I general put few hives in small yard to see how they do, if there alot of butterfly is much less chemical around . I have one yard see more sunlight in winter than summertime, keep eight hives, lost about 8to10 in about 10 years.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's more of a hermit with my beekeeping. While i greatly appreciate people who want me to keep bees on their land or in their yards, I enjoy solitude in my work. I don't want to dread having to talk with people every time i just want to be with and work my bees. 😅 I'm always happy to give them some honey though!
Oh yeah, you and I sound similar. I'm so much that kind of person that I have a particular yard that has been neglected pretty consistently over the course of the last two years, firstly because I can't drive my truck right down to the hives and secondly because if I walk to the hives from my truck, I always make the landowners dog bark, and she ALWAYS wants to come talk. I like her, she's a really nice person, but part of what I LOVE about being a beekeeper is that I get to just put tunes or a podcast in my headphones and be alone with the bees.
*Not having a bear issue is huge. I see so many people fighting these bears. I agree working your yard in one day if possible is very important. Another excellent video.*
Regarding your out yards, do you have a written agreement with the property owner about letting you use the property, what kind of access you'll have to it, who owns the hives, etc...?
Yes, it's super standard stuff that my dad wrote up for us that basically says the hives are ours and we have the right to access them, and we need 30 days to move the bees if there's a problem.
@@BKBees, I have couple offers from strange people to put my bees on their property, but I am concerned about them. They could make splits, take swarms....etc. That's why I have purchased a piece of land, closed to my house, and I will use it as my the second apiary when making splits.
Thanks for the info! I subbed about a week ago and I really appreciate you channel ✅😁👍👍I'm getting my 1st bees in late April. I'm plenty book smart with no hands on experience! Wish the new guy luck 😉😉Thanks👍👍🏴☠️
Great videos. Thanks for making them. The sound could probably be improved relatively easily. A better mic (closer to you) and a rug or acoustic foam in your office will probably help. Not trashing your work. Just trying to help.
I am working on increasing the quality overall, and sound is definitely a big part of that. So, pun definitely intended, I hear ya. In reality, I bought a lapel mic, and am wearing it in this video, the beard is troublesome in that respect I think. I do plan on upgrading everything here pretty soon though, so thank you.
Good video man, I appreciate it. Once I start doing splits this spring I'll have to start finding some out yards. Hopefully 6-8 yards by the time fall rolls around.
Just post something saying "Looking for land for honey bees" and in the description say the area you're looking at and that you'll offer honey for the use of the yard. I think we've only had one or two yards come through from craigslist, facebook is more effective.
It must be the kind of honeysuckle around me then, we have tons of them and they're super fragrant in the spring and they're largely ignored by my bees. Autumn olive on the other hand is usually really active. Bees are weird sometimes.
@@BKBees yeah idk i was told bees can make honey from honey suckle and i was told bees do not like it, they have tons of other stuff like alfalfa is blooming and they have that every month until fall because the guy that farms it lets it bloom before cutting, they have clover tons of it i even planted an acres worth of it where the cut the power line. But those honey suckle bushes was just screaming with bees. I am sure there are bees hitting all of it though.
it's been my finding that the further a person stays away from town officials the better off they will be.,, usually if a honey bee is out forging, a person has to really antagonize it to get stung.
Agreed. Doesn't mean neighbors who don't like your bees won't complain that they got stung though. Or complain over and over again that the bees are attacking their dogs or horses or whatever. I've told angry landowners the whole bit about how bees aren't likely to sting when out of the hive and that they're just getting water and aren't likely to harm anything, but that very rarely makes any difference in their attitude.
I was just wondering how much honey you offer the landowner. The reason I asked I had somebody with property would allow me only to keep five hives on their property but they wanted 30 lb of honey personally I thought that was a bit steep so I moved on
Way steep. Crazy steep. I'd offer them a half of a gallon to keep 5 hives on their property, if I was cool with a yard with 5 hives, which I'm not. In reality, for most of the yards we have we'll give a gallon, in two separate deliveries of half gallon jugs. If the landowner asks to buy some (which they often do, for family/friends) we give them more, no charge.
Every spring I put bacon on my electric fences. It's called training the bear. It works. You just have to make sure the bear cannot reach one of your hive boxes. They know the fence bites but they will learn not to touch the wire. Bears are smarter than most people I know.
Agreed, they're clever bastards. Also agreed on yearly training, I think that's a great idea. As I said in this video, I've seen the value of hazing them first hand.
Thanks for all the videos, I’m just getting a new yard as we have to many at home now . The size is 20x15 feet , how many do think I should put in . They will face south with miles off hedges . 🇬🇧👍
Boy it's tough to envision a 20x15' yard, but that sure seems small. I'd try to put as many as I could fit in that space though, with enough room to walk and work.
I’m considering starting to keep bees for almond pollination in the spring. My property is 20 miles down a bumpy dirt road. My concern is transporting hives up and down this bumpy road. Do you think that is an issue?
Thanks for the video. I was wondering how do you know when you have out expanded the yard? Obviously only so many bees can inhabit a certain area. What is the standard? Like, 40 hives per square mile? or per 3 square miles??? Any idea?
