I have this suggestion for bee keepers

We need more bees

more bees means we need more flowering planets

more flowering plants means more green houses with attached bee colonies

larger green houses could have rotating flowering plants for different varieties or mimic flowering plants over the seasons

maybe even growing more bees in labs then to sent to greenhouses with attached “ready to go” bee home.

Question

how many square meters of flowering plants would you need for one bee colony.

could it work without the greenhouse?

or are there better ideas out there?

Tau.Neutrino said:

Question

how many square meters of flowering plants would you need for one bee colony.

could it work without the greenhouse?

or are there better ideas out there?

Ever seen a callistemon tree in flower, the bees go nuts.
A couple of those trees would go a long way to keeping a bee hive going.

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Question

how many square meters of flowering plants would you need for one bee colony.

could it work without the greenhouse?

or are there better ideas out there?

Ever seen a callistemon tree in flower, the bees go nuts.
A couple of those trees would go a long way to keeping a bee hive going.

Yes, bees love certain plants.

With the fires, many bees were lost

many plants and tress and other insects, animals mammals, birds

Maybe the government should go the next step in planting millions of trees and plant millions of flowering plants as well.

and look at breeding programs for all the affected species.

and bee breeding.

jobs for lots of people.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Question

how many square meters of flowering plants would you need for one bee colony.

could it work without the greenhouse?

or are there better ideas out there?

Ever seen a callistemon tree in flower, the bees go nuts.
A couple of those trees would go a long way to keeping a bee hive going.

Yes, bees love certain plants.

With the fires, many bees were lost

many plants and tress and other insects, animals mammals, birds

Maybe the government should go the next step in planting millions of trees and plant millions of flowering plants as well.

and look at breeding programs for all the affected species.

and bee breeding.

jobs for lots of people.

They just breed the queens, then place one per hive. Supply a little food and away they go. Although a lot of bush has been burnt, there is still a considerable amount left, plus domestic bees are used for fertilising fruit orchards and vegetable farms. So don’t think there will be a massive downturn in bees or honey.

PermeateFree said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Ever seen a callistemon tree in flower, the bees go nuts.
A couple of those trees would go a long way to keeping a bee hive going.

Yes, bees love certain plants.

With the fires, many bees were lost

many plants and tress and other insects, animals mammals, birds

Maybe the government should go the next step in planting millions of trees and plant millions of flowering plants as well.

and look at breeding programs for all the affected species.

and bee breeding.

jobs for lots of people.

They just breed the queens, then place one per hive. Supply a little food and away they go. Although a lot of bush has been burnt, there is still a considerable amount left, plus domestic bees are used for fertilising fruit orchards and vegetable farms. So don’t think there will be a massive downturn in bees or honey.

Apart from the massive downturn that already existed before the fires?

We have a mini bee-farm consisting of two hives.

Not much, but 100% more than we had a few months ago.

Tau.Neutrino said:

I have this suggestion for bee keepers

We need more bees

more bees means we need more flowering planets

more flowering plants means more green houses with attached bee colonies

larger green houses could have rotating flowering plants for different varieties or mimic flowering plants over the seasons

maybe even growing more bees in labs then to sent to greenhouses with attached “ready to go” bee home.

> We need more bees

You do appreciate that apis mellifera is an invasive feral species, right.

roughbarked said:

PermeateFree said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Yes, bees love certain plants.

With the fires, many bees were lost

many plants and tress and other insects, animals mammals, birds

Maybe the government should go the next step in planting millions of trees and plant millions of flowering plants as well.

and look at breeding programs for all the affected species.

and bee breeding.

jobs for lots of people.

They just breed the queens, then place one per hive. Supply a little food and away they go. Although a lot of bush has been burnt, there is still a considerable amount left, plus domestic bees are used for fertilising fruit orchards and vegetable farms. So don’t think there will be a massive downturn in bees or honey.

Apart from the massive downturn that already existed before the fires?

Australia exports vast quantities of Queen Bees to America each year to replenish the hives that have been lost.

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I have this suggestion for bee keepers

We need more bees

more bees means we need more flowering planets

more flowering plants means more green houses with attached bee colonies

larger green houses could have rotating flowering plants for different varieties or mimic flowering plants over the seasons

maybe even growing more bees in labs then to sent to greenhouses with attached “ready to go” bee home.

> We need more bees

You do appreciate that apis mellifera is an invasive feral species, right.

And a real pain in the bum. When the feral hives split around Sept/Oct the mobile portion goes looking for a new home and takes over any suitable hollow and kicks out the original owner. I have an old caravan that they think is ideal and each year without fail they try to take it over, with a new swarm having a go once I have got rid of the first. This year I had to repel 3 lots and one year seven. I hate the nasty stinging things and dread the day when all these small hive owners grow tired of bee keeping.

