Here is an almost but not quite philosophical discussion. There are also some exceptional pictures of bees, almost as good as Tank's close up work.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-bee?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I don't get what the buzz is all about!
I'm told it has a sting in the tail.
Quote from: Tank on August 14, 2019, 08:00:01 AM
I'm told it has a sting in the tail.
Banned for sexism.
Quote from: Icarus on August 13, 2019, 08:00:22 PM
Here is an almost but not quite philosophical discussion.
Here is a most definite philosophical discussion.
its hard to get into the mind of a bee from the inside, but from the beekeeper's point of view bees definitely have emotions, personalities, and behaviors that reflect them.
maybe the biggest difference is that, to a beekeeper, it isnt the individual bee that isthe unit organism, its the hive. sometime a beekeeper will refer to hive by talking about the queen as if she waz the whole organism, but strictly speaking that isnt true.
a beekeeper might talk about a hive being mean, gentle, preoccupied, unhappy, busy, diztracted, or angry. not the individuals, but the entire colony at once.
a diiferent take on what a bee's mind is like, compared to the individual focus in the link.
i ran a bee outfit for a while, and im thinking of getting back into it.
An interesting insight.
"To bee, or not to bee, that is the question"
William Shakespeare
well , i definitely miss them, so the question is answered for me. i have one swarm in a double box in the front yard i caught this summer, not a big one. but tbe queen was okay and theyve held their own.
i ran a pollination business and raised and sold queens. i worked in california's central valley and coast ranges. i pollinated almonds, apples, cherries, squash. cucumbers, melons, watermelons, pumpkins, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, radishez, cabbage, kale, bok choy zinnias, cardoonz, celery, parsley, parsnips, and probably a number of others i cant remember.
its harder and harder to run bees in america now. competition, loss of locations, low commodity prices and fruit and vegetable imports from mexico and china. i used to sell a box of 100 queens for US$600, postage paid. now that same box is going for US$2800.
You are indeed a man of many talents BR.
spread pretty thin though
similar to your story in some ways, i think
almond poliination prices are way, way up from when i was there;
Quote
We polled a handful of almond growers. Here's what they're paying per hive:
Low: $150
High: $220
Average: $192.27
Just for reference, we know that Joe Traynor is charging $240 this year. Rule of thumb: if you're paying more than this and you're not 100% certain that you've got the best bees on the planet, you're doing something wrong
https://www.thebeecorp.com/post/2019-almond-pollination-prices
this is a hard business to be in. when i started around 25 years back, pollination prices were around $35 for six framez of beez.
traynor's standard was eight frames, but a hive that strong is hard to maintain as early in the year as the almonds bloom. the firzt varietiez might hit february 10th, but most are 10 to 20 days after that.
Fascinating.