The Bee Forum

[DIY Pete]

Pete sounds good go to the site realhoney.net and shoot me an email there.

I will bookmark your site.

Pete

 

[istanbulin]

I searched for a beekeeping section of the "Providing for the Table" sub-forum but I guess it doesn't exist so I'm posting this here. I know almost nothing about beekeeping but I just became aware of this curious mechanism today. It looks fantastic to me but I have to leave the floor to the beekeepers of our forum. Fellas, what do you think about the "FLOW"?

Site link -> http://www.honeyflow.com/

 

[Knucklehead]

That looks really neat. I'm going to look into that further.

 

[chillardbee]

I was bombarded with this on facebook. I have to say that it's not what it's cracked up to be. Long story short, It takes the 'intrigue' of bees out of the equation, beekeeping is so much more then just turning a tap. For regular beeks, like myself, I think it would be a nightmare to handle when considering all the other things that I do with my hives. The combs are plastic and are no good for overwintering or for brood and trying to run this while preventing swarms or getting them ready for winter at the end of the season would be a nightmare too. Maybe I'm just set in my ways or like things being simple.

Another thing that I really dislike about this is the impression it's going to make to the general public that making honey is just as easy as turning a tap. My concern is that people who have no idea how to keep bees or prevent diseases are going to buy this thing and become a bane to other beeks in the area.

Man, I could go on and on about this but I'll just leave it at that. If you search the web for what the experts have to say about this you'll get some better explanations on why this is just no good.

 

[rainmax]

If it would be that easy, Im the first one in line for bee keeping. Unfortunately it is not.
My grandfather used to have bees and from there I have wish and love for bees. So much work and so little time.
maybe next year...

 

[Traci Kent]

I have a friend who keeps bees. I showed this to him some time ago. He feels that it will not work the way they say it will. His school of thought was if its to good to be true then it must be false then. Anything worth having is worth the work.

 

[Texasgrown]

Yea I probably got 500 fb hits because of that thing too. I don't see how it would prevent some seriously gooey hives. Not to mention the hose part just becoming a mess. No I will stick to my leaf blower centrifugal extractor and uncapping station.

 

[Planter]

A pity this thread got a bit buried... I started "keeping" solitary bees and want to make the garden more bee-friendly. Any advice on plants for pollinators (preferably fast-growing annuals)? What are your observations in regard to N.alata ("Jasmine")?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I know nothing of solitary bees but a lot about honeybees. Do some research to find what kind of flowers solitary bees can pollinate. Just because there is a flower does not mean the bee can access it. For instance, I have acres of honeysuckles that bloom every year but honeybees do not pollinate not collect nectar from them.

 

[deluxestogie]

A pity this thread got a bit buried...

I actually looked for this thread last week, and gave up. Thanks for finding it. It is now, like honey, sticky.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I know nothing of solitary bees but a lot about honeybees. Do some research to find what kind of flowers solitary bees can pollinate. Just because there is a flower does not mean the bee can access it. For instance, I have acres of honeysuckles that bloom every year but honeybees do not pollinate not collect nectar from them.

I planted an Ohio Buckeye tree at my old house. I only ever got a few buckeyes because they're pollinated by ants, usually. And I killed the ants.

 

[greenmonster714]

The mention of that tree makes me think of home.

 

[BarG]

I took a bee course knucklehead. can you believe.

 

[docpierce]

There are quite a few beekeepers on the forum. I thought this would be a good place to collect the bee wisdom.
We recently had a hive vacated by the bees. When we broke it down there was a big spider web like thing in the middle, but I don't think it was spiders. There was no honey and nothing in the brood chambers. It's possible the other hives robbed the honey, but is that big web thing what drove them out and what made it?

Wax moth.