How did you choose your screen name?

[badgerbeekernube66]

I live in wisconsin, and am a complete greenhorn with bee keeping.

[apisbees]

In the early 80's I set up, rebuilt and was shop foreman of a local bee hive manufacturing Co. It was called Apis Hive Co. so I grabbed the apis and added bees to it  So I have a Latin, English, studder.

[JWagner]

Well, I got tired of everyone thinking I was Tom Magnum, so I thought I better straighten everyone out and decided to just use my real name.

That's funny. My brother used to get second looks because he loooked like Tom Selleck. -js

[Barbarian]

I had an email from a US keep who had visited the south of the UK asking where I lived. I replied that I was a "hairy barbarian" from the north.

My next email started "Hi Barbarian".                       The name took my fancy.

[tdconstruct]

I was helping my son set up his minecraft account and he wanted me to have an account also, but it had to have something to do with building. So we settled on initials + construct. A builder in real life I am not.lol

[badly stung]

Back in the early '80s I lived in Phoenix and was fascinated with bees, and through developing a friendship with an older beek I got started with one hive. I often visited and pestered him about the bees for some time trying to soak up as much of his knowledge as possible, and we eventually got to be pretty good friends. He was a native to Phoenix, lived alone, was in his 80s, and had about 30 hives on his place on the outskirts of town. One day he asked me if I wanted his hives. He said he didn't want to care for them anymore, so, I took him up on it, and moved the bees to a friends citrus orchard.

I wasn't too skilled with beekeeping back then, and times were way different, without the mite pests we have now. I kept bees for only a few years, moving them from citrus in the valley, to mesquite and catclaw in the desert at a little higher elevation, and then in the summer up to the higher mountain meadows were I now live. The bees did well and made lots of honey filling supers at each location. After extracting, I would load by hand the 30 or so heavy, powerful hives for the move. I wintered the bees back down in the Phoenix area. Eventually, after I moved to the mountains, life kinda got in the way and I lost interest in all the work of moving the hives. I gave it up, and haven't had bees for years.

The nectar flow here at this elevation (7200') really doesn't start until after the summer rains come which usually starts around July 4th. Cold nights with warm days seems to last forever in the spring, and very little blooms. Fruit tree blooms very often get froze out, so spring is a rough time for bees here. Late July through September the meadows are finally full of flowers. I'm not sure it's worth trying to keep bees here without moving them like I used too. I'm fascinated with bees though, and want to get a few hives again. I spend much time reading and watching videos trying to learn as much about bees as I can, and hoping to figure out if I can keep them alive year around up here without having to move them. I can't leave it alone, gotta try, hence the name "badly stung". Anyone out there keeping bees successfully in a similar area? I guess if I learn how to feed the bees and winter them, I can get them to survive, but I doubt I will get to harvest a surplus of honey without replacing it with syrup.

[apisbees]

Have you thought of putting the hives on a utility  trailer? Cheep to insure and saves having to lift and carry. if you need to lift them that much and you wont need to pull the honey before you move them. Unless to much weight for the size of the trailer.

[badly stung]

Thanks for the suggestion, Apis. I don't know where I would move bees too if I was to try that. I thought about looking for a place to winter a few hives, but don't know of anyone with a suitable property that I could ask. I understand AHBs are fairly common in Arizona, so I'm concerned about queens mating with AHB drones resulting in hives turning nasty, and wouldn't want to place hives anywhere that could lead to someone getting hurt.

I really want to catch some swarms this next spring in the Phoenix area and try bringing them up here to see if I can get them to survive. I have this idea to build several observation hives of several different sizes, setting each outside a small shed against a window made just for the purpose. I want to be able to work the hives from outside, but observe from the inside. My idea is to build boxes just like typical hives, but open on one side to place against the window glass. I want these hives to be from single frame width & up, and from nucs to full size hives to observe closely their behavior. I think a row of windows down one wall spaced just right for setting the hives where they can be worked easily but viewed through and just the right width glass for each hive would be very interesting. I would make the windows tall enough to stack several supers as the colonies would grow to take them. I could block the glass temporarily above each cover to keep light from coming through to make viewing from inside easier. I think much could be learned in this way about exactly when and what is going on in relation to pollen coming in, nectar flow, hive build up, swarming, wintering, and more. Since my area may prove to be difficult to keep the bees going year around, I may have to find a place to keep the bees part of the year, but maybe not?

[apisbees]

catching swarms in the Phoenix area? you may be collecting African swarms

[tinandglass]

I work with a very large camera so I can do an antique photographic process called wet plate collodion. The name is a nod to some of the materials used in the process. Originally photographic plates were either made of tin (tintype), or glass (ambrotype).

[lazy shooter]

I work with a very large camera so I can do an antique photographic process called wet plate collodion. The name is a nod to some of the materials used in the process. Originally photographic plates were either made of tin (tintype), or glass (ambrotype).

Camera's have come a long way since the tintypes.  Do you develop your own pictures, and if so, are you careful of the chemicals used to develop them? 

Again, welcome aboard and tinandglass is unusual.  Thanks for the explanation.

[tinandglass]

I know a few are offering to make them from digital images* these days, or you can try faking it with ps plugins, but I like the process itself, it's what makes it enjoyable. And, you absolutely have to be careful with these chemicals, any chemicals really. I use ether, ethanol, silver nitrate and a few others which are poisonous and/or combustible.

*A lot of alternative processes are now made by converting digital camera images into negatives on overhead projection film. I got into this because I learned how to develop film in Grade 8, have a b&w dark room, and in the early days of digital , all things film related were going into receivership (Agfa, Polaroid, Kodak, Ilford etc) and I love working in the dark room. I didn't want to lose that experience. Pushing pixels in photoshop doesn't do it for me.

[Ted n Ms]

My name is Ted .and i live in Ms

[tedh]

Welcome aboard Ted!  I like it when things are the way they appear!  May I also say I've never met a Ted I didn't like!  Also gotta ask, did your parents call you Teddy Bear as a kid?  Mine did.  It stuck.  Pushing 60 and still called Teddy Bear.  Gimme a break.  Again welcome to the forum.  If you haven't please tell us a bit about yourself,  if you're comfortable with that.  Ted

[brooksbeefarm]

My wife's maiden name was Bear,she frowns when i tell people i married a Bear. Jack

[CBT]

Tedh if your pushing 60 you may want to update that pic. Just sayin 

[tedh]

The orientation is wrong but it's the most recent pic of myself.  Still doesn't show the grey hair that has popped up over the last year.  Good genes, on both mother and fathers side.  Or maybe it was all the clean living?  Ted

[riverbee]

fixed ted.............

[tedh]

Thanks riverbee!

[riverbee]

you are welcome ted.......
think i am gonna start chargin' you..............