# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  anybody on here keep bees?

## TrappinGal

my neighbor as some for sale and i have been contemplating buying them.

not only would they provide me with a source of income(honey and comb that i dont use for myself) but they may actually help my garden to produce more due to an increase in pollination of my plants.

as ive said on here before, seems like some of the stuff in the garden isnt doing well.

do you ave them and were they worth the initial cost involved in your opinion?

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## trax

Another subject I would love to learn more about, thanks for posting that TG.

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## nell67

I try my best to keep _away_ from bees, already been stung once this year,and I really don't care for the feeling :Big Grin: ,on the other hand,I did try the copper penny on that sting,and it stopped hurting after about 3 minutes,a record cuz usually those things hurt for awhile.

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## trax

Copper penny on a bee sting? First I've heard of that too, "tell me more" he said, sitting back with a quizzical expression on his face and sipping slowly on his coffee...

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## nell67

We talked about in this thread:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=copper+penny

Supposedly , the copper stops the sting from hurting,and well something stopped it after only 3 minutes,and since I am a wuss when it comes to stings,I'll say it was the penny :Big Grin:

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## TrappinGal

nell, i dont wanna get stung by em,lol.. i wanna have em date my vegetables,lol.

But hives arent cheap and i really wonder if its worth it in the long run.

anyone know the life expectnacy of a honey bee?

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## nell67

I love honey,but haveing a bunch of bees around ( shivers) just hearing a bee buzzing makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up :EEK!:

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## TrappinGal

i can stand bees, its snakes that get me.

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## nell67

Not bothered by snakes at all  :Smile:

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## Rick

Don't know much about them at all. 

http://honeybee.tamu.edu/

http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/bees.htm

Some other bee things to think about**: 

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/make-...oney-bees.html

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## trax

Why Rick you've just been busy as a....aw to he!! with it, too easy.

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## crashdive123

> nell, i dont wanna get stung by em,lol.. i wanna have em date my vegetables,lol.
> 
> But hives arent cheap and i really wonder if its worth it in the long run.
> 
> anyone know the life expectnacy of a honey bee?


My experience with honey bees is at the other end of the spectrum, but a healthy colony is self sustaining.

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## Sam Reeves

My grandfather kept three hives in his apple orchard. They are not vicious at all. I can remember walking up to the hive and touching it without getting stung. If one does sting you it's best to leave because for some reason the rest feel obligated to do the same. The best thing for a bee sting is gasoline. The only reason not to keep bees is if you are allergic or have very hard headed dogs.

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## crashdive123

Gasoline?  Please explain.

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## Sam Reeves

> Gasoline?  Please explain.



Pour some gas on the sting. All I know is that it works.

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## Rick

Does one ignite the gasoline or just allow it to sit on the skin?

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## TrappinGal

i have used gasoline also. its good on yellow jacket stings i know for a fact.

i do prefer mud or meat tenderizer though due to the smell involved with using gasoline.

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## TrappinGal

just poura little on the site of the sting Rick. the relief from the sting is instantaneous.

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## Rick

I thought at $4.00 a gallon perhaps the pain of pouring it out was worse than the bee sting. :Big Grin:

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## TrappinGal

> Not bothered by snakes at all


you can come camping with me anytime. you can be in charge of keeping the snakes out of the campsite and my sleeping bag and ill do everything else.   :Big Grin: 
 i can not stand snakes.

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## crashdive123

For anybody that has a phobia of snakes (not a "I just don't like em" thing) and you're worried about them getting into a tent, there are some pretty effective snake repellents on the market.  They're a bit spendy, but you could take enough to go around your tent in a zip lock bag.  http://www.gemplers.com/product/G773...pellent-28-lbs  I haven't bought from this site, but it's the same stuff I can get through my local distributer.

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## nell67

> you can come camping with me anytime. you can be in charge of keeping the snakes out of the campsite and my sleeping bag and ill do everything else. 
> i can not stand snakes.


 Ok!

I've been known to pick up a rattle snake or two in my time,and they say they are not in this part of the state,LOL usually all I see are black,and garter snakes though.

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## TrappinGal

i dont want any of em near me or the campsite,poisonous or not,.. how do you like your eggs cooked? lol

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## nell67

sunnyside up :Big Grin:

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## TrappinGal

i can handle that.  :Big Grin:

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## crashdive123

All right you three - stop it - getting hungry. :Big Grin:

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## Sam Reeves

> Does one ignite the gasoline or just allow it to sit on the skin?


Still trying to set me on fire?  :Big Grin: 

Just pour a little on yer sting and forget it ever happened. 

It works great when you are cutting grass and realize you have just run over somebody's home.

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## nell67

three crash?? it's just me and TrappinGal,unless I missed something,I know I gained a little weight,but geesh,not THAT much :Big Grin:

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## crashdive123

> three crash?? it's just me and TrappinGal,unless I missed something,I know I gained a little weight,but geesh,not THAT much


You, Trappingal and the eggs.  The eggs were calling.

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## TrappinGal

lol, you can come to if you bring your wife crash.

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## crashdive123

Kind of like American Express.  I never leave home without her.

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## nell67

yup,and I'll bring Trax.

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## TrappinGal

lol, im gonna have to call Jerry and see if he can take a break from the ranch for a few days,lol. being a fifth wheel is no fun,lol.

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## TrappinGal

oh and BTW ...you guys gotta fend for yourself.. im only makin eggs for me and Nell.  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## crashdive123

She may handle the snakes, but I can keep them away........for eggs.

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## TrappinGal

you can be in charge of keepin the bear away  :Big Grin:

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## nell67

Hey,I didn't say I liked handling them,I just said I've been known to pick them up a few times in my life,LOL. I just don't let the legless variety bother me as much as the 2 legged types  :Wink:

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## TrappinGal

theyre much more dreaded arent they nell?

