Hello from Washington State

[misterbee82]

Hello lads and lasses,

My family has had a hive in the siding of our house for ten years. These particular honey bees have survived year to year nicely without any human intervention.

We also received a nuc yesterday, and we're now tending to the bees allowing them to get acquainted with the area. The hive they will be transferred to started the year with 90 pounds of honey, but their was robbing done by the above mentioned colony, leaving approximately 45 pounds left. The bees seem to be staying close to the queen and they are extremely interested in the remaining honey. We will be having one of the advanced bee keepers from our local club returning Tuesday to transfer them from the temporary box/hive to their new home in their permanent hive with two supers at the moment, a screened bottom, and inner and outer covers. Hope this gives you a brief introduction to what my family and I have been doing for aparies. If you have questions feel free to ask.

 

[Tremyfro]

Welcome to the forum....I expect you will find beekeeping in the UK rather different to that where you live...but it's fun to hear about beekeeping from around the world.

 

[chrisb]

hello glad to have you on here, enjoy

 

[misterbee82]

Glad everyone (well almost everyone...see my posts) is accepting of my location across the pond and over on the Pacific Northwest. It is nice to get information from one of the original sources of the European honey bee. As mentioned yes there are some differences, like you are more likely to worry about European foul brood, while in the United States we have to worry about American foul brood more than the European foul brood. Overall there is a lot of important feedback we can give to each other and I look forward to it.

 

[BeeJayBee]

... you are more likely to worry about European foul brood, while in the United States we have to worry about American foul brood more than the European foul brood.

Why is that?

We get both foulbroods and we DO worry about AFB because it means destruction of colonies.

As far as I know the two foulbroods are "branded" by continent because, as far as I know, EFB was first isolated and identified by a European researcher whereas AFB was identified in USA.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

And most of us arre not obsessed with either kind of foulbrood

 

[B+.]

My family has had a hive in the siding of our house for ten years. These particular honey bees have survived year to year nicely without any human intervention.

to the group.

I'm sure they've gone through several queen-changes in that time and perhaps even been joined by an occassional swarm or two. Such things happen when people aren't messing with them all of the time.
It sounds like you have quite a lot of good forage in your area so, hopefully, you'll get some great crops.

 

[misterbee82]

We live in a town with a lot of trees, also we have orchards, vineyards, and farmland surrounding us in the immediate area. Not to mention near the river we get wild mulberries, and blackberries that grow and occasionally other plants.

 

[Karol]

Well, if ever you need another perspective on protecting your hives from vespine attack, ping us a post.

 

[Brian Bush]

You are very welcome to join our band of international brotherhood of bees. A view from a differing perspective is always welcome.