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One Hive Wonders

12K views 62 replies 32 participants last post by  beedeetee 
#1 · (Edited)
Most people here are pretty honest about themselves; many of us come here to learn from other people’s experience. That is why people like Michael Bush's advice is highly regarded he is a working bee keeper that gives advice based on what he has tried and works for him.

It would be helpful, for those of us that are searching for truth or as close as we can come to it, to know how many hives you have and how many consecutive years of bee keeping experience you have in your tag line sinature.

That way we will know if we are speaking with "One Hive Wonders", internet "experts", or beekeepers. Of course if youhave a degree in entomlogy/ are a with a school that would be great to know as well

Of course people can lie but then that makes them the liar. :no: But if they don't post the info we can use the well placed grain of salt thier advise deserves

Just a thought RKR
 
#9 ·
Ditto.................

When I first came to this site and started beekeeping it
was (and is) a remarkable resource. Calling folks "one
hive wonders" is belittling IMO and I've gotten a great
deal of wonderful help from folks with very few hives and
some of the worst advise from large scale operations.

Everyone, to a man or woman, on this site has valuable
insight. Off the top of my head I can't think of a instance
of horribly wrong advise that wasn't "corrected" by others.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Barry,
I can understand your reservations, please consider this. It is hard enough starting out, it would help to know what to trust and what to ignore. How is one to know what weight to put in the advice given of the advice is diametrically opposed? I would go with the experience. Would there be a system you would support?
 
#5 ·
The problem is in beekeepers themselves.....you can get two opposing answers or POV from two beeks with 30 years experience each 8). Just go read some of the threads on small cell!! Beekeeping is a VERY subjective undertaking and the personal experiences I have in Oklahoma may not match the experiences someone has up north, out west, or further south. Not to mention I have seen some VERY sound advice from some very new beeks posted here so to discount someones post because they have only been a beek a month is also a mistake in my opinion. Anyway I started beekeeping in the mid 80's, quit when I moved back to town and took it back up this year. I have 5 hives.
 
#6 ·
I agree with the nosey one. Anyone asking for advice has to weigh what they receive with what makes sense to them, what they've read and what they've seen, regardless of who it comes from. Caviat Emptor.

Me, I've been an on-and-off hobby beekeeper since I was a kid. I'm back at it again with 6 hives (so far) after a decade and a half break.
 
#7 ·
Over the past year I've found that there are many beekeepers who, while they have years of experience, have studied little about the intricacies of bees and often only have an elementary grasp of some of the finer beekeeping skills. That isn't to say that experience isn't a key aspect of one's understanding of bees, but experience alone without diving into the many of the fountains of knowledge that beekeepers past have left us, leaves one without a well-rounded understanding of the craft.

I guess what I'm trying to say is what NasalSponge and iwombat have already said...but differently!

Cheers,
Matt
 
#10 ·
rkr, I support the free exchange of knowledge and information here and let the knowledge and experience of the membership be the guide. A new beekeeper ought to be reading standard books on the subject as well. Things have a way of leveling out and I've just not seen off base information rule the day around here. Everyone can belly up to the table here and play a part in this mass exchange of information. I think there already is a place just for the "informed" (whatever that means) if that is what you're after. :)
 
#11 ·
I would like to see a place that you could put how many hives you have too. I had asked Barry about it a few weeks ago and thought he was gonna make a place to put the info next to Location, post count, and join date. Guess you changed your mind. Either way run it how you want but I vote yes.
 
#14 ·
I also poopoo the One Hive Wonder Idea.
I resemble that statement. I've read many books, & have been reading daily on beesource for a couple years. I have 1 hive less than a year, but have good advice too offer.


You can put anything you want in you're signature file.
 
#13 ·
Calling us "One Hive Wonders" is kind of creepy. Observations can be shared by us one hive wonders. After awhile, we know the information we can trust. Even I don't give opinions, just observations.

Someone's got their britches pulled up just a little too highhhhhh.

Nancy
Ovid, NY
 
#15 ·
I'm one of those one-hive beeks, but no wonder.;)

I joined here shortly after getting my first hive, and if I offer advice to any beekeeper, it is usually prefaced by a statement indicating I am a small beeyard hobbyist so that no-one gets the idea that I am setting myself up as any kind of expert. That being said, several of my posts on beekeeping are based on stuff I have read in my bee books and have tried myself. Otherwise, I won't offer advice. I think that most beeks are pretty honest people, and don't try to set themselves up as experts, but if you read enough of the threads on the forums, you can get a pretty good feel for who knows their stuff. That's just my 2 cents.
 