I don't tend to think in terms of how many hives per square mile, but on the amount of hives in that yard that I feel comfortable working. So, we started looking for new yards when we had 30 or so hives at our house. If the area can't handle that many bees and we notice a yard is underperforming we'll just move the whole yard, rather than removing some hives to get back below a hive per square mile threshold.
@@BKBees So how far away do you look for another place for the yard, 3 miles, 5 miles, 1/2 a mile? I have a 30 acre farm and I am just trying to get an idea of when I should start looking for another place to put bees. 100 hives, 1000 hives? Right now I don't want 1000 hives, I'm just trying to ask a question. and how far away should I start looking? any idea?
Man told me he had bees on the building didn't know he was getting food from but it was dark honey come to find out it was sugar used to make soda pop there was a soda company about a half a mile from his place that hell at least they ain't hungry
lol that's funny. We had a batch of really dark honey this year because one of our landowners thought it was a good idea to plant a bunch of buckwheat. It was real honey at least, but boy did I not care for it.
lol that's funny. We had a batch of really dark honey this year because one of our landowners thought it was a good idea to plant a bunch of buckwheat. It was real honey at least, but boy did I not care for it.
It isn't easy, I mean, it's a lot of fun and super rewarding, but creating quality queens is tough, and requires a lot of bees and resources. I'd recommend you start really small, with only the goal of making super awesome queen cells. You want them to be REALLY well fed, swimming in way too much royal jelly, and to get that you need TONS of nurse bees in a REALLY well fed cell builder. Concentrate on that and I promise you'll be creating awesome queens, and they'll sell themselves.
The maximum for me is about 50, but that's more about what I feel comfortable working in one day rather than available food. If the yard can't handle whatever amount of hives I place there, I just move them, rather than reducing the number to see what the yard can handle.
Fantastic topic! Keep the videos coming!!!! ✌️🐝🐝🐝
Thanks, Tim!
I general put few hives in small yard to see how they do, if there alot of butterfly is much less chemical around . I have one yard see more sunlight in winter than summertime, keep eight hives, lost about 8to10 in about 10 years.
Another great and informational video!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's more of a hermit with my beekeeping. While i greatly appreciate people who want me to keep bees on their land or in their yards, I enjoy solitude in my work. I don't want to dread having to talk with people every time i just want to be with and work my bees. 😅 I'm always happy to give them some honey though!
Oh yeah, you and I sound similar. I'm so much that kind of person that I have a particular yard that has been neglected pretty consistently over the course of the last two years, firstly because I can't drive my truck right down to the hives and secondly because if I walk to the hives from my truck, I always make the landowners dog bark, and she ALWAYS wants to come talk. I like her, she's a really nice person, but part of what I LOVE about being a beekeeper is that I get to just put tunes or a podcast in my headphones and be alone with the bees.
*Not having a bear issue is huge. I see so many people fighting these bears. I agree working your yard in one day if possible is very important. Another excellent video.*
Thank you! Yeah, those bears can be bastards for sure.
Regarding your out yards, do you have a written agreement with the property owner about letting you use the property, what kind of access you'll have to it, who owns the hives, etc...?
Yes, it's super standard stuff that my dad wrote up for us that basically says the hives are ours and we have the right to access them, and we need 30 days to move the bees if there's a problem.
@@BKBees, I have couple offers from strange people to put my bees on their property, but I am concerned about them. They could make splits, take swarms....etc. That's why I have purchased a piece of land, closed to my house, and I will use it as my the second apiary when making splits.
You can check ordinances in any city using municode. Just google municode open it and find your city.
Thank you!
Thanks for the info! I subbed about a week ago and I really appreciate you channel ✅😁👍👍I'm getting my 1st bees in late April. I'm plenty book smart with no hands on experience! Wish the new guy luck 😉😉Thanks👍👍🏴☠️
Yeah good luck man! Feel free to stop back and comment any questions you might have during your first year, I'm happy to help.
@@BKBees I appreciate that. THANKS 😁🏴☠️
Great videos. Thanks for making them. The sound could probably be improved relatively easily. A better mic (closer to you) and a rug or acoustic foam in your office will probably help. Not trashing your work. Just trying to help.
I am working on increasing the quality overall, and sound is definitely a big part of that. So, pun definitely intended, I hear ya. In reality, I bought a lapel mic, and am wearing it in this video, the beard is troublesome in that respect I think. I do plan on upgrading everything here pretty soon though, so thank you.
@@BKBees
👍🏻🍻
Good video man, I appreciate it. Once I start doing splits this spring I'll have to start finding some out yards. Hopefully 6-8 yards by the time fall rolls around.
Facebook is your friend in that search, for sure.
Facebook is your friend in that search, for sure.
Hi Bret how do you go about looking for land on craigslist ?
Just post something saying "Looking for land for honey bees" and in the description say the area you're looking at and that you'll offer honey for the use of the yard. I think we've only had one or two yards come through from craigslist, facebook is more effective.
My bees seem to love honeysuckle, there is a ton of it around my house and when i would go out under one alls you heard was the bees up in them.
