*So you know, I do swear a little in this. Get stung by bees and try not to swear* My one and only time checking out the hives this year. The one shown in this video has been very aggressive all year. I just wanted to see what they were up to and was attacked pretty hard. If you have bee allergies, I would highly recommend staying away from bees. Youll never know what they are thinking, and sooner or later you will get stung. You can always suit up extra safe, but be safe. I occasionally get …
Wouldn´t be better to make the frames a little smaller or the hive a little higher, so it can fit a handle on the top of each frame?
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I think you really need more smoke. I only use pine needles (not green but dead brown ones) in my smoker and it works great. It has much thicker white smoke than I see on your vid, and I would sya it is about as organic as you can get. I also use a thicker leather glove. gl and be careful not to crush the queen!!
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my dad said the same thing…that the smoke was really weak.
But as soon as I popped off that lid, they were on my fingers. It was crazy.
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Great point about the smoke going throughout the hive by it rising above. Never thought about it that way.
I just wanted to mellow out the ones on top as I pulled out some upper combs, and they just started hitting me hard. Live and learn I suppose. Ill be better equipped (glove wise) next time.
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thanks for showing us the dark side of amateur bee keeping. all the other guys make it look so easy.
Sorry you had to suffer so much. I guess no hand modeling for you for a few days. That reminds me of a Seinfield episode. I hope you are all better now. I think mud helps with bee stings. Might not be too practical on finger tips though. ((hugs))
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Do you understand how the smoking works? It doesn’t hurt them, it actually helps them. Smoke masks their danger pheromones and keeps them calm. Without it they get a lot more upset and a lot of bees end up dying. I’ve tried handling my bees both with and without smoke and I can say I really think it is in their best interest to use the smoke.
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…. or we could just leave them alone and let them do their thing, like they do with us.
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People don’t raise bees just to leave them alone. They are semi domestic animals and a reasonable level of tending is desirable for best outcome.
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I think you are missing my point-that we should leave them alone in the first place.
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I think that’s a noble idea to leave everything alone in life, but honestly what is life without interaction. Do you also suggest that we destroy all honey bee colonies in North America? Honey bees are not native here. We are a part of nature. We interact with it. We are not the only animal to farm other animals. For example ants farm aphids. It would be nice for us if they didn’t, but they do it for food just like we do with bees.
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Some animals take advantage of us as well. I don’t think deer have ever minded us planting gardens for them to raid. Mason bees never pass up a chance to turn our houses into their own nesting grounds. Swallows like to nest in the eaves of our buildings. Like I said before, life is about interaction. Animals including us see opportunities to be benefited and they take advantage of them. When has a bird ever said to itself “It is wrong for me to eat the blueberries a person toiled to grow.”
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I don’t mean to attack you. Like I said, I think it’s very noble of you to think the way you do, but it’s just not practical to live that way. Where would we draw the line? If we can’t interact with bees could we still confine worms to our compost bins? Should we not eliminate pests from our houses because they have the right to live as well? Should we no longer use wool from sheep because they don’t like to be sheared? Everything we do has a corresponding affect upon something else.
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We rob bees of their honey, but at least we have developed methods to make it less stressful and damaging for the bees. Can you say the same of bears, robbing insects, and rodents when they interact with bees? Will you tell a snake not to steal the eggs from a bird? Tell a gorilla not to disturb a termite nest? Tell a fish not to eat the eggs of another fish? Everything takes advantage of something else. I think it’s better to focus on humane interaction rather than no interaction.
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I don’t feel attacked. I understand where you are coming from. The difference between us and them is that we have the intelligence to find new ways to live that doesn’t involve stealing-in fact I would go so far as to say that we could live our lives without the use of any animal products what so ever!
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There is no guarantee that when we are using these creatures-we are not hurting, exploiting, and killing them. I would rather error on the side I am on because I think all life is equally precious! Bess-worms-deer-all feel pain and try and get away from us-bc they know at a very basic level that their existance is precious and in danger.
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I feel called to live in a way that is free from hurting others-in a way that is compassionate as possible….. if someone were to live on a farm animal rescue farm and the chickens there laid eggs everyday-why not use them for something good-I might use them to feed the cats-and wouldn’t begrudge anyone for even eating them……… but instances like that are few and far between-and the bee hive doesn’t seem like that to me bc some of them are giving their lives to protect the…
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hive from the beekeeper. Just doesn’t feel right to me-believe me I have struggled with this stuff-I would love to eat honey-and use second handed animal products-like wool or leather from a thrift store-but I literally feel it when I do-I can’t explain it-it just feels wrong bc I don’t know where it came from or how those animals were treated-and I would guess 99.9% of the time little to no regard was given to the animals from which they came-and many of them died.
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I don’t have all of the answers to all of the questions that someone might have to justify the opposition to my stance-but I do know what my heart says to me when I let go of my own selfishness long enough to listen-it says to be peace and live in harmony-I agree that interaction is essential in the philosophical idea of harmony-but harmony means-it is a two way street. I do want you to know that I meant know harm-in the selfishness comment above-I was speaking strictly from personal experience
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I do understand where you are coming from-but realistic is in the eyes of the beholder. Difficult situations can result in new and creative ways of dealing with them-in reference to the should we… scenarios above. I am vegan-and that is more than a diet-it is an ideal-I work toward it and live by it-bc it feels like the right thing. Intelligence comes with responsibility-I dont think there is a difference between the life of a sheep a dog a bee or me. We are all in this together.
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PS-on a lighter note-I watched what I think is your latest video. About the black cap raspberry-SOOOOO Cool! I think I will check out more of them.
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I’m glad you are trying to be conscious of the living things around you. That is wonderful. I’m honestly curious though… If you grew cabbage would you let the grub worms eat it? Would you let aphids smother your roses? Slugs cut down your seedlings? Do you draw the line somewhere or are the lives of some animals more valuable than others?
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I deal with things on a case by case basis man. I am not a fan of the what if stuff… I like to deal with the hear and now-Ingrid Newkirk published a book called ‘making kind choices’ it is filled with ways that you can rid your life/garden/home of unwanted pests-there are ways to do it ethically without killing. I believe all life is equally valuable! I am sure if we all put our combined efforts into it we could find compassionate ways to coexist, but their arent enough people…….
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to help come up with new creative compassionate ways to for instance find ways to keep grub worms off cabbage whatever other problems we run into. The cabbage is as much the grub worms as it is mine.
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We are smarter so the weight of finding a compassionate way around it falls on us. I am sure it would get frustrating but so can people some times but we dont disregard their lives. When it rains my house get a bunch of pill bugs that come in. I take them back out. I find big spiders frequently-which scare me to death-I take them out. I am searching for some nonviolent ways to keep the spiders away-like finding something that they dont like a scent or something and placing it around the house.
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I have heard about these things that you plug in and it sends a pulse through your home that keeps spiders and such away bc they dont like it. I am not perfect by any means-but I try and be the best I can. I would want that from these creatures if I were them.
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