#16 ·
I would bet that some of the best beekeepers on this site have never had more than a couple of hives. I know that my bees were MUCH better off when I only had two hives. Now I'm to the point where I really only have a few "pet" hives that I actually observe and the rest are for the most part left up to their own devices for most of the time. I stand to make more money with bees this way but I was a better beekeeper when I only had two.:thumbsup:
 
#17 ·
yooo I'm a 20 hive wonder and still don't know much I've read 6 books one said the world record is 400 plus lbs done in 1920 or so, of course we did not have mites, CCD, (Conley disorder) but from reading I have found out back in the 1800's they had a few problems such as the above and about every 30 or so years it happened again but at that time we didnt have ABC NBc or cbs news telling us what to do.

Now we have a Great _Pres. he just wants change So do you, We must think of what our experience is and explain it the best we can on this site or others sites such a Bee Master etc but that is a hard site to get around so I don't use it much.

The thoughts are thoughts of people w who has 1000 hives or 1 they are the same and they try to explain what happens in there situation. You must consider where your are from, the type of bees you have, are your hive in the cold or hot winters?

I feel it would be easy to have hives in the warm southern states then I could some Delicious
tuba low or sour wood honey

We get buck wheat or Bass,clover a little clover because many farmers only grow red, few bees will not work them. So should we tell the farmer to keep his Locust and Basswood trees so we can get a few pounds of honey.but we are the same we want to know how to do something. I have got some advise from people who had only one hive and what they told me worked

So bee brave little buck-a-roue we all will learn just a little more about bees from this site use what you can then ask more it you dont like it.

Good luck to all the 1 hive wonders and keep up the good work.

Paul
I have been keeping bees for almost 4 years not much time to much to learn I think
 
#18 · (Edited)
Well that’s 13 against and 3 for. Clearly I am the exception vs. the rule when it comes to this issue. Thanks for your honesty and candor, and for giving my idea and words the attention that you have! :)
Happy bee keeping!!
RKR
 
#20 ·
It would be helpful, for those of us that are searching for truth or as close as we can come to it, to know how many hives you have and how many consecutive years of bee keeping experience you have in your tag line sinature.
A thought. You already have something approximating this. Look at a recent post by someone in question. Look at the post total. Look at the join date. This will give you an approximate idea of how long someone has been around.

You are more strongly advised, though, to use the search function on whatever it is you want to find out. You can then see how many answers were provided over the years, weigh the different responses (how many are similar, how many are different, and who posted on each), and, lastly, avoid posting another duplicate thread that may have already been answered (ad nausium). Just looking at the search responses can often turn up repeat names that you identify quickly as those you can trust and those who perhaps need a little more "seasoning" so to speak.

Everyone on the planet knows how to use google, but they refused to do the exact same thing here. It's ironic.
 
#22 ·
Good advice is not based on the number of hives a person keeps, at one time I was up to 25 or 30 hives and figured out that as too many for me. I just did not have the time to devote to this many hives with all of my other interest. After honey harvest was over and the fair was over I was always left with cases of honey to deal with which was always given away. To say the least it was costing me money just to keep bees. After down sizing I find beeking much more enjoyable. A few hives for pollination here on the farm and a little honey for me and friends. I never was much into the honey end of the deal, I guess I got burned out on that. Much more enjoyable just sitting and watching the bees, catching swarms, doing cut outs. Being able to bring one hive through the winter can some times be a challenge and if you loose it well then thats 100% lost, compared to loosing 10 hives out of 1000. Sometimes it is easier to focus on just a few hives rather than trying to give 1000 hives just a few minutes of attention every other month.
Manipulating just a few hives means you can really study them, but might not have the numbers for comparison to see what is the norm.

I hope all of this makes sense.

I have been keeping bees since I was 8, a neighbor gave me five hives, veil and gloves (thanks Mr. Grochell), that was about 1971. I was into bees pretty good for a while and then went to school, got married, had kids and have finally come back around to being able to get back into them again. Always had a hive or two on the farm since the '70s even when I did not manage them.


so for me 37 years?, five hives and a bee tree, a bee tree to go get and a cut out to do.

experience...many years, smarts.....not much

Bees are tough little critters and can survive most of what we dish out.

G3
 
#23 ·
jlovell;443757 Everyone on the planet knows how to use google said:
I agree with her thought, years experince and number of hives would be valuable.... not either exclusivly but a smart reader says 2 hives 20 years... good.... 10 hive 1 year, read and evaluate....


