Adventures in Beekeeping - Journey To Liquid Gold - Pics

[keljonma]

Well, you can say all the nice things you want about it.... but I am still kicking myself for not leaving the jacket/hat/veil for ya!

And I am not sure how much "help" I would have been if the spring freeze out didn't free up that equipment!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Regarding the last few posts:
My airway was an expired piece of unused medical equipment (I am a nurse). Meds would have been counted and flushed, but this is a piece of plastic.
Regarding purchasing of bee equipment: I have spent over a thousand dollars, I am sure. Its all very expensive. It costs way less to look thru your old clothes and outfit yourself with longsleeve denem shirts, pants, straw hats with lace or net sewed on the brim or draped over. One or two pair of knee high socks pulled over your jeans can protect your legs/ankles.
I use disposable kitchen gloves and do just fine, although they require a good washing afterwards. They will be soaking wet if you work the bees for any amount of time.
When we ran short on hives, we purchased a tablesaw instead of hives, because thats the most expensive item and I can get cypress free from my brother's mill off of discards. That leaves me to just have bottoms, tops, inner covers and frames to buy, but its way less. DH also makes frames to trap wild comb from walls and we use that as brood until they are working on factory made frames and foundation and have the hang of being domesticated, then we do away with the wild comb.

 

[me&thegals]

I agree on needing very little special equipment. I wear jeans, barn boots, a jean jacket and veil. I rarely wear gloves but did purchase a pair. I have a frame clamp but never use it. I usually use a fish filet knife to get the bars apart and cut off attachments. Rarely use the smoker. Have an EpiPen for DH and "just in case." Then 2 Mason jar feeders. I would say all the equipment (not including hives) was less than $100.

 

[me&thegals]

Thanks a million QA, for doing this post! We'll be getting our first bees together next spring and I've got a lot of learning to do and have found much useful information here!

Does anyone here use top bar hives? That's the direction that doc and I want to head since I'll be the main care taker. Pro's?/ con's?

the simple life and Pam'sPride use top bar hives. There are others, I know, just can't think of them off the top of my head. Actually, last I read, the simple life was using both Langstroth and top bar.

Hey, Natalie, are you out there?

There are a number of "new beek" threads on the forum, and a search will probably bring you lots of contacts for top bar discussion.

I also have topbars

 

[R2D2]

Thanks Quail_Antwerp, i was only trying to be helpful..
Honeybees will find the smallest of spaces to get to you and sting. I would be sure to put rubber bands or something elastic at the bottom of the pant legs, so they can not crawl your pant legs, and they will if they can..! I would wear a shirt that does not button up, a pull over would be great.Honeybees will get in the spaces between the buttons on a button up shirt.Tuck your shirt in your pants well.When your ready to work your bees, have a quick look in a full length mirror, see if you can find any areas where a bee can get to your body and sting.Pull your gloves over the end of the shirt sleeve so they can't go up your arms.This may all sound like overkill to some, but a new beek can make alot of mistakes..!Experienced beeks mess up to sometimes..!I just think its better to be safe than sorry, once the bees are angry and after you, its to late to prepare. Most all the time nothing eventful will happen, but it only take one really bad experiene with your girls to leave an unpleasant lasting impression..! As your learn more and gain confidence you can always dress accordingly. Most beeks will get stung now and then , what you really want to avoid is a large number of bees stinging your flesh.Its a fact that people get stung to death by honeybees every year.
Most are Africanized , but a very experienced and respected beek named Mike Bush, who can be found on BeeS_urce.com has stated that he has had hives of Italian honeybees try to kill him..! When a large number of honeybees are pissed and after you, they are trying to kill you. I'm just saying, you can't be 100% sure when it comes to honeybees, more so if you have a hot hive that needs to be requeened.Many things can make a honeybee mad.I love my bees, we need them, but i don't take chances when i'm working the hive.Lots of beeks with experience and some with very little experience wear no protection at all, its a personal choice...hope i helped you some prepping..

 

[valmom]

Ooh= which veil are you eyeing? I have to say, I bought their starter package and I don't like the veil- it is a big cylindrical thing that has elastic around your head to hold it on. It isn't terribly comfortable and I feel restricted in it. I am looking into getting the "safari hat" with the net that goes around it. It can't be any more uncomfortable!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I will have to look in the catalog to get the exact name of it, but it's a hat/veil combo with inspectors jacket and the hat/veil zips to the jacket. It's priced at $49.99 and with shipping will run me about $60 to get.

 

[keljonma]

Mine is a clear vue hat/veil combo. It zippers onto my inspector jacket. I love it!


This is not what my jacket looks like. But it is a good pic (when enlarged) of the hat/veil combo

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=768

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I have a jacket with hood and veil, a helmet with a veil and another veil that drapes over whatever hat you choose. I wish I had the money DH spent on all 3 and would come up with something on my own. In the beginning, it was his hobby...not mine. One day my Dad wasn't here to help him and he was desparate, so he recruited me. Looking back we spent more money than we needed to by buying all our supplies from the companies that handle the stuff, instead of seeing what we could do out of our closets, tool boxes, kitchen, etc.
Our first jar of honey was supper expensive. Some things you have to pretty much buy new and from the source, but if ya'll can cut corners, go for it.
It occurs to me that there are people interested, but confused about beekeeping that might read these posts. I am asked all the time why I do this. I can start listing all the benefits: the stings, the pollination, the help for allergy sufferers, the taste of the product (by comparison to store bought), but then there is the 'feeling,' that I can't explain. Something about a sense of wonder of how a creature so small can go around helping farmers and come up with such a great tasting product and that we humans can co-exist with them, if we understand what they need and what we have to do to not offend them. It is best accomplished with a calm disposition. That part is the confusing part.
I once needed help and had a young man staying with our family during a summer. After giving him protective clothing and getting out there with him and allowing him to hear my thoughts as we looked for the queen and adjusted the hive bodies and supers, he became hooked. Everyday he woke up and asked if we were going to 'work the bees.' It was kinda cool seeing someone so young, come to understand something about bees and be all fired up about it.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I finally got to go to the local bee supply store today!!

It's actually a gas station, but the owner started keeping bees so he started carrying bee supplies in his gas station for other beeks! How cool!!

Anyway, they didn't have an entrance reducer, which I was hoping to get, but the gal working said they should have some in soon.

I did buy some new frames for my top deep hive body - so hoping they are ready for me to put it on when I go out there this afternoon!

He had both the plastic foundation - and the beeswax foundation. I really wanted the beeswax foundation, but E didn't want to mess with assembling frames today, and I was able to buy the plastic foundation frames already assembled.

Next time I go without E because I'm tired of him influencing my decisions HAHAHA

They have inspector jackets with hoods, too. $60. They also had a hat and veil like my moms for $15, but I sooo don't like her hat/veil combo. lol I guess I'm picky.

My FIL was with us, so he was looking at the beek stuff, too. He nearly had a coronary when he saw the price of a honey extractor! I think that was the best part of the whole day!