Damn bears. What I did when we moved bees into the mountains for fireweed honey was put up just a three wire electric fence with a car battery fence charger (solar is a lot easier now). Instead of a ground rod we'd lay 3' chicken wire fence on the ground outside the fence and attach the ground wire to it. Then we'd wire several strips of raw bacon on the electric wire. Bears would be standing on the ground wire and taste the bacon with their tongue. Straight tracks of bear chit heading away from the fence. Never had a bear get in. Good luck!
www.leefang.com
I used to (mainly from honey sales) but now I spend too much time hunting and not enough time beekeeping. I was up to 140 hives at peak. I did gain access to some great properties to hunt this way.
Thanks. I've not yet listened, in part because it's long. What's the TL;DR of the cause (if they give one)? (And since I asked you, I'm going to do a TL;DR for my post, as that article is pretty long.)
It depends on the hive, some are docile and some are more aggressive, but I probably get stung 5 times a year with my current three hives. I wear a jacket and veil, but usually just wear normal pants. Most of my stings have been on my legs as a result.
Huge losses reported as bees are headed to almonds. 50-90%, reminiscent of CCD. Not huge mite levels this Fall. May have been caused by an event in late summer, mites or pesticides? Up to 300,000 hives short for almond pollination. May lead to under pollination of our crops. I’ve taken a lot of stings, FWIW
That's going to send pollination fees through the roof. Back in the early 80's were getting about $20-22 per hive, have heard it's $200+ now.
It might go up in price but many of these big operations are pollinators and only sell honey as a by-product. I have not heard updates to how almond pollination is going, but we rely on bee pollination for many of our crops. The best time to buy honey and stock up is when it’s fresh, from a farmer’s market, which around here happens late Summer.
