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A Drinking Station For Bees

peppamang said:
Anyone keep bees on this forum? I've been wanting to for the last couple years and luckily I live in an environment that could support them. It seems like a huge responsibility though
Yes! Pexpeppers is a beekeeper and harvests his own honey for his sauces.
 
peppamang said:
Anyone keep bees on this forum? I've been wanting to for the last couple years and luckily I live in an environment that could support them. It seems like a huge responsibility though
 
 
Bhuter said:
Yes! Pexpeppers is a beekeeper and harvests his own honey for his sauces.
 
 
I want bees and I want one of these: https://www.honeyflow.com/ - they are expensive but SO cool.
 
I don't have the carpentry skills to build one myself. Not sure I will ever have the space, time, or resources to get one, but it is awesome.
 
austin87 said:
 
 
 
 
I want bees and I want one of these: https://www.honeyflow.com/ - they are expensive but SO cool.
 
I don't have the carpentry skills to build one myself. Not sure I will ever have the space, time, or resources to get one, but it is awesome.
Those are some of the coolest things I have ever seen! I've never even considered keeping bees, but these make me want to. Great find!
 
Just a minor correction because I'm a bit of a pedant: Bees only actively beat their wings approximately 400 times a minute. The other ~800 times are the result of rubberised shoulder joints that cause the wings to essentially beat automatically on rebound. This allows them an effective BPM in excess of a thousand that will keep them airborne, despite them not theoretically having the musculature or the energy consumption to do so.
This means that they only put in about two fifths of the effort claimed by the site selling you hydration aids.
 
They still work hard for your plants and your honey. They definitely deserve the rest and rehydration. I just want to set the facts straight.
 
And, on a less related note, pay attention to what they pollinate.
Birch honey is as dark flavoured as the wood looks and smells and blueberry is remarkably light, while buckwheat makes it taste almost wholemeal and himalayan balsam turns it sickly and disgustingly floral. A little floralness can be good though, especially when combining the honey with Habaneros or Nagas. Birch and generic mexican honeys, being rather darker, are better suited to earthy and/or smokey chillies. Mexican honey is the best to pair with Chipotle. Personally though, I take local honey as a way of combating hayfever and have, as such, learnt to love the added pollen sort from local farms.
 
I wish I could remember more of the countless varieties I've tried over the years because the differences between them are far greater than you might think.
 
spicefreak said:
I wish I could remember more of the countless varieties I've tried over the years because the differences between them are far greater than you might think.
Manuka honey is very popular over here.
 
I see the occasional "regular" bee buzzing around my garden, but my main pollinators are bumblebees...and I'm not sure if you can keep those.
 
Hotrod64 said:
Manuka honey is very popular over here.
 

Manuka honey is pretty popular everywhere these days, though more for its supposed health properties than anything special about its flavour.
 
I know some friends who have honeybees on their local farm north of my area. Some of the best damn honey I've ever been graced with the luck to spread on some bread. 
 
peppamang said:
Anyone keep bees on this forum? I've been wanting to for the last couple years and luckily I live in an environment that could support them. It seems like a huge responsibility though
Hey peppamang, I keep bees here in NJ. Don't worry about environment - bees are kept in major cities, such as NY, where I work; I'm sure you have something they want where you are. As far as responsibility, it becomes less over time as you are able to diagnose health "at the door" - where bees come in and go out of the hive. But you do need to actively manage them during your nectar flows to prevent swarming and ensure a good honey harvest. Here in NJ, the really active times are, say, April through June and September/October, but there are things to do in other months as well, just maybe less intense. Perhaps the biggest responsibility is financial - it's not as easy to keep bees through the winter for a variety of reasons, but again, there are ways to remedy this, such as by growing your own queens and nucleus colonies. Regardless, it's a rewarding hobby.
 
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