Beekeeping [Archive] - Odinist.com Folkish Odinist Forum ~ ODINISM ~ Heritage Forums

battleax

05-06-2005, 02:22 AM

Hveðrungur Kveldúlfsson

05-06-2005, 02:27 AM

Damn thats a good idea Aaron, using your own natural honey for mead....I bet that stuff would taste good. You'll have to let me know how it goes when you finally brew your stuff.

How would you go about making it? Do you have any specific recipe in mind as I know there are a few out there that are different from eachother. I remember Hrothgar posting one on his own forum a while back and it looked good.

Anyways ive never got into bee keeping or anything of the sort. I think I am allergic to bee stings so I do my best to keep away from them. I'd have to be crazy to want to raise some :p

battleax

05-06-2005, 02:38 AM

I have only glanced at some receipes on the net and really have not researched it too well yet.

I have a bit of a reaction to stings as well. In 3 years I have only been stung twice. The breed of bee I have are not very agressive and actually don't mind me in the hive with one of my daughters watching. The downside of "relaxed" bees is they do not produce as much honey as "angry bees" hehe.

There also tends to be a real phobia of bees when it comes to a few of my neighbours. I think they have watched the movie killer bees too many times or something.

I'll post some more pics here as the hives progress. One downside of my camera is it will not do macro pics for those real closeup shots. Its too bad cause it is pretty interesting what goes on inside the hive.

Eirasdottir

05-06-2005, 10:14 AM

That is awesome! I have had home brewed Mead before (yet another one of the Metzger family's fortes! ;))...but I can only imagine Mead brewed from honey from your own bees would be that much better!

FFF
Louise

pinlighter

05-06-2005, 11:05 AM

That's brilliant, battleaxe!!!

I hope one day we'll be able to buy your honey to make our own mead.

battleax

05-17-2005, 01:15 AM

Well I think its been 2 weeks since I have checked on the hive. I bought this hive as a 2lbs package and installed them in a single hive box with just wax foundation.

I was quite happy when i checked on them today. They had 6 full frames completely drawn out and the queen was busy laying in most of them. I expect new bees to start emerging from there cells in a week.

The single hive box is starting to get cramp. If things get to tight they might start swarming procedures. Which is they will feed a new larve royal jelly and that will allow it to develop into a queen. When the new queen emerges she will make the decision of trying to kill the old one or take half the hive with her and start a new one. You really don't want that. So I will give them more room. Its hard to stop swarming though since it is natural instinct and does actually help bee colonys to spread and multiply.

I still haven't found a perm home for this hive in my yard. They seem to like it there so maybe I won't move them. hehe

http://konig.redphive.org/images/DSC01114.JPG
http://konig.redphive.org/images/DSC01125.JPG
http://konig.redphive.org/images/DSC01126.JPG
http://konig.redphive.org/images/DSC01129.JPG

Der Einzelgänger

05-17-2005, 09:38 AM

Looking good. My friend keeps bees and he regularly gives me large batches of honey for making mead. Stuff is excellent.

What type of mead are you going to be making? Cyser, Melomel, other? I just racked a cyser and another straight mead. Turned out really good.

aud_friggsdottir

05-17-2005, 11:36 AM

That is awesome...so how do you get into this kind of activity. Is it expensive, do you need lots of yard???

Is there a website with a step by step process?

Sorry to harrass...LOL

pinlighter

05-17-2005, 12:14 PM

Brilliant! :)

battleaxe, what do you do with the honey? How about the beeswax???

battleax

06-14-2005, 04:02 AM

That is awesome...so how do you get into this kind of activity. Is it expensive, do you need lots of yard???

Is there a website with a step by step process?

Sorry to harrass...LOL

Sorry for the delay in answering. It also seems my pics have disappeared. my webhost is down I guess.

I just bought some books from amazon and asked questions from apairy where I bought the bees. You can have bees anywhere. You can even have them on top of a tall building in downtown newyork. They will find what they need. My kids love helping me out in the apairy and watching them fly around. I have begun writing up an article about beekeeping and I'm hoping it will be published in a year or so.

Its almost getting late to start if you live in the northern US or canada but its a good time to start buying or making what you need. Hivebox, frames, clothing, etc. You buy either a package of bees which is usually 2lbs of bees in a box with a caged queen. Or you can buy a Nuc, which is small complete hive with house bees and field bees, queen, brood, and honey.

A package is good if you are going to start in the early spring and a Nuc is good is you are going to start later.

Jay

06-14-2005, 04:57 AM

Beekeeping is a cool hobby. There was a local beekeeper that my family and I used to go to all the time for beeswax candles and honey. A lot better than the stuff you buy in supermarkets. Let us know if you do it.

thorson

06-14-2005, 06:58 AM

I'm just curious if there are any other odinist beekeepers out there. Its a pretty interesting hobby.

http://konig.redphive.org/DSC01082.jpg

Here is one hive I have that I had to relocate temp while I construct a better shelter for it. It rains way to much here and want to keep the hive a bit drier.

