A while back I was having a talk with a buddy of mine about raising bees. In our tangetial discussion, he told me of a C.B.C. radio interview he'd heard, where some woman was keeping bees in used half gallon soda pop bottles. The bottles had some kind of hex insert that the bees filled with honey. When that was full she put another one up, and the bees moved there. she didn't have to smoke them out. she just went over to the recently abandoned bottle to get her honey. Sounds too good to be true. Has anybody heard about it? Thanks in advance.

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002

Answers

wondering how they were stacked,, top cut off?? In some countries, they use clay pots pipes stacked up,, all kinds of differant things. If the bees are rasing brood in a location,, there will be bees in there, no matter the amout of smoke,, where does the queen go? insode the bottles also?? Maybe they eat the brood with the honey,, not sure,, but ,,yes,,it can be done,, just isnt to maximise the amout of honey you get in return

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 14, 2002.

Roberto, I'm not sure about Canada, but here in the US it is illegal to keep bees in anything other than a removable-frame hive. The hives can be Langstroth-type or top-bar type, but the frames must be removable in order that the hives can be inspected. Does Canada inspect hives?

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

Eliz ??? where did you get that from? Illegal ?? dont think so. Never heard of that. I KNOW its not in this state. I know the State beekepper has some in bee skeps, and beegums. Where did you come up with that? Not all states inspect bees

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 14, 2002.

I stand corrected, Stan. Apparently some states do allow bees to be kept in a variety of hives, including skeps, though others require that they be kept only in movable frame-type hives (Florida included).

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

Sorry, Elizabeth's right. It is illegal to keep bees in any "container" or such that the frames are not moveable. Just because your bee inspector has skeps and such doesn't make it legal...

Laura

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

Actually, I think that Stan is right on this one. I did an internet search of a half dozen or so states and a couple of them DO allow skeps (New Hampshire is one of them), though the hives still have to be inspected and it beats me how a skep hive can be inspected. Other states specifically state that the frames have to be removable, and some did not specify on the websites, and I did not dig further.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

and not all states require inspections,, Mich is one of them.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 14, 2002.

I'm doing some digging on this because I have always been taught different.

New Hampshire DOES NOT allow the use of skeps. This is what I found for New Hampshire

"(c) No person shall keep or maintain bees in any hive other than a movable frame hive which permits a thorough examination of every brood comb to determine the presence of diseases and/or parasites. The use of all other types of hives or receptacles for bees, whether manufactured or natural, shall be prohibited. "

I'm off to check out some more stuff.

Also, when states use the word inspection, it isn't always meaning a "State inspector" In Washington we do not have a state inspectors. When they talk of "inspecting" your hive sometimes it is YOU LOOKING at your frames.

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

when I was getting into bees,, I found some states require you to register your hives and inspecter,,either state or soneone else,,ect. BUt some states have no regulations for them at all. Mich,,USED to require all of that, ,but stopped in the 70's,, no registration,, no inspections. I an even going to make an observation hive this year,, and it wont be removeable frames. DOing that for 4-H kids,,tours,,ect.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 15, 2002.

Laura- I was also told that skeps were prohibited, but I did find something on the net last night that said skeps are permitted in New Hampshire, as well as bee gums. Where did you find the info you just posted? Now I am really curious to know more about this.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 15, 2002.

Wow. I wasn't expectin to stir up a bee's nest, or anything! I don't know that much about bees, but I like honey, and I would like to produce it sometime soon. The reason that I was considering this method is that this woman hung her bottles up, and that got me to thinking that I could keep them out of reach of the grizzly bears. Stan I'm not sure, but I think the bottom end of the bottle was removed to insert the frames. The bees entered through the cap hole of an inverted bottle, or so my brain recalls the tangential conversation. I haven't even considered the legal ramifications of it; didn't even know there were legal ramifications to keeping bees. Crazy world, this! thanks for the replies, all!

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

cantact or county extension office,, if they dont know,, they can get you in touch with the entomoligist at the state ag dept. ASk him about inspections and such. I cant beleive there are rules about what you can or cant have bees in.. to each his own

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 15, 2002.

No bees nests, this is actually very educational for me. As far as having regualtions for keeping bees, it is to protect the good beekeepers from the crappy ones. If a keeper is out spreading disease and bugs, I want to know about it...

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

This is the link for NH regs.

http://www.state.nh.us/agric/agr1800.html

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

FYI- the main reason for the regulations is to protect the beekeeping industry as a whole, not so much for the good of the beekeepers, or even for the honey and other products our hives produce (after all, the US can import junk honey from other countries (China, Argentina, etc) cheaper than we can produce it here), but rather, for the benefit of the food producers. Pollination by bees resulted in a 14.6 BILLION dollar increase in production of food crops in 2000, and the food producers/processors are one of the most powerful lobbying groups in this country.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 15, 2002.

This is a snippet from Dadant's webpage

Can I keep bees in a straw skep? No, honey bees are required to be kept in a beehive with removable frames. This is to allow inspection for diseases. It is the law in all states.

http://www.dadant.com/journal/faq.html

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), February 18, 2002.