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## nell67

Yep,some of them can be a real pain.

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## TrappinGal

it has been my experience  that the women can be as big or a bigger pain than the men from time to time.

i hate to admit ti but its true........lol

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## nell67

You can say that again,if a man gets pissed at you at work,he will still work along side of you,if a woman gets pissed at you,look out,cuz she is gonna try to hurt you!!!!!

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## crashdive123

note to self ---- never, ever p**s off a woman.

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## TrappinGal

yep,lol. you ad better watch your back.  for the most part..i have always gotten along better with men than women, what about you?

 i dont mean romantically either just in general ive had more male than female friends.

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## crashdive123

I pretty much get along with everybody until they give me a reason not too.

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## nell67

Yea,way more male friends than female friends.Maybe because we used to own a small engine shop,and mostly it was guys who came in,and always the regulars were guys.

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## TrappinGal

i grew up on a farm and was in FFA and 4-H.  raised 4 acres of truck farm every year and hogs.

there werent alot of women in my small town who were interesting in farming.

then i went on and majored in Ag Ed.. mostly men again. so i have always had more contact with men.

it seems like when that happens seems like the females dont really like you because they cant understand that you can be just friends with a guy.

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## TrappinGal

i think those women feel threatend if theyre love interest is friends with a female.

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## Chris

Many farmers keep bee attracting plants near their gardens in order to help pollination, just off the top of my head, yellow privet is great for bees. Smells like lilac, blooms at the right time, grows well, and attracts bees like crazy. Sedum are good for attracting them later in the fall, as are buddleia.

As for buying bees... Couldn't you build your own colony? Setup a box, buy some phermones. Those phermones work, I've seen them on TV where they put it on someone and give them a shirt of bees. 

I've always thought it'd be fun to keep bees, bottle and sell fancy organic honeys (big price premium) kinda like a small winery puts out niche wines. Nice little retirement business to run.

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## Chris

my raspberry bushes also attract bees really well

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## TrappinGal

he wants 300.00 a hive.

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## Beo

Keep bees!!! Yeah keep'um off me... lol...

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## Beo

Love that honey though!!!! Mmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmmm good!!!

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## trax

> I pretty much get along with everybody until they give me a reason not too.


I pretty much don't get along with anybody until they bribe me or something... :Big Grin:

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## TrappinGal

we got somethin in common.

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## crashdive123

> I pretty much don't get along with anybody until they bribe me or something...


...or threaten to spill the beans.

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## Rick

I assume that includes the hive and the bees. This article is a little dated but it looks like you can order them for about $80+...just the bees. It suggests you talk to some of the local exterminators and see if you can get a colony from them. 

http://www.backyardhive.com/kb/How_much_do_bees_cost?/

Here are some current prices: 

http://draperbee.com/beesupplies/Package_Bee_Prices.htm

http://198.65.255.240/order.html

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## crashdive123

> he wants 300.00 a hive.


You may want to start with 2 hives.  You can buy bees with a queen through the mail.  They sell them by the pound.  I found some here http://www.honeybeegenetics.com/order.html but that doesn't include the hive and all of the equipment you'll need.  I think I paid around $150 for my bee suit.

Another thing you can try is to set up your hives and then try some artificial fermone to see if you can attract a swarm.

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## Rick

I found a slug or articles on Indiana's DNR page: 

http://www.state.in.us/dnr/entomolo/5632.htm

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## crashdive123

Here's a bit more info on em.  http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/bees.htm

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## TrappinGal

thanks for all the info. those links have alot of good information.

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## trax

> ...or threaten to spill the beans.


Spill what beans? I'm an innocent man....

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## crashdive123

That's the story I'd stick to.

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## Ole WV Coot

Don't know where you are but we have very few in the southern part of WV. I kept bees for a few years when I was a kid. First thing make sure you are getting the yellow Italian and not the smaller black. You won't get stung if you don't get in front of the hive. You can order a new queen if you need. Don't dump the queen in, she's packed with a sugar tunnel and the other bees need to eat the sugar and free her themselves. She kills the present queen mates once with a drone, drone dies and she kills all the other queens still in cells. You need the hive body, a couple of supers, racks and I would recommend starter comb and between the hive & super a rack like a grill to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey, smoker, hat, veil, gloves, tape the usual. Take a book to tell you what you need to know so call the extension agent for the county you're in. Bees are in short supply because of disease and only now are coming back. You should get top dollar for the honey, get lucky and they may swarm and give you another hive full. Won't get stung handling a swarm but the agent will tell you all about that including feeding, watering etc. Birds I know nothing about :Big Grin:

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## Ole WV Coot

$300.00 that's three hundred dollars? That's a ripoff. Do like I said and call your county extension agent. He should be glad to help you get set up. You probably could catch a swarm or he surely knows somebody honest. Hives & supers are easy to make if you are handy, just have to be almost on the money for the racks. CALL YOUR EXTENSION AGENT post or pm me if you need to know anything. I kept a dozen hives and sold the rest.

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## TrappinGal

ty coot, im gonna get ahold of Ed Smolder today and see what he can offer in the way of advice.Hes our counties extension agent. Im in Jackson county, right against the ohio border.

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## Omid

make sure u get a queen or the population wont last too long.

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## Brazito

I worked here 1975 -76, bees everywhere during warm weather. Stung twice, both times my fault.
http://www.dadant.com/

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## ClayPick

Coursing for bees is fun. Worse part is following them and ending up at somones hives. The bears usually beat you to the honey before you can collect it in the fall also.

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