As for google.... interesting, but worthless..... almost all teh websites are onesided and biased ...... and hard to search

a Great beekeeper may be here blogging, but DANG few are doing websites and updateing search engines....

MB is about the only great site out there, and if you don't know his name it doesn't come up very often....


Try finding studies on small cell research or top entrances on google.....

Mostly garbage....

Here, Lots of good info and thoughts from both newbies and oldsters...
 
#24 ·
I'm on both sides of this fence. I agree wholeheartedly that it is important to know the background of the person whose advice you are taking,

As one of two EAS certified Master Beekepers in 2009, I know that gives me some 'creds'. That's why I did it, so I can talk to city councilors and the like.

That said, I know a lot of beekeepers who have had bees a lot longer than I have (6 years now for me) who can't reliably find their queens, and also a few that can, years don't necessarily mean much.

I also realize that the best way to learn is through colony exposures - a person with 2 hives for 10 years sees about the same exposure as a person with 20 hives in one year.

I registered 54 colonies on June 6. Still somewhere around that number.

Best,

-Erin
 
#41 ·
As one of two EAS certified Master Beekepers in 2009, I know that gives me some 'creds'. That's why I did it, so I can talk to city councilors and the like.
-Erin
Some of us are good at studying for and taking tests. I'm sure Erin knows details about bees and beekeeping that I don't know. But, for me it is the person, not the title Master Beekeeper. I have met a number of Master Beekeepers who have and keep AFB. So what does that say.

I will say that I am, so far, impressed w/ what Erin has shared w/ us as a beekeeper.

Maybe I should have taken the EAS test while I was in school in Ohio getting my AAS degree in Commercial Beekeeping. Especially amongst commercial beekeepers I don't mention that I have that degree. It was well worth the time it took to get it. But it was of little use compared to the 20 years of working as an Apiary Inspector and more years of keeping bees and making a living doing so.

There is, as Erin said, no substitute for hours in the hive and the honey house. On the other hand, I know a guy, who has worked for beekeepers full time for the last 30 years or so, who can't tell a queen from a drone. So, for some there isn't enough experience that can overcome some short comings.
 
#26 ·
See. 25 or 26 responses. Most of that different opinions. Same with keeping. Take what you want discard the rest. Research, trial and error are the best methods. So I found out.

Me...I'm just here looking for a party. I hear beekeepers throw the best ones. I just want to dance. :banana:
 
#28 ·
rkr- I don't think anyone here was offended, or is trying to be offensive. Like someone else said earlier, everyone's experience is different, hives are different, and beeks are different. Much of it, even if you read every single publication on beekeeping, is learned from trial and error. Nothing's wrong with that. I have a hive of bees that others would consider inferior because of their agressive nature. The advice I usually get from seasoned beeks is to requeen. I don't do that because it is a strong successful colony for my circumstances and expectations. I'm not offended if someone tells me to do what they think is best. For them and their circumstances, it is best. Much depends on what your goals and needs are.
 
#30 ·
My mom's uncle had a couple hives by his barn. My Grandma on my Dad's side had a few hives for pollinating her garden when I was real young. That Grandma's brother had about 70 hives at the most - we got our honey from Uncle Ed.
My Mom's sister married a guy with a PhD in entomology, specializing in honeybees. You can still find research papers with Charles Milne's name on them.
The first hives I ever got inside were my Uncle Chuck's hives when I was a teenager.

This is my second year beekeeping. Last year I started with 3 hives and had 6 by fall after swarms and splitting one hive. This year I have 14 hives on about 9 acres of buckwheat. I have 8 or 9 nucs (5 frame to single deep) I am using as comb factories and for nuc production. I have my one 'pet' hive out back of the garage here at home.

I am mentoring 3 first year newbies. One has 1 hive, another 3 hives, and the 3rd has 4 hives.

I have learned more from my one pet hive than from all of my relatives. It is the hive I am in the most getting the most hands-on experience.

I do not consider myself an expert. I know the basics, which I try to share with lesser experienced/educated beekeepers. I'll let folks like my Uncle Chuck be the 'experts'.
 
#31 ·
How about NO hives? Does that make my input inferior to the one hive wonder? This is my third time since '03 to be hiveless - trying to Quit to spend my time helping beginners.

Just wanted to note somewhere on this site how pleased I am that some of the words coined to support beekeeping are entering the language - like checkerboarding and backfilling.

Thanks, a bunch,
Walt
 
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