he's worked aggressive hives in Africa? Sure. Whatever. Can you tell I'm not happy with this idiot?
 
Last edited:
Texas Freedom, it cooled this week and I suited up to check for honey. I have the original base deep then I put another large one on in the Spring. A few weeks later I added the small honey super. When I started checking, I was rather shocked because I dont have much honey in the supers. I was planning on leaving 8 frames, but since only 2 or 3 have honey, I'm leaving it all and feeding them all Winter. My mentor said that they may have a good Fall and that will help.
 
Robin,

The first year of growing a hive, the general rule is that you leave them any honey they collect. Feeding them to get the wax drawn in the top box might help. Put out a little, see if they take it. If they don't take it, there is still nectar available out there. It's hard to feed during winter due to the cold, better to have them stockpiled before it freezes.
 
Robin,

The first year of growing a hive, the general rule is that you leave them any honey they collect. Feeding them to get the wax drawn in the top box might help. Put out a little, see if they take it. If they don't take it, there is still nectar available out there. It's hard to feed during winter due to the cold, better to have them stockpiled before it freezes.

Last year at this time I had lots more honey. Two of the hives are new because I killed them last year, but even the older one is sparce. I had so much going into last Winter they had plenty left over in the Spring. I usually go by the save 50 to 60 lbs for Winter feed. My mentor said he steals a little Summer honey but never the Fall.
 
How many hives in your area? Might be getting crowded. Or might just be a lighter year for honey production. Last year Spring was a fantastic production season. Last fall was between horrible & non-existent. Or it could be a disease/poison/swarming problem. Listen to your bees, they will tell you what is going on. Just this morning I was working 3 hives. 2 were doing battle with ants, moved them to address that issue.
 
I have considered getting a hive,I thought maybe it would help the garden but you can't just get one and forget about it and I don't need the headache of taking care of them,I guess I will have to make do with the local bees,,,,
 
I have three hives and harvested 1 small jar of honey this year. I thought I had done something wrong but my mentor said much of the state had the same situation.

We had so much rain that the bees were cooped up for days and had to eat their stores to stay alive. Therefore; no honey. I'll just have to feed them all Winter so they don't starve.
 
Murder hornets vacuumed from Washington hive
https://www.foxnews.com/science/mur...from-washington-hive-by-space-suited-bug-pros
Hornet3.jpg

Hornet4.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top