Jd's Midwest Apiaries Is Open For Business.

[jdmidwest]

A long time ago, my Grandpa introduced me to the gentle art of beekeeping. This year, some 30 years later, I decided I wanted to start my own Apiary. Mainly to pollinate the garden, but secondly, a retirement income.

I wanted to start early this spring, but spring sprung early and I was not ready. 2 weeks ago, an ad appeared in Craigslist for a complete established hive for sale. Come to find out, he was someone I knew, and I purchased the setup from him. I drove over last night after dark and picked it up.

I spent most of the day today sitting and watching the hive to see how it would react to its new surroundings. Recent rains have greened things up around here and they started flying as soon as the showers passed this morning. They did well all day.

I added a super this afternoon, that is what I am doing in the pic.

I do not expect a honey produce this year, but I am looking for a strong hive to go into the winter. Next spring I can split it and things will only increase from there....

[Mitch f]

Doesn't consuming local honey protect you from allergies?

[Stoneroller]

Doesn't consuming local honey protect you from allergies?

it can help reduce pollen allergies as there is a small amount of pollen in honey.

jd I would strongly advise you go with a better foundation system. that looks sketchy to say the least.

[jdmidwest]

Its solid and sturdy. I added the ratchet strap to keep the hive together in high winds. The stand is stable and sturdy. It just looks goofy from the camera angle.

Studies have shown that local honey helps allergies. I think it reacts with the immune system much like allergy shots as far as pollen allergies go. But bees do not use all of the local pollen sources when they make honey. Studies have shown that they will use Goldenrod, but not Ragweed. Ragweed was something that I tested high for as a kid.

Honey bees are good pollinators, but they do not visit all of the flowering species. Their body shape and size allows them to pollinate some flowers, but not all. Right now, I am counting on a local soybean field for a good honey flow to make my hive last the winter. Honeybees will travel within a 2 sq mile area, roughly 8000 acres.

[Stoneroller]

rip out your lawn and plant clover

[jdmidwest]

I am going to plant clover this fall in the leftover part of the garden.

After adding the super tonight in the pic, there were already bees on guard at the new entrances. Looks like they like it.

[Quillback]

How much honey will they produce in a year?

[Tim Smith]

Awesome, JD. Good luck with this. I've been noticing different flavors of honey based on the flower types and wondering how much of a niche market exists for these things. There's a tupelo honey that is apparently more fructose than sucrose. Clover honey gets a lot of press. When I lived in Belize there was a dark honey that was incredibly bitter that I assume came out of the jungle. It wasn't much as a sweetener but it did amazing things to a cup of coffee.

Soybean honey? That might be pretty good. Hope that farmer appreciates what you're doing for him, and I hope he's not using a BT variety.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Love honey and we would be in trouble without bees.

I have to ask though, will that rope fence keep anything out, LOL.

[jdmidwest]

A single hive in a good year can produce upwards of 200 lbs of excess honey. The bees need about 70 lbs to winter a hive. Right now, my hive has either been lazy or have not had a good nectar source, it only has about 3 deep frames of capped honey comb and weighs about 60 lbs total. I added a super and started a feeder to spur some action. They flew good yesterday and were coming back with full pollen sacs on the legs.

The quality of the soybean honey is good, it is a light honey similar to clover. Most locals tend to move the hives near the soybeans to make a late honey. Local fields are just now getting to the blooming stage.

The rope fence is just a temp boundary that I instructed the kids to keep out of. I brought the neighbor and his girls over and explained the process to them last night. The bees are really tame, they have not bothered me yet working around the hive. Like I said, they seem a little lazy. They need to build their guard up. Of course, a 50 mile ride on the back of a hitchhauler sucking exhaust fumes in the middle of the night may have made them a little stupid.