Visit From a Friend

[NasalSponge]

So here is the scene....

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k312/NasalSponge/IMG_0110.jpg

I was out in the garage painting (yuck) bee gear when a honey bee came in to check out what I was doing!! So awesome...she flew in and around the boxes several times then back out. The reason this is soo cool is she is only the second bee I have seen at my house ALL YEAR!! I didn't get the camera in time to get her on film but it was a great enjoyment none-the-less! Maybe she was attracted to the "neighbor camo green" paint I am using...:D

P.S. Never buy woodenware from Man Lake....:no::doh:

[MapMan]

It was cold today, around 44°F tops at one point, and one was buzzing around me this morning. Now, it is mid-afternoon 36°F and we have just gotten a short burst of snow showers. Too early for this stuff.

I have some short cuts to make your painting easier. Put a tarp down, place two sawhorses down and straddle the sawhorses (I get them 8-10' apart) with two scrap 2X4's. Line the boxes up on the 2x4's with room around them - I get 4-5 rows across. Stack the boxes like they are going to be in the apiary - 4-5 units tall. Now take a short 4 or 6 inch paint roller to them on all four sides (use the roller pan for paint and use a brush on hand holds).

On a warm, breezy day you can hit them with one coat of primer, and repeat with two coats of final all within a half day. I line up tops and bottom boards the same way, only not stacked, of course. I'm all for the easy way out, as I paint a couple hundred boxes every spring.

MM

[NasalSponge]

Yea.....I would do it different if I had that many to do for sure...I like to do it this way so I know I get good coverage on the corners and in the staple holes....:D

[GRIMBEE]

Looks like someone doesn't weed wack around the garage:D
Whats the problem with Mann Lakes woodenware? I have ordered from them several times(woodenware hive bodies and frames, foundation) I never had a problem with them and I recommend them to a couple of friends Looking to start beekeeping.

[NasalSponge]

Maybe it was a fluke but I got one deep from them that the jig must have been off...didn't line up at all and all the frames end bars are drilled so off center they are worthless for cross wiring. I am now a born again Betterbee/Brushy Mnt dude when it comes to the wood stuff. The grassy stuff (which I sprayed with round-up yesterday) is an ornamental grass in the front flower bed which I hate.

[Ken&Andria]

Wow. My hives are almost that same color green!

[riverrat]

Is that a mattress I see in the back ground. Is that where you stay when the shipment of hive bodies just happens to arrive unannounced and the wife finds them first.:scratch:

[BEES4U]

Just a suggestion:
I stack the super shells upside down so that the hand holds are easier to paint. (Brush or air less methods of painting.)
Painting them like you have them does make it easier to paint a good thick coat of the primer and then the cover coat.
No additional comments about the other items in the photo!
I have noticed bees checking out the supers as we are filling them with frames of wax foundation or Pierco frames in the spring. Later, a swarm arrives and we get some free Bz. I have also noticed that bees are somewhat attracted to certain paints.
Your visiting friend probably went home and told her sisters about the free new housing sites in the neigborhood! LOL.
Ernie

[NasalSponge]

Is that a mattress I see in the back ground. Is that where you stay when the shipment of hive bodies just happens to arrive unannounced and the wife finds them first.:scratch:


LOL....close, it is an old headboard. The wife is very supportive and encouraging in this renewed endeavor which is good since I work nights and she ALWAYS gets to my deliveries first.:D

[Dave W]

>she ALWAYS gets to my deliveries first . . .
>wife is very supportive and encouraging . . .

Can she paint? :) :)

Question #2 - How close are the houses in your subdivision?

[NasalSponge]

Right now this is MY hobby....she won't be doing any painting if you know what I mean.:no:
I would say 10 to 16 feet between houses.

[Dave W]

If she "get to deliveries first" and is "supportive and encouraging", a "smart MAN" might "let" her paint too ("if you know what I mean"). But its "YOUR" hobby. :)

How does everyone in the subdivision "feel" about bees?

[NasalSponge]

Don't know....not going to ask them. Per covenant all yards have to have 6' stockade fencing, the place where i am putting them will require them to fly up before they can go horizontal unless they make a sharp right and fly across the yard. The cement rain run-off ditch behind the house always has water in it plus there is a large pond 3/4 mile from here so drinking water should not be an issue. I have the sort of urban neighbors that you NEVER see out in their yards....:thumbsup: So we shall see what unfolds. When I had bees before I did it the same way but with chain-link so everyone knew I had them...not much was ever said.