My goal is to learn more about it and use the honey to try my hand with a batch of mead. I have brewed quite a bit of beer sucessfully and thought mead would be the next step.

I've been brewing for 14 years and have made mead. I would recommend that you use liquid mead yeast. I have seen companies who offer either a sweet mead yeast or a dry. Also read up on yeast nutrients. Honey does not have many. When I did my first batch years ago, I didn't put any nutrients in it and it fermented slowly for months. It also had a haze in the mead that took about a year of cellaring to clear up.

Teufelhunden

06-14-2005, 01:36 PM

Bee keeping could not be more important than now, the North American population is dieing off and in some parts of Europe. Efforts are being made to import bees to help replennish the population. This is result of a mite infection that results in the death of the bee. I know people in Geroria and South Carolina when I talked about this that have not seen so much a s 3 bees last year, when usually there were hundreds. Loose our bees and we loose crops, and then food shortages. I encourrage anyone to start bee keeping for the sake of nature.. I am not the biggest tree hugger enviro nut, but I thought this important due to the topic..
Teufelhunden
How many bees have you seen this spring?

Der Einzelgänger

06-14-2005, 02:04 PM

I've seen a lot of bumble bees! But yes, I whole heartedly agree with you Teufelhund. Once I get the resources I would love to start a be hive, and eventually add on. Bees are an extremely important part of Nature, and if I remember correctly a lot of it has to do with the 'killer' bee invasion.

battleax

06-14-2005, 10:29 PM

Ya I don;t think bumblebees are affected by mites like the honeybees are. The advantage with honeybees is there could 80000+ bees in one hive which is good for crops.

battleax

08-26-2005, 10:48 PM

Here is an update of sorts. I have over 70+lbs of honey it turns out. I'm going to let the bees keep that this year. In the very early spring the hive will be bursting and I will be easly be able to split it and have 2 strong hives. If all goes well I could be taking in 150lbs of suplus honey next year. But I should really reflect on that old saying. Don't count your chickens til they hatch. lol

Here is a movie of activity at the hive during a normal day.

I'd almost like to do beekeeping as a living. I can spend an hour out there watching what they do etc. lol

http://konig.redphive.org/beemovie.mpg

and here are some pics of how much the hive has grown

http://konig.redphive.org/images/dsc01606.jpg

http://konig.redphive.org/images/dsc01607.jpg

http://konig.redphive.org/images/dsc01608.jpg

http://konig.redphive.org/images/dsc01609.jpg

pinlighter

08-27-2005, 04:13 AM

Very impressive, battleaxe!!!! Congratulations on your husbandry :)

thorson

08-28-2005, 10:51 AM

Battleax,

How long have you been keeping bees and where did you pick it up at? It looks like a cool hobby that I wouldn't mind doing, but first, I would probably have to move back out into the country. I wouldn't mind doing that in the next few years.

Thorson

battleax

08-28-2005, 09:47 PM

I think its been 4 years now.

You can keep bees just about anywhere. They will fly for over 5 miles to forage for nectar and pollen. I myself live in the city with a lot of houses around me in your typical neighbourhood. I have even heard of people keeping bees on buildings in downtown New York. Of course it does help out if your country though. It has been a lot of trial and error. I have read a few books from the library as well.

Just google some beekeeping websites in your area and you will find what equipment will cost. Here is one I found for the UK. I have no idea if these guys are any good etc. There equipment looked kinda expensive though. I'd buy the unassembled beginners kit. If you have any other questions I will always be hear to answer them as well

http://www.thorne.co.uk/

The european honeybee is very docile. My children help me out and work close to the hive all the time. I do not wear protective equipment unless I go right into the hive to inspect the brood or extract some frames of honey to look at. During those times I will wear a veil and gloves. Even at that time they don't seem too bothered. The only time someone was stung in my yard was when my friend came over and was wearing black sunglasses and was drinking beer. I'm thinking they reacted to the sunglasses and thought he was a bear. A guard went straight for his sunglasses and stung him. I also hear they do not like the smell of alcohol.

thorson

08-30-2005, 07:36 PM

Battleax,

Thanks for the information. Maybe I'll give it a try after this winter. I don't live in town, but there are still a lot of houses around since I live right above a lake. Luckily, most of them are only part timers. I just hope I don't get stung since I am always brewing beer in the garage. How much honey do you normally collect from one of your hives?

Thorson

battleax

08-31-2005, 01:34 AM

You can expect at least 75lbs-100lbs per hive on a good year. I'm still learning and have never been that successful though. :) Next year if all goes well I hope to take that in.

