# Beekeeping Pics--For Honey :-)



## Pokeymeg (Feb 15, 2012)

Honey requested, and so it shall be done! Here are some pics of my mother and I working in our beehives from last August.


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## Jacob (Feb 15, 2012)

now thats a lot of bees.


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## Pokeymeg (Feb 15, 2012)

LOL And also lots of honey! Mmmmmm That frame in the first picture is about 4 pounds of honey!


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## lynnedit (Feb 15, 2012)

Oh, yummy! Amazing pictures.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Feb 15, 2012)

*Outstanding pictures!*


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## oscar (Feb 15, 2012)

very nice pictures. I have had bees in IL for 32 years have had an observation hive in our house for 28, Have you had a problem with
the small hive beetle or colony collapse.. I have both here. I have 20 
colonies and produced 720# of honey last year.


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## Tom (Feb 15, 2012)

I just did a bee job today for the Tonight Show. It should air next Wednesday or Thursday. I'm not a bee keeper, but I am an admirer, and I work with them sometimes. I don't think you guys were around when I first posted this. Might be interesting to you.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Bee-Job?highlight=Bee+Job#axzz1mIhjUulp

My bee supplier guy invited me to go up to Bakersfield to service 300 hives in the Almond groves. He said they do so well there that they are getting ready to swarm. Since I would love to learn more about them, and this guy is a walking bee encyclopedia with 40 years of experience, I think I will take him up on his offer.


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## Josh (Feb 15, 2012)

Great photos! I'm suspected to be allergic but if I weren't I think I'd love to have bee colonies!

Tom I still can't believe you did that to your face! What a BEEARD!


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## Pokeymeg (Feb 16, 2012)

@ Oscar, thankfully the small hive beetle has not really made it into my area yet (knock on wood). There has been some CCD...but it's hard to tell this year because the winter has been so warm. I think many people in the area have lost their hives to late season swarming without realizing it and are calling it CCD. Our queen was laying brood until December (!!) and has started again already...both of my two hives have gone through 80 LBS of honey and I'm feeding already! So, there have been a lot of starve-outs too. Also, 720#??? That's a LOT of honey 

@Tom---I'm so jealous!! Not of your bee-beard lol (but that's a fantastic bee-beard), but of your opportunity to go to the Almond groves! I'd love to see that! You definitely need to go. How did you get to do a bee job for the Tonight Show? Do you work for the Tonight Show?


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## Tom (Feb 16, 2012)

I train animals for movies and television. All animals. Occasionally its bees. Usually its dogs, but sometimes its roaches, elephants, a rhino, vultures, rats, pigeons, cats (all sorts), camels, horses, pigs, chickens, parrots, ostrich, giraffe, zebra, sloth, frogs, fish, snakes, and even an occasional tortoise!


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## Pokeymeg (Feb 16, 2012)

Oh that's awesome!! How can I get in on a job like that??? What sort of thing can you train a tortoise to do? Walk towards your voice? I certainly wouldn't except them to roll over like a dog lol


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## Turtle Guru (Feb 16, 2012)

That's awesome man


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## Zamric (Feb 16, 2012)

Tom.... if I move to Southern California.... will you take me in as an Apprintice... I'd love a job like that! 

In the word of my GrandFather... I'm a Jack of All Trades, Master of about half a dozen! I love learning new Trades!


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## Jacqui (Feb 18, 2012)

What kind of honey do you get? As in clover, ect.., Do you have your own fields or orchards, or let them free choose what ever is in the area or keep them in somebody else's area? 

As I recall, you got started because of a class you took?


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## DesertGrandma (Feb 18, 2012)

I love the second pic. It would be beautiful framed. It is truly amazing how intricate the hive chambers are. Do you market your honey for sale? I try to buy local honey because 'they' say it is good for allergies, sorta like allergy shots.

Where is the queen in all of t his?


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## Pokeymeg (Feb 18, 2012)

DesertGrandma said:


> I love the second pic. It would be beautiful framed. It is truly amazing how intricate the hive chambers are. Do you market your honey for sale? I try to buy local honey because 'they' say it is good for allergies, sorta like allergy shots.
> 
> Where is the queen in all of t his?





Last year was our first year doing this, so we didn't get enough to sell (first year hives start several months behind established hives). We used the honey we got to bribe the neighbors for putting up with our crazy antics!!  But, there is a store on Cambridge, MA that sells ONLY honey (from all over the world), and they can't keep local honey in stock because people try to eat local honey. As for the queen....well, she's there...somewhere. But with 60,000 unhappy bees flying around, we don't usually look for her. If you find freshly laid eggs, you know she's been around within the last few hours.


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## Pokeymeg (Feb 20, 2012)

Tom said:


> I just did a bee job today for the Tonight Show. It should air next Wednesday or Thursday. I'm not a bee keeper, but I am an admirer, and I work with them sometimes. I don't think you guys were around when I first posted this. Might be interesting to you.
> http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Bee-Job?highlight=Bee+Job#axzz1mIhjUulp
> 
> My bee supplier guy invited me to go up to Bakersfield to service 300 hives in the Almond groves. He said they do so well there that they are getting ready to swarm. Since I would love to learn more about them, and this guy is a walking bee encyclopedia with 40 years of experience, I think I will take him up on his offer.



I just looked on the Tonight Show website and couldn't determine when your episode is going to air! Will you let us know so we can watch for it?


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## Yvonne G (Feb 20, 2012)

Tom wrote that post on the 15th so its probably already aired.


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## Arizona Sulcata (Feb 20, 2012)

This is something I've always wanted to do!!


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## Zamric (Feb 20, 2012)

Tom

I've been watching for the episode since the post... not aired yet... I think!


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## DesertGrandma (Feb 22, 2012)

Pokeymeg said:


> DesertGrandma said:
> 
> 
> > I love the second pic. It would be beautiful framed. It is truly amazing how intricate the hive chambers are. Do you market your honey for sale? I try to buy local honey because 'they' say it is good for allergies, sorta like allergy shots.
> ...





that is all so interesting and fun. Reminds me of the the "bee keeper" in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.


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