bees...

[growalot]

Wish I'd gotten the hives and bees bought this spring..I didn't due to time and wanting to have at least two hives and an empty for swarming and extra supers for winter feed.....my plums are all in full bloom as well as the pear,cherries and peaches..Apple's start today. The only bees in them have been bumble,sweat,and dung/ground bees...surprised for the new neighbor from 3 years ago put in a hive...he only had one hive and facing the wrong direction...May have lost it this winter...sad the lack of wild honey bees...

Edited May 11, 2015 by growalot

[Curmudgeon]

I gave up honey bees after developing an allergy and some winter hive deaths years back. I miss the honey but my apples, pears and blueberries do very well with wild, native bees. Then again, there is adequate habitat for the wild girls. This isn't a monoculture. Wild bees can do a lot. They can't support industrial ag but I still harvest a half ton of apples and probably 500 # of blueberries a year for home use. 

[ATbuckhunter]

Why didn't you get the bees grow? Seem like a great thing to have on your property, even if your not interested in the honey. I plan on getting a hive or two when I get a piece of property.

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[fasteddie]

Should have gotten them when you had the chance . So many bees have died of due to the pesticides . Friends of ours have to pay a guy to come up from Florida or Georgia to pollinate their fruit trees .

[landtracdeerhunter]

Grow, if the year turns out like it did two years ago, I will give you a couple swarms with hive bodies, free of charge.

[growalot]

What a generous offer! I didn't get them due to the time.... I still haven't gotten all the rocks out of the fields to plant and between the gym, property, garden ,planning a baby shower ..yadda yadda yadda...I just didn't feel I had the time this spring To be honest...my house looks like "who done it and ran"...Being living creatures I wanted to make sure all my ducks are in a row...just makes me sad I'm not seeing the wild honey bees we use to...I haven't checked camps wild bee tree yet this year...hope it's doing well...All the other bees were very busy in the trees the other day,flies too... so pollination won't be a problem...I have my tools, head net, gloves and smoker ...I will pick up a hive to assemble from Kemplers, then make the rest from those dimensions and buy un assembled frames....I'm just getting home and sitting down to grab a bite to eat...was going to mow but they got the storm time right....Wed./Thurs. I get to leave the house at 3am to drive to Rochester airport and drop our daughter off....Then pick here back up when she is done with her conference the following week. Can't say life doesn't keep me busy even with kids out of the house...lol