For Our Beekeepers
 

I don't know if you guys (I think we have more than one apiarist here) have seen this, or not.

It's a different kind of hive. To get the honey, you just turn a tap, and ya got honey.

Sounds kinda cool, honey, on tap.

The guys behind it have raised almost $5,000,000, twelve days into their Indiegogo campaign.

Here's the story.

Very interesting!

I want one. Or five. Planning to set up in beekeeping in the next couple of years, so ... yes!

Personally, I think it's a gimmick. If honey is thin enough to flow, the moisture content is probably too high, which would promote fermentation. Honey reads around 18% on a refractometer, down from the 80+% moisture of nectar. Extraction is done by either cutting off the cappings and spinning the frames in an extractor or by "crush-and-strain", whereby the combs are cut from the frame and either hung to drain or crushed with something resembling a potato masher. I also don't see what happens to the bees on the frames that are pierced - do they get pierced as well? Interesting concept, but something for those with extra cash to play with. Rev. Langsroth (developer of the currently used 10 frame hives and discoverer of "bee space") had it right.

So the honey that's consumer ready, honey in the jar at the supermarket, reads 18% moisture? I know for sure it flows, sometimes slower than molasses in January, but it flows... usually when I think, Oh, that will stay on the knife while I grab another piece of bread.:smack:
But isn't all that labor because people and bears are impatient? Want honey now!

Took me awhile to figure out how this works. They provide frames with partially formed cells the bees finish, fill, and cap. This assures the filled cells back up to both sides of the back wall. Then turning the crank somehow splits that wall allowing the honey to leak down to the drain tube. That will take time, especially without air coming into the cells from the capped side. But since it doesn't have to be watched, eventually it'll drain most of the honey and the bees don't know, we wuz robbed.

I have some skepticism also. Seems the bees thinking the combs are still full are going to have a hard time planning their retirement, like when Wall street steals your IRA. Don't full combs promote the hive to split and half move out? Isn't it empty combs that spur them to be busy little bees?

In order to keep things healthy the drained frame will have to be replaced with an empty frame, so why drain it in the hive when you can do it outside after the swap? Granted it may be a neat and easy way to drain the frame after it's out.

It seems a lot of old hippies, young hipsters, and tree huggers of all ages, have taken an interest in bee keeping. This is good for the bees, for nature, and helps keep healthy stocks for the pros to draw from which we so desperately depend on. I read without the bees, humans would last four years.
But even if it's a gimmick and not fully kink-free, there seems to be enough people interested for smart people to work them out.
If only bees were toilet trainable.

This may be flawed, I have doubts about flow unless it's wicked hot, but I do think we can do a lot better than a design patented in 1852. It was absolute genius in its time but we've come a long way in our knowledge of the honeybee, materials development, and design in the intervening 163 years. This is likely the opening salvo in a total remake.

It looks as tho this gimmick has already fulfilled it's purpose

Every time I work in the hives, I'm reminded that the bees know more about beekeeping than I do.

That makes me wonder who's keeping whom...;)

Exactly :D

Oh, the bees definitely have the upper hand in this relationship. Their willingness to walk fly off whenever they feel the clover is higher somewhere else ensures that.

How the Internet of Things Could Save the Bees

I'm ... kind of skeptical that "based on sensor data" it can be determined at what moment female mites lay their eggs. Heating the hive, sure. Sterilizing the male mites, I can get that too. Why not just periodically heat the hive to such a temperature as a regular practice? Sterile males are sterile males, regardless if eggs have been laid. Something just doesn't add up for me in that story.

I'm a big bee fan, yay bees, but I can't quite buy this system.

As any former fertility patient knows, there is a very measurable spike in basal body temperature during the 24 hours surrounding ovulation. Or at least there is for mammals, I don't know for sure about mites, but the article did say they were measuring temperature among other environmental factors. That would still require the bulk of the female mite population to be on the same cycle, but maybe they have a natural tendency to sync up, like ladies in an office.

A spike in body temperature does not necessarily correlate with a spike in room temperature.

There might be environmental variables that affect when mites get frisky; the sensors might track that, rather than sensing the mites themselves.

Obama hopes to save the honey bee.

He's going to announce a coordinated plan between multiple government agencies to stop the decline of the honey bee in the US.

It's gonna piss some special interest groups off, but appears to enjoy bipartisan support, at least in theory.

Read the article for the details, or wait for the plan to be officially released today, but it will impact everything from how highway roadside mowing is done to which pesticides are permitted for agricultural use and when.

So long honey bees, we hardly knew ye.

That's an amazing video.
Slightly tangential... Norway's Bumblebee Highway.

Very cool! Great find.

I never officially came out as a no bee keeper. 0 hives survived the winter. The varoa numbers were supposedly low enough but it was brutally cold. *shrug*

Not how to bring new ones home...

Japanese honeybees use temp to kill predator. Maybe the euro bees could ;earn a few things

Wouldn't it be more economical for the bees to outsource a squad of bombardier bettles ?

:flamer:

Who knew bees' hearts were this big?

Attachment 52082

Awwwwwwww!

Nice.

Frames? We ain't got no frames. We don't need no stinkin' frames.

Unnecessary extravagance. I took an empty place holder frame out of a hive last weekend to give them a frame of brood. They had already started building comb in it. Industrious little creatures, busy as

.

Bees are busy here this weekend. Seems like hundreds of them on this vine thing by our trash cans.
Attachment 52487

This article says the harsh winter on Cape Cod, MA, killed half the honey bees. :(

I would like to introduce our beekeepers (and the rest of the Cellar) to Klinker.

Klinker is the only certified dog in the United States than can sniff out the American Foulbrood bacteria.



Good girl!

This dude kept one bee - the video is kinda long but it makes you happy.

It made me happy.

Me too.

Meh.

Makes me wanna kill bees.

Made me happy. He pets it!

Is the bee named Eric Eric?

:)

nyuk nyuk nyuk

"Honeycomb's big, yeah, yeah, yeah; It's not small, no, no, no..."

Attachment 53167

Whoa!

Hives are expensive and work to maintain. Plus winter's coming in this hemisphere, so why not stay inside where it's warm and toasty. You can fall asleep to a buzzing undercurrent of contented. Just bring your little honey poopin' buddies in too.

...buzzing undercurrent of contentment...

That's what I'm going for.:fumette:

Six months work making this ...

Badda Bee... Big Badda Bee.

Just finished extracting 156 pounds of nice dark fall honey. Now the bottling begins!

Hurrah!

That is a LOT of mead, right there.

156 lbs of honey is how many flowers? :eek:
How many hours/miles of flying?

The BEEcosystem Lets You Keep Bees as Indoor Pets
http://www.odditycentral.com/animals...door-pets.html

I've seen a lot of similar setups in schools and museums, should work fine. Or just drill a few holes in the siding, they'll find it. :haha:

A hidden plus, if the cops hassle you, sic the bees on 'em.
When they blame you, just shrug and say, "They're bees, your honor, they do what they want.";)

Bees on a Hornet:

Attachment 53771

Bee logic:

Attachment 53772

A Hardier Honeybee That Fights Back By Biting Back
 

It's just a start, but it sure sounds promising.

There are folks who stimulate grooming behavior by dusting bees with powdered sugar. This looks good but the size of the gene pool is fighting them.

Oh, that poor International Scout...:(