Sadly this might be one of, if not the last times I'll be in a bee yard owned by hubs, as NY decided to impose a whole slew of new rules and regulations.
Howie's plan was not to focus on honey reproduction, but instead creating winter hardy and disease resistant bees.
Last year he gave a friend a couple of nukes full of his own well bred stock of bees, and they did fantastic. This year was meant to be the first of selling them to the public.
Unfortunately, thanks to the new regs, he is retiring from the business and will be selling his hives and equipment over the next few months.
And of course because these are the bees he bred, it's the first year nearly all of them survived the winter, and none of them have any diseases.
This yard is one of I believe ten that he currently has.
Aside from his quarantine yard. That is a place far from other beekeepers, where there isn't any plants worth foraging to speak of for a good twenty miles around, so the chances of them running into even wild bees are slim.
It is where he has taken sick bees for several years. He feeds them patties made from sugar and crisco with natural antibiotics, and the ones who shake off the problem- they become a part of his super bee stock.
Over time he was able to create bees who were highly resistant, if not immune, to various bee ailments, and also bees that can withstand the long, cold upstate NY winter.
And that is how he began the breeding side of the business. The saddest part is that it could have made a tremendous positive impact on the growth of honeybees. Instead NY would rather kill off the ailing bees, which ensures that the problems will never be resolved.
I took some video of bees robbing the one dead-out (what we call hives that either died off in winter or absconded for some reason)
I didn't actually realize what it was at first, and naturally since they were fighting each other for the honey, they were in an aggressive mood...
...and I got stung XD
Usually his bees are not only winter hardy and disease resistant, but pretty gentle too. I've watched him stick his whole bare arm into a hive to readjust the honey frames and not get stung.
Although he doesn't really mind some stings, in fact he has a little arthritis in his hands and used to intentionally go to some of his more pissy bees- the venom causes blood to rush to the area, and generally the effects of just one day of stings will last him a good month or two.
And here I am in the truck with loose tobacco mixed with water on my poor little hand :0) In case you weren't aware- tobacco takes away the pain of a sting, pretty instantly.
I only wish it would do something for the itching that comes the next day, but I have some trusty hydrocortisone for that ;0)
Had this in my drafts for weeks, just getting it up now, haha, the itching part lasted half of that. Usually it's yellow jackets that feel like the mosquito bite from hell, so that little honeybee was potent!
Thanks for joining me on what is likely my farewell honeybee post...