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I have this suggestion for bee keepers

We need more bees

more bees means we need more flowering planets

more flowering plants means more green houses with attached bee colonies

larger green houses could have rotating flowering plants for different varieties or mimic flowering plants over the seasons

maybe even growing more bees in labs then to sent to greenhouses with attached “ready to go” bee home.

> We need more bees

You do appreciate that apis mellifera is an invasive feral species, right.

And a real pain in the bum. When the feral hives split around Sept/Oct the mobile portion goes looking for a new home and takes over any suitable hollow and kicks out the original owner. I have an old caravan that they think is ideal and each year without fail they try to take it over, with a new swarm having a go once I have got rid of the first. This year I had to repel 3 lots and one year seven. I hate the nasty stinging things and dread the day when all these small hive owners grow tired of bee keeping.

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

> We need more bees

You do appreciate that apis mellifera is an invasive feral species, right.

And a real pain in the bum. When the feral hives split around Sept/Oct the mobile portion goes looking for a new home and takes over any suitable hollow and kicks out the original owner. I have an old caravan that they think is ideal and each year without fail they try to take it over, with a new swarm having a go once I have got rid of the first. This year I had to repel 3 lots and one year seven. I hate the nasty stinging things and dread the day when all these small hive owners grow tired of bee keeping.

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

Dress up as a bee and wiggle dance them away

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

> We need more bees

You do appreciate that apis mellifera is an invasive feral species, right.

And a real pain in the bum. When the feral hives split around Sept/Oct the mobile portion goes looking for a new home and takes over any suitable hollow and kicks out the original owner. I have an old caravan that they think is ideal and each year without fail they try to take it over, with a new swarm having a go once I have got rid of the first. This year I had to repel 3 lots and one year seven. I hate the nasty stinging things and dread the day when all these small hive owners grow tired of bee keeping.

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

Two methods.

One, saturate the entrance points with surface spray.
Two, vacuum them up (live ones).

PermeateFree said:

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

And a real pain in the bum. When the feral hives split around Sept/Oct the mobile portion goes looking for a new home and takes over any suitable hollow and kicks out the original owner. I have an old caravan that they think is ideal and each year without fail they try to take it over, with a new swarm having a go once I have got rid of the first. This year I had to repel 3 lots and one year seven. I hate the nasty stinging things and dread the day when all these small hive owners grow tired of bee keeping.

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

Two methods.

One, saturate the entrance points with surface spray.
Two, vacuum them up (live ones).

Oh yes, forgot we’d done the surface spray bit too. We did that in Hawkesdale when a hive moved into our bedroom wall. No way to get them out. We were advised to surface spray the entry and they would carry the poison into the wall. It did kill the hive. Mr buffy was a bit of a sight at dusk up on the verandah roof in full leathers and full face helmet to do the surface spraying.

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

buffy said:

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

Two methods.

One, saturate the entrance points with surface spray.
Two, vacuum them up (live ones).

Oh yes, forgot we’d done the surface spray bit too. We did that in Hawkesdale when a hive moved into our bedroom wall. No way to get them out. We were advised to surface spray the entry and they would carry the poison into the wall. It did kill the hive. Mr buffy was a bit of a sight at dusk up on the verandah roof in full leathers and full face helmet to do the surface spraying.

Yes horrible things.

The Rev Dodgson said:

We have a mini bee-farm consisting of two hives.

Not much, but 100% more than we had a few months ago.

I’ve got two hives as well.

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

buffy said:

How do you dissuade them? I spent about 3 hours one day with the hose spraying the scouts who were looking at our shed wall hollow. Then I hung pest strips down in the hollow. I watched the scouts come looking and go in and back out again. I believe you can use camphor balls too.

Two methods.

One, saturate the entrance points with surface spray.
Two, vacuum them up (live ones).

Oh yes, forgot we’d done the surface spray bit too. We did that in Hawkesdale when a hive moved into our bedroom wall. No way to get them out. We were advised to surface spray the entry and they would carry the poison into the wall. It did kill the hive. Mr buffy was a bit of a sight at dusk up on the verandah roof in full leathers and full face helmet to do the surface spraying.

One thing bees don’t like are smells. Usually bad smells which is why it is advisable to use cool sweet smelling smoke in a smoker.

If you have places where bees have been before, they can smell that a queen has been there for decades and keep coming to the same place when swarms are passing.

They cannot get in holes that you have detected and blocked off. If you cannot block off all the holes make it smell like a sweaty bear or burn something really acrid and this will deter them.

A bee escape will allow them out but not back in. The queen will eventually come out looking for her workers.