# Honey on tap!?!?



## londov7 (Jun 23, 2015)

Has anyone seen the new hive design where you don't have to take the trays out? You don't have to disturb the bees at all and you don't have to mess with scraping and separating it from the comb... Has anyone used these yet? They look fantastic!


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I heard somewhere that they have just begun to ship the first orders. I suppose we will hear how they work in a year or so!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Many of my friends have been sending me links to the new device being marketed.

If I were to list the problems currently being experienced among beekeepers, I would guess that honey extraction ranks about #100 on that list.

If we could just fix:
CCD
Varroa mites
Tracheal mites
Nosema
Small hive beetle
Wax moths
Tropilaelaps
American foulbrood
European foulbrood
Chalkbrood
Stonebrood
Cripaviridae
Chronic bee paralysis virus
Dicistroviridae
Acute bee paralysis virus
Israeli acute paralysis virus
Kashmir bee virus
Black queen cell virus
Cloudy wing virus
Sacbrood virus
Deformed wing virus
Kakugo virus
Invertebrate iridescent virus type 6
Tobacco ringspot virus
Dysentery
Chilled brood
and Pesticide losses

Worrying about how to unload a truck, is way down the list of worries when your trying to figure out the firing order of the cylinders to start the truck engine. Before you can unload a truck you need the truck running and to get it loaded.


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## londov7 (Jun 23, 2015)

Huh... I never knew there were so many problems when keeping bees, I've been playing with the idea of getting some and when I saw that new hive design I figured it would make things easier. Thanks for the information!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Your bringing some thing to the party late.
Was posted and discussed in July and August.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/li...s-anyone-heard-experienced-new-type-hive.html

I think ET1 SS about covered all the fun, except close by neighbors with pools.

But that doesn't all happen at once.


 Al


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

First of all, take that money and buy actual beekeeping equipment with it. Seems like last time I checked it was around $600, plus you still need to buy at least 2 hive bodies, frames, bottom and top. 

It will be interesting to see how the small hive beetles like these. I'm betting that they will make lots of spaces for the beetles to hide that the bees can't get to. If folks aren't going to actually inspect the honey before extracting it....that means they may get to extract lots of shb larvae goo.....yum!

I am frequently contacted by people that basically want to have bees around for pollination and want the honey, but don't actually want to have to do anything with the bees. I figure this set up will appeal to those people. There is no way to succeed with bees without being knowledgeable about them....no matter what kind of new gewgaw comes down the pike.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

londov7 said:


> Huh... I never knew there were so many problems when keeping bees, I've been playing with the idea of getting some and when I saw that new hive design I figured it would make things easier. Thanks for the information!


In my opinion this would make he work a LOT easier, assuming it works! Collecting honey is a hot and tedious job. I would LIKE to be able to sit down and move a lever!

A bee keeper must still open the hives every couple of weeks, more or less, to make sure all is well. If something is NOT well, then the bee keeper must either identify the problem to be fixed or go online to sites like here, to ask what the problem might be. 

The 2 most COMMON problems, in my opinion, is either too little or too much honey, or a problem with the queen. The first is solved by either feeding or by giving the bees another box. The second ls also easy: if you have a second hive and the first hive has no queen, then give them a tray of eggs from the second hive and they will MAKE a queen! Or you can have a queen delivered by mail. 

It is a little more complicated than that but not much so. An easier way to gather honey does not mean you do not have to open your hives. Bees are livestock and are bred for production and good temperament, and so they are a little more helpless than wild animals, which Mother Nature has bred for survival. Though, at least we do not have to use ear tags or fence them in! 40,000 ear tags would be a bit much!


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Terri said:


> The second ls also easy: if you have a second hive and the first hive has no queen, then give them a tray of eggs from the second hive and they will MAKE a queen! Or you can have a queen delivered by mail.


I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this. You can't just give them a frame of eggs and larvae and easy peasy you get a queen. You first need to have enough drones in the area....preferably of the proper temperament. If you are in the deep south this is quite important. In the summer during the dearth the hives kick out all the drones, so there aren't many or any for your queen to mate with.

You need sufficient well nourished nurse bees in the hive to raise a decent quality queen. I suppose if you just want something that lays eggs any queen at all would do.

Have birds or dragon flies in your area? They seem to take delight in snapping up mating queens. Also, a storm moving through can hijack your queen. So, your hive that now doesn't have a queen returning to it no longer has the materials to make a queen. Hopefully you the beekeeper realize that the queen has not returned....after all she may just be hard to spot as many young queens are. So you give it a bit more time. Oh snap....now because there is no queen for a sufficient length of time....you now have a laying worker or two.

What about the hive that you give frame after frame of eggs and larvae to and they just will not make a queen?! I have one of those out in my nearest bee yard right now....with a laying worker. I've let it keep going for a bit to show to students, but it's days are numbered.

If queen rearing was easy I'd be out of a job rather than having more demand than I can fill.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Terri you sure make it sound tuff to keep bees, You really mean you have to expend some effort?

I watched the drones being kicked out of the hives here at home first part of August during a cold spell here. I never even seen a drone in the hives till the middle of June either nor was I seeing drone cells.

 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

In Kansas I had drones from spring until frost: I never realized it was different in other places!


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## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

> I think ET1 SS about covered all the fun, except close by neighbors with pools.


Don't forget bears, skunks and mice. And don't forget neighbors or people in general, pool or not, when they hear about the menace of a beehive in the neighborhood.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

I have not had any bear problem with my hives. Though I do commonly have bears over-wintering on my land. Neighbors have had bears tear apart their hives.

I have had a lot of fungal problems.


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## londov7 (Jun 23, 2015)

ET 1 SS what causes the fungal problems and how hard are they to get rid of?


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

londov7 said:


> ET 1 SS what causes the fungal problems and how hard are they to get rid of?


Humidity / moisture

The general answer is ventilation. My hives have screen bottom boards and ventilation holes on the side up near the top.

Locals say that moisture travels up from the ground and keeps the undercarriages and bodies of cars wet so they rust faster. I was advised to put down a sheet of Styrofoam on the ground to block the moisture from coming up.

Then the next year I stacked loading pallets on the Styrofoam. To block moisture from rising and to provide cross ventilation underneath each hive.

Then I shifted my hives into the back bedroom of an unused motorhome. It is un-heated, windows are open allowing the bees easy egress.

One year we had an early spring. My apple orchard was in full bloom and the bees were hard at work, it was great. Then we had a 5-day rain storm that washed all the blossoms off the trees. The next week was sunny and clear, but my bees were gone. When I looked all the frames were coated with hairy blue mold.



To get rid of mold: the hive boxes need to be scrubbed and treated with a copper solution. The frames must be destroyed, even the plastic frames will have mold spore in their plastic.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

The thing for .y hive is its all plastic comb and all don't know about your hive but none of the hives I have ever had will have any thing to do with plastic


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## londov7 (Jun 23, 2015)

Had anyone heard of these? 
http://www.odditycentral.com/animals/the-beecosystem-lets-you-use-bees-as-indoor-pets.html
What are your thoughts?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Just another form of an observation hive. People have been doing that for ages too.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

yea I have thought about one ,,( observation hive ) , just what I need some thing to do ,,, who needs sleep ...... but would like one ,, it would be nice to have ,, might even learn some thing ,,,


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Tom you could put your best queen in it in the fall. Fix it so you could put a jar of syrup on it thru the winter. I am sure you would have your best queen come spring.

Fix a screen under a inside lid so you can feed pollen patties and syrup.
I saw one with a modified top on a 5 frame nuc that used PCV tube to exit the bees out side and had a gate to close them up even from the out side.

 Al


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