High speed video of life in a top bar bee hive!

Here's a great little video that shows the beginning of life for a bee colony in a top bar hive in Sweden. 

The description on Youtube says it is "A compilation of three summer months from inside the beehive. From colonisation of the empty hive to the days following the swarm (that probably reduced the colony to less than half the number)."

By the way, the person that posted the video (andersHQ) has several other videos there that shows the bee hive in regular speed.

Enjoy!

Attention Triad area beekeepers: We have a new supplier who makes their own equipment!

So I heard that the Triad area of North Carolina has a new beekeeping supplier located in Liberty which is in Randolph County. And yes, it's true! I made the 45 minute trip to Triad Bee Supply on Saturday to buy some new hive equipment and really enjoyed the visit.

My area of North Carolina is really fortunate to be close to two major beekeeping suppliers; Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in Moravian Falls, and Dadant and Sons in Chatham, Virginia. While I've made plenty of quick trips to Dadant's Virginia warehouse, I've never been to Brushy Mountain. But I can't always get to Dadant during the week when they're open. Unfortunately they are closed on Saturday and Sundays when a lot of hobby beekeepers do the most work.

Not Triad Bee Supply. They are open on Saturdays too. Just before I started my trip, I called to make sure they were open. I spoke to John, one of the owners, and he said they were open until 6:00 p.m., and maybe even later. So I piled in my vehicle and headed to the south to pick up supplies.

I met John when I got there and bought two hive set ups, minus the frames. Triad Bee Supply is very small, and the showroom is actually a barn shaped utility building. As a matter of fact, my own utility building behind the house is larger. But you really don't need a lot of room to show people what you have, and everything there had its own neat little place. John showed me his hives and I was impressed. The thing I really like about the hives is that they are made of cypress wood that comes from eastern North Carolina. The cypress (which grows in swamps) will last a lot longer than pine and is less susceptible to the elements year after year.

And don't be fooled by the small showroom. John has plenty of supplies because they make most of their own stuff! They keep the hive equipment in storage behind the building. John told a local television station that since they had problems getting supplies from other companies, they started making their own product. And in my opinion, the quality would match anything that comes from the major beekeeping suppliers. In case you can't tell, I really like it. Oh, and they sell lots of other beekeeping supplies including woodenware, clothing, even package bees!

I've included a recent television news story about Triad Bee Supply that was done by local station, WGHP Fox-8. If you would like to visit the Triad Bee Supply website, you can see it here. And if you pay them a visit or order something, please tell them you saw it on my blog!

Why you should always call a friendly beekeeper FIRST!

In my quest to help save the honey bees, with every question I get I always try to use it was a learning experience. I always tell people that the bees are our friends and here to help us in countless ways, so we should always do whatever we can to help them in return. That includes saving them when they swarm or move where they're not wanted.

Last year I had a couple of calls from people who had bees in their homes and wanted to get rid of them. They didn't want to kill them, only move them. And when I told them that I knew a few cut out beekeepers who would come and remove the bees for a small charge or no charge, but they (the homeowners) would be responsible for any repairs, the next question was always, "But what if I just stop up the hole so they can't get in or out? Can't I just kill them and be rid of them that way?"

That's when I seize the moment to tell people that's not the way to handle it, that if the bees die, they are going to have a huge mess from the aftermath. I always tell them that as long as the bees are alive, the nest is air conditioned. But when they die, all that oozing honey, the melted wax and smell has to go somewhere...not to mention the ants, roaches and mice who will come around to dine on the free eats. Most elect to allow a cut out beekeeper to save them the hassle and take care of the issue.

Here's a video of someone who decided to take it upon themselves to kill a colony in an old apartment building. The video, from beekeeper JPtheBeeMan on Youtube, shows several cans of wasp and hornet killer, a can of spray foam, and thousands of dead bees in the apartment. Did they get rid of the bees? No. The owner ended up calling a beekeeper anyway, but by that time it was too late. The bees were contaminated from all those pesticides and I understand the colony ended up dying. If the owner had just called the beekeeper to begin with, she could have saved herself a lot of time and the bees would have lived and found a new home.

I've already posted this on my Facebook and will use it in the future when people ask if they could just try to get rid of the bees themselves. This should be a training video for beekeepers to use when trying to educate the public about why they should not try to "do it yourself" when it comes to removing squatter honey bees!  

What was beekeeping like in 1951? Check this out!

This is a re-post, but many of you that just started following my blog have probably never seen this.

The educational movie we're about to see goes back to 1951. It is titled "Bee City" and its narrated by John Francis Kieran who was an American author, journalist, amateur naturalist and radio and television personality.

While it has an almost spooky appearance at times, and Kieran almost appears to ramble through his narration, he does a pretty good job of explaining how a bee colony works.

While the production values are seriously dated, the information the film contains is about as current as it gets.

So butter the popcorn, break out the beverages, and gather the friends and family around for "Bee City" -- and feel free to take notes if needed!

Mark's Silent Screen Classic: "Bees and Spiders" (1927)

Butter up the popcorn and settle in for this silent screen classic titled "Bees and Spiders" -- a vintage educational film from 1927. I really can't tell you much about it other than what I found online which said, "Life history of the bee, the economic value of bees through honeymaking and pollinization, and the habits and appearance of the garden and trap door spider."

While I'm not crazy about spiders (I was bitten by a brown recluse and had to take shots and antibiotics for a month...not to mention the bite wound that basically rotted out) -- I am fascinated by the beekeeping aspect of the movie. And really, there was nothing new or shocking there either, but I'm just excited by the art of beekeeping.

Oh, and check out the young lady at the beginning of the film who walks right up with her smoker, no veil or anything, and opens the hive up and starts pulling a frame. And she's wearing a dress too. I'm scared to death that a bee is going to crawl up the leg of my coveralls -- and she wears a dress! What nerve! 

Again, it is a silent feature, so don't try to adjust the sound on your computer or fiddle with your hearing aid.

Check out this oldie, goldie beekeeping film from 1951!

Thanks to Backward Beekeepers for posting this.

The educational movie we're about to see goes back to 1951. It is titled "Bee City" and its narrated by John Francis Kieran who was an author, journalist, amateur naturalist and radio and television personality.

While it has an almost spooky appearance at times, and Kieran almost appears to just ramble through his narration, he does a good job of explaining how a bee colony works.

While the production values are seriously dated, the information the film contains is about as current as it gets. So sit back and relax and check out "Bee City" on Mark's Bee Haven!

Old Time Theater - featuring - "Her Majesty, The Queen Bee!"

Let's take a trip back to 1933 and watch an old 35mm film on beekeeping. Its called, "Her Majesty - The Queen Bee!" I have tried to research who made this film and for what reason (I assume it was an educational film) but like many old movies of that time period, it seems no record exists. But it is a pretty cool film is I do say so myself. Its pretty short, almost six minutes, so sit back and relax and let's go to the orange groves with some hard working honey bees!

 

Do the Honey Bee!

Honestly, this is better than the dance they do on the Haagen Dazs "Help the Honey Bee" website. It has a true message and it has rhythm too! Thanks to Cliff at the Beekeeping for Beeginners blog for sharing! 

By the way, this video was produced by Haagen Dazs too. It just seems to be much better than the one featured on the Help the Honey Bees website, least to me anyway! Okay...altogether now!