It must be the kind of honeysuckle around me then, we have tons of them and they're super fragrant in the spring and they're largely ignored by my bees. Autumn olive on the other hand is usually really active. Bees are weird sometimes.
@@BKBees yeah idk i was told bees can make honey from honey suckle and i was told bees do not like it, they have tons of other stuff like alfalfa is blooming and they have that every month until fall because the guy that farms it lets it bloom before cutting, they have clover tons of it i even planted an acres worth of it where the cut the power line. But those honey suckle bushes was just screaming with bees. I am sure there are bees hitting all of it though.
Awesome! Nice video.
Thanks, Noah!
it's been my finding that the further a person stays away from town officials the better off they will be.,, usually if a honey bee is out forging, a person has to really antagonize it to get stung.
Agreed. Doesn't mean neighbors who don't like your bees won't complain that they got stung though. Or complain over and over again that the bees are attacking their dogs or horses or whatever. I've told angry landowners the whole bit about how bees aren't likely to sting when out of the hive and that they're just getting water and aren't likely to harm anything, but that very rarely makes any difference in their attitude.
@@BKBees very true
*Great topic! Listening to the rest now :)*
I was just wondering how much honey you offer the landowner. The reason I asked I had somebody with property would allow me only to keep five hives on their property but they wanted 30 lb of honey personally I thought that was a bit steep so I moved on
Way steep. Crazy steep. I'd offer them a half of a gallon to keep 5 hives on their property, if I was cool with a yard with 5 hives, which I'm not. In reality, for most of the yards we have we'll give a gallon, in two separate deliveries of half gallon jugs. If the landowner asks to buy some (which they often do, for family/friends) we give them more, no charge.
@@BKBees thank you very much for the reply I feel the same way needless to say I left that guy found another
Every spring I put bacon on my electric fences. It's called training the bear. It works. You just have to make sure the bear cannot reach one of your hive boxes. They know the fence bites but they will learn not to touch the wire. Bears are smarter than most people I know.
Agreed, they're clever bastards. Also agreed on yearly training, I think that's a great idea. As I said in this video, I've seen the value of hazing them first hand.
@@BKBees l also keep checking throughout the summer. Never know when one of them needs a refresher course.
Thanks for all the videos, I’m just getting a new yard as we have to many at home now . The size is 20x15 feet , how many do think I should put in . They will face south with miles off hedges . 🇬🇧👍
Boy it's tough to envision a 20x15' yard, but that sure seems small. I'd try to put as many as I could fit in that space though, with enough room to walk and work.
What is the early y’all doing split in March ? I live in North Carolina
We don't split in March, we'll be pulling frames for splits at the earliest in late April.
It'll be interesting if I get any bigger. Sometimes the whole thought of it can bee a bit over whelming.
I’m considering starting to keep bees for almond pollination in the spring. My property is 20 miles down a bumpy dirt road. My concern is transporting hives up and down this bumpy road. Do you think that is an issue?
Nah, just take it relatively slow, and you'll be fine.
Thanks for the video. I was wondering how do you know when you have out expanded the yard? Obviously only so many bees can inhabit a certain area. What is the standard? Like, 40 hives per square mile? or per 3 square miles??? Any idea?
I don't tend to think in terms of how many hives per square mile, but on the amount of hives in that yard that I feel comfortable working. So, we started looking for new yards when we had 30 or so hives at our house. If the area can't handle that many bees and we notice a yard is underperforming we'll just move the whole yard, rather than removing some hives to get back below a hive per square mile threshold.
@@BKBees So how far away do you look for another place for the yard, 3 miles, 5 miles, 1/2 a mile? I have a 30 acre farm and I am just trying to get an idea of when I should start looking for another place to put bees. 100 hives, 1000 hives? Right now I don't want 1000 hives, I'm just trying to ask a question. and how far away should I start looking? any idea?
Man told me he had bees on the building didn't know he was getting food from but it was dark honey come to find out it was sugar used to make soda pop there was a soda company about a half a mile from his place that hell at least they ain't hungry
lol that's funny. We had a batch of really dark honey this year because one of our landowners thought it was a good idea to plant a bunch of buckwheat. It was real honey at least, but boy did I not care for it.
lol that's funny. We had a batch of really dark honey this year because one of our landowners thought it was a good idea to plant a bunch of buckwheat. It was real honey at least, but boy did I not care for it.
@@BKBees yes some people say they like dark honey I like the light colored honey or the bluish purple which is kudzu
How hard is it to sell Queens I'm going to try to raise some I was just curious
It isn't easy, I mean, it's a lot of fun and super rewarding, but creating quality queens is tough, and requires a lot of bees and resources.
I'd recommend you start really small, with only the goal of making super awesome queen cells. You want them to be REALLY well fed, swimming in way too much royal jelly, and to get that you need TONS of nurse bees in a REALLY well fed cell builder. Concentrate on that and I promise you'll be creating awesome queens, and they'll sell themselves.
How many bee hives can you keep in one yard
The maximum for me is about 50, but that's more about what I feel comfortable working in one day rather than available food. If the yard can't handle whatever amount of hives I place there, I just move them, rather than reducing the number to see what the yard can handle.
Thank you for answering my question