Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: TreedaBlackdog]
#6129718
01/18/18 01:53 PM
01/18/18 01:53 PM
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 2,971 Oklahoma
Matt28
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why would you stay away from Michael Bush - most of what he says is very good - myself, I am treatment free, I do not believe you need to dump chemicals of any kind to "treat" bees if he is going to buy package bees he better treat some how. If he catches a wild swarm he may get by with out treating.
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: l1ranger]
#6129797
01/18/18 03:24 PM
01/18/18 03:24 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,154 Tug Hill, NY
Redknot
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Posts: 2,154
Tug Hill, NY
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my wife has been trying to get us into honey bees for a while. she did a introduction meeting last night put on by the local beekeepers - and has decided, we are doing it this year. I'm sure I'll be here for questions as well. Pick up the book "Bee Keeping for Dummies" it has a lot of very good information for new beekeepers...
~Illegitimi Non Carborundum~
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: 080808]
#6129834
01/18/18 04:21 PM
01/18/18 04:21 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,888 Wisconsin
The Beav
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Are you Alaskan guys taking your bees Inside during the winter? My Daughter lives In Delta and she always killed her bees before winter set In. Seems a bit expensive to do that but I guess It Is what It Is.
The forum Know It All according to Muskrat
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: TreedaBlackdog]
#6129962
01/18/18 06:34 PM
01/18/18 06:34 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,716 Georgia
warrior
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Georgia
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why would you stay away from Michael Bush - most of what he says is very good - myself, I am treatment free, I do not believe you need to dump chemicals of any kind to "treat" bees Because he's a huckster and snake oil salesman. I say that having tried almost all of his "cures" and not only were they failures some like narrow foundationless frames made the hives almost unworkable. He's made a small fortune making the rounds of bee meeting with the fees he charges to speak. Of all his hype only two have limited merit. One, local stock is the better adapted to survive local conditions. However local as in feral stock is rarely the best stock for the keeper wanting to produce surplus hive product (honey/wax). Most ferals survive varroa pressure by limiting brood production (small colony size) and regular swarming. This means no surplus honey for the keeper. Two, overwintering nucs. With today's ills colony increase is a vital part of raining sustainable. Besides using his methods means you will need alot of replacement bees.
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: Big Possum]
#6129975
01/18/18 06:41 PM
01/18/18 06:41 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,716 Georgia
warrior
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Posts: 25,716
Georgia
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Not to hijack the thread but at the Illinois Specialty Crops Conference last week I went to all the pumpkin growing seminars and they recommended bumble bees over honey bees for pollination. Fly in wet, cold, cloudy, etc conditions when honey bees won't. If you are using the bees for honey than totally different story. Bumble bees do not overwinter so you have to buy new each year. Even with the disadvantages if you are looking only at pollination they said bumble bees are an advantage. If you deal with bees you probably already know this, I don't know anything about bees except I want them around when my pumpkins are blossoming. our local farm store is putting on a beginning bee keeping seminar in February and I plan on going to that just to learn more. True, bumbles and better yet native squash bees are the natural pollinator of squashes most of which are new world crops. However the sall colony size of native bees and small forage range renders them less than ideal for commercial production of curcubits. One colony of bumbles may be ideal for an acre of squash but not for a 400 acre melon patch. Bumbles also excel in specialty applications like greenhouse cultivation.
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: 080808]
#6130272
01/18/18 09:59 PM
01/18/18 09:59 PM
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,172 AK
Tradbow1
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,172
AK
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Beav.
Unfortunately wintering ‘north of the range’ is not a viable option. Ive tried a few times. I know they do it in russia, but little is written about it.
I considered building a climate controlled shack but figured costs out weighed packages. My last package 3 years ago ( not 2) ran 175/180.
Wish there was a better solution. I tried a hive heater as well. With no luck. This winter would be the winter to pull it off!!! Waaaarm city.
Last edited by Tradbow1; 01/18/18 10:00 PM.
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: warrior]
#6130386
01/18/18 11:07 PM
01/18/18 11:07 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 31 Missouri
hammerman
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Missouri
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why would you stay away from Michael Bush - most of what he says is very good - myself, I am treatment free, I do not believe you need to dump chemicals of any kind to "treat" bees Because he's a huckster and snake oil salesman. I say that having tried almost all of his "cures" and not only were they failures some like narrow foundationless frames made the hives almost unworkable. He's made a small fortune making the rounds of bee meeting with the fees he charges to speak. Of all his hype only two have limited merit. One, local stock is the better adapted to survive local conditions. However local as in feral stock is rarely the best stock for the keeper wanting to produce surplus hive product (honey/wax). Most ferals survive varroa pressure by limiting brood production (small colony size) and regular swarming. This means no surplus honey for the keeper. Two, overwintering nucs. With today's ills colony increase is a vital part of raining sustainable. Besides using his methods means you will need alot of replacement bees. I agree with most of what you said about Bush but about overwintering nucs. I believe that works. Bush doesnt have many hives anymore for a reason. TF is not the path beekeeping should go. Micheal Palmer explains overwintering nucs and i think he knows what he is doing.
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Re: Buying bees from Tractor Supply Co.???
[Re: 080808]
#6132676
01/21/18 12:23 AM
01/21/18 12:23 AM
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 489 TN
TN_Trapper
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Posts: 489
TN
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Michael Bush gives a lot of good advice. Beekeepers, like all farmers (whether they raise plants, animals, or bees) should work toward beekeeping without chemicals. I'm not totally against chemicals but treatments cost money and are labor intensive. Package bees may need treatment, but requeening from a farm that practices limited treatments will change the gene pool.
As far as going naturally and bees dying from mites, you can't just stop treating bees that have no natural resistance to mites. It's no different than stopping deworming goats that have no parasite resistance. It takes times to build resistance. It's a process.
And Tractor supply is just a middleman with employees that (with a few exceptions) don't know much. I can say that as I worked at one years ago. Difference was I was an ag major who raised livestock and had worked in the industry so I actually tried to help people.
And the price is too high.
Last edited by TN_Trapper; 01/21/18 12:28 AM.
Brandon
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