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davethegas

House Bee
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Apr 22, 2010
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Guys, I need your opinions good or bad, I respect them all. I am Buddhist by belief, and if I were to be in a position to start a colony of bees and re-queen every year or so, how would I do it without killing the present queen which is imposshble in line with what I believe.Serious answers only please.
 
Give the queen away. But by keeping bees you will end up killing some of the bees by accidentally squashing them.
 
Veg is right, you can be as careful as you like but it is inevitable that a few will be squashed. I'm not sure on how Budhism works to be fair so is accidental killing an acceptable situation as apposed to purposful killing.

Regards

C B
 
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I know an architect who is not able to kill queens. He put two hives together and let the queens clear the game table.

But if you cannot kill the queen, you are not able to breed bees either.
 
Thanks guys for your concerns. How it "works" is intention. If I, were to intentionally cause harm it would be catastrophic but if harm were caused without intention, then that is different, thus the dilemma.
 
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If you have two queen in two hives. Then you put hives together, probably the younger kills the older. But in my mind it makes no sence, If i kill another or I put them to kill another.

then you have 20 queen cells in the hive. hat you do with them.

You have AFB in the hive and you must kill 50 000 bees by burning?
 
Trying to understand your views.

You will by keeping bees know that you will kill bees at some point by doing inspections is this not the same thing as doing it on purpose because you know you are likely to kill some?
 
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I have a neigbour who had 50 cats in his house. He was not able to kill them.

Another neighbour, loved so much horses and dogs that her 3 schildren were taken away.

.... I do not understand if it religion question at all.
 
Davethegas, deliberately let them swarm every other year - provided you are happy with the temperament. You'd lose honey yield of course
 
Hi Dave, there are a number of sites which look at this issue. This is one which may help,
http://tinyurl.com/3xxkc4h

Mike.

You might want to look at the Warre hive with it's minimum inspections.
 
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Rosti

thanks for that, if that is what it takes then so be it. An honourable honest answer. Finman, read your posts with interest and although I am a little jovial with some of your replies, I stand in awe of your experience, but to suggest that I should not consider keeping bees on the basis that I would not kill a queen, so should not keep bees epitomises all that is wrong with the craft. How about Something constructive for once. Fifty cats in one house? You need have a word with your mate about animal welfar
 
Put the queen in the freezer. You haven't killed her, the evil scientist that thought of refrigerant did.

How do you feel about killing varroa mites?

What about crushing a few tens of bees to check for Nosema?

Or what about reporting EFB or AFB which could lead to destruction of all your bees?

If you can't bring yourself to kill a queen/ a few bees / a few thousand bees then I'd advise you confine yourself to watching Bee Movie and buying your honey from Tesco's.
 
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What an interesting dilema to have!

Coming from the opposite end of the spectrum, i can and do have the upmost respect for your beliefs.
But i can also see how this could be problematic for life in general.

Just out of curiosity, how would you deal with a infestation of cockroaches, or real badun of a hornet nest on your porch?

As they say, it takes allsorts to make this world go round, and if everyone was the same, what a boring ball this world would be.
 
DulwichGnome

Thank you very much. Obviously my views are not of the norm but if it provoces members think out of the box for another member, thats not so bad is it?
 
I cannot see why you would need to requeen every year, or even requeen at all. Why not leave them to Mother Nature?

Oh, I forgot, you're a Buddhist and don't seem to understand Nature.
 
Can you answer some of the above points brought up though, am genuinly interested.
 
Thank you very much. Obviously my views are not of the norm but if it provoces members think out of the box for another member, thats not so bad is it?


I dont think it is bad at all!
If other people cannot understand or bend thier thinking to accomodate other peoples way of life or beliefs, then in my opinion they are denying themselves the oppurtunity to understand other cultures and fully understand where people are coming from.

I am all too well aware of what happens when peoples way of lives are overlooked.

I am genuinely interested how you would deal with the incedents i outlined above though. As in my job, i deal with tricky situations all the time, and understanding other peoples thinking can and does help to restructure how things are done in the future!
 
A very interesting question indeed!

I am no Buddhist, but I too thought it a little cruel to go around killing the queen every couple of years, just because she might fail to service my exacting requirements for honey production.

I think that is what it comes down to - for what reason do you want to keep bees?
If it is for honey production, as I think it probably is for most people, then killing the queen is pretty much required - in just the same way as it is "necessary" to kill battery hens when their productivity drops.
If, on the other hand, you are in it for the joy of beekeeping, from an ecological point of view etc. etc. (as I suspect you might be), and honey production isn't the most important thing, then why not simply leave your hive to it?

Leaving the hive to look after itself, with no killing of the queen will result in lower honey crops, as your hive will swarm more often, but if you are happy with that - it is the more "queen-friendly" approach!

I'd be very interested to hear what you decide - this idea has rather sparked my interest!!!
 
Its ok to let it swarm every year if you live in the country but not if you have neighbours nearby.
 
I'm not sure why you would need to requeen every year, a well mated queen should be at her best in the second year and hopefully last 3 if not 4 years, but your original post made me think how many bees have died or injured because of me.

99% would be from replacing the QX or supers during inspections and sadly a couple of queens because they were drone layers, but inevitability there will be times when bees will be killed no matter how careful you are.
 

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