From what I have read it has something to do with breath and alcohol. Not alcohol itself.

If you want to start next spring you should buy your equipment in Dec no later and also put ur order in for a package of bees or buy a nuc. The bee packages here where I live are sold out well before January.

Package of Bees = usually 2 lbs of female worker bees and one caged queen

Usually the package is made up in the bee yard right before shipping. They take some worker bees from a hive and dump them into a box. They then take a caged queen that has mated and has started to lay fertilized female eggs

Nuc = a complete hive nucleus with frames of eggs,capped larva, honey, workers and queen.

It is really an established mini-hive. About 5 frames large with maybe 8000 bees

If I was you I would start with a nuc for your first hive. They cost a bit more though.

battleax

08-31-2005, 02:20 AM

http://www.bbka.org.uk/faq2.php

http://www.bbka.org.uk/faq3.php

here is a site I would visit

thorson

09-02-2005, 07:34 AM

pinlighter

09-02-2005, 08:37 AM

Thanks for the information. I may try to get to it this coming year if I can get back into my house by this winter. It caught on fire in June and we finally settled with insurance last week. They are no fun to deal with.

Sorry to hear it thorson. I know the Insurance industry is a real rip off some times. Good luck.

thorson

09-03-2005, 08:52 AM

Pinlighter,

They are real difficult to deal with, but in the end, I made sure that I got a good settlement. You just can't give an inch because they will definately take a mile.

Thorson

battleax

10-06-2005, 11:54 PM

Update

I was visited by a bear early this morning and discovered what was left as I was going to work. The hive was mostly destroyed. The hive box containing the larva was shattered and licked clean. The hive box that contains the honey was strewn about, but not overly destroyed. I put it back together the best i could but I fear they will most likely not make the winter. I could not find the queen among all the bees covering the wreckage, but she might have survived. If she hasnt they will most likely raise one of the larva as a queen. I´d say for the most part though the hive has a very small chance of surviving.

I put up an electric fence this evening. I know the bear will come back, I´m just hoping he will not like the fence and the 10000 volts it will offer.

I should have taken some pictures of what it looked like as it is really something to see 60000 bees ****ed off among shattered wood. I was just covered in bees this morning when I was trying to put everything back.

aud_friggsdottir

10-07-2005, 01:33 AM

Sorry for the delay in answering. It also seems my pics have disappeared. my webhost is down I guess.

I just bought some books from amazon and asked questions from apairy where I bought the bees. You can have bees anywhere. You can even have them on top of a tall building in downtown newyork. They will find what they need. My kids love helping me out in the apairy and watching them fly around. I have begun writing up an article about beekeeping and I'm hoping it will be published in a year or so.

Its almost getting late to start if you live in the northern US or canada but its a good time to start buying or making what you need. Hivebox, frames, clothing, etc. You buy either a package of bees which is usually 2lbs of bees in a box with a caged queen. Or you can buy a Nuc, which is small complete hive with house bees and field bees, queen, brood, and honey.

A package is good if you are going to start in the early spring and a Nuc is good is you are going to start later.

No problem...here I am answering MONTHS later!!

Thanks!! I think we will work on getting things started in the spring...is that right? We have a backlot we hold Blots and things in. It would a very good place to have one...lots of plants, flowers, etc...

I am not sure if someone mentioned this (haven't read the whole thread), but if you get a sting...wipe honey on it...it works awesome!! That is all we use for stings now!

FFF
Kathy

Hengest

10-07-2005, 07:13 AM

I am really sorry to hear that Battlax. I hope the bees recover from this.

Katia

10-07-2005, 07:21 AM

battleax.. I'm sorry to hear about your hive.. Forgive me because I don't know much about bears, but aren't you worried it might come to your home next??

battleax

10-09-2005, 09:55 PM

Bears are a big problem where I live. They especially become a problem in October as they look for fruit from the fruit trees in backyards and garbage before they go down for the winter. During Spring and Summer they stay in the mountains.

For bees stings I use onions. Cut one in half and put it on the sting. Not only does it immediatly stop the pain from the sting it will help cut down on the swelling.

battleax

10-09-2005, 09:57 PM

No problem...here I am answering MONTHS later!!

Thanks!! I think we will work on getting things started in the spring...is that right? We have a backlot we hold Blots and things in. It would a very good place to have one...lots of plants, flowers, etc...

I am not sure if someone mentioned this (haven't read the whole thread), but if you get a sting...wipe honey on it...it works awesome!! That is all we use for stings now!

FFF
Kathy

If I was you I would line up a nuc now for the early spring. They always sell out fast. Also buy all your equipment and get it ready well before the bees arrive.