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Black Cat Apiary is a small beekeeping and honey producer, in Western Loudoun County, near Lovettsville. We sell seasonal honey and occasionally other bee products. Visit our website for more information.
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Kindergarten Class Looking for Presentation
Bret Fisher replied to K Teacher's topic in Visitors Questions
Hi Julie, I've done this kind of presentation to similar groups several times and would be happy to help if I can. Please contact me at CGBees@gmail.com. I also texted you my contact information. I'm sure our Treasurer, Jeff Pfoutz, would be happy to accept your donation on behalf of the Association: LBAtreasurer@mindspring.com I look forward to hearing from you. Bret Fisher 703-965-6216- 1 reply
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Hi, I was contacting your organization in hopes we might have one of your beekeepers willing to come to our school and kindergarten class to discuss the importance of bees and the basics of bee keeping. Our school is holding in person instruction in September and we have an outdoor teaching area for the presentation. We would be happy to make a donation to the association for the beekeepers time. If you are interested, I would greatly appreciate speaking with you. Thank you very much! Julie Roberts Kindergarten Teacher Loudoun Country Day School 703-861-8731
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K Teacher joined the community
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Thanks Bret for sharing, this is exactly what I was looking for.
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We have a 12 acre farm on Catoctin Creek with some fruit trees. Mix of wooded and open space. Surrounded by farmland. 3 miles east of Hillsboro and 4 miles north of Purcellville and would welcome a bee keeper placing hives on our property. We have some easily accessible locations if you are interested.
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I'll store them in the freezer tonight! Glad they can be reused. I could see no signs of disease. There were no dead bees, no mites, a few ants but otherwise it was just empty. Thanks for the quick response!
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Charlie, I'm sorry to hear your bees decided to go somewhere else to live. Those are some nice frames of drawn comb, and it looks like they contain a fair amount of pollen/bee bread. Unless there are signs of disease we cannot see in these photos, there is no need to scrape these frames down and waste all that beautiful comb. Put them in the freeze for 3-7 days and then store them in airtight translucent plastic containers to keep them safe from wax moths. They will give your bees a head start next spring. https://www.kelleybees.com/blog/kelley-beekeeping/dealing-dead-outs/ https://americanbeejournal.com/dealing-with-dead-outs/
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Hi, new beekeper here. I have one hive that absconded. I think I just fed them too little or gave them too many new frames when i thought they were expanding fast. I can't see anything obviously wrong with the frames they left behind. My question is can I just scrape the frames and use them again next year?
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Charlie_A joined the community
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Wild flower jar and comb honey available year-round BAR Croft Farm & Apiary Waterford, Virginia 20197 BARCroftfarm@gmail.com
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totally black bees collecting pollen in sweet corn
Joe Guirreri replied to Joe Guirreri's topic in Visitors Questions
Frank - I have reviewed my pictures and don't have any really good pictures. We also have not seen any recently. I will reconnect if I see them, get some pictures, and verify they are not immature carpenter bees (mentioned on the blog). To bee continued at a later time. Thank you. Joe (near Round Hill) -
No need to apologize for the newbee question - we've all had them and you're going to have a lot more. Please point out where you found this information, as it does not sound like anything I've heard or read before. Simply "adding a box" to an existing hive without frames of foundation will do nothing except create way too much open space for the bees. It may be that what you read was suggesting that having drawn comb for your new bees to start out with is a good thing - and it is - provided the comb comes from a disease-free source colony of bees. No beekeeper in his/her right mind is going to let their bees do all the work of drawing comb just to give away what is often described (and rightfully so) as the beekeeper's most valuable resource. It may also be that what you read was suggesting that you "age" your woodenware so that you're not putting your new bees into a fresh-smelling pine box. You can accomplish that simply by leaving your assembled and painted hive bodies outside, elevated off the ground, so they can be exposed to the weather a bit and lose that fresh lumber smell. I collect propolis from my hives as I work them or when I'm cleaning up old hive boxes. Then I mix it with rubbing alcohol to make a tincture of propolis that I apply with a paintbrush to the inside of new hive bodies as I assemble them so that by the time I use them on a hive they already smell like a beehive. Please keep an eye on the LBA website for information about registration for the next beekeeping courses: https://www.loudounbee.org/the-association/beekeeping-classes.html/ In the meantime, please read "Beekeeping Basics" at the link below: http://denton.agrilife.org/files/2013/08/beekeeping-basics.pdf Welcome to the fascinating and often frustrating hobby of beekeeping!
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It really depends on what material the suit is made of and more importantly - what it says on the label about "care instructions." I just looked at my own ventilated jacket from Brushy Mountain and cannot find the care label. I usually pre-treat the dirtiest spots with Spray-n-Wash, then wash it on the regular cycle, and dry on regular cycle as well. I wash the zippered veil on the gentle cycle and let it air dry. I wash my gloves on gentle cycle and air dry.
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Got a used bee suit. How do you clean/wash?
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totally black bees collecting pollen in sweet corn
Frank replied to Joe Guirreri's topic in Visitors Questions
Joe - we have had the discussion on "Black Bees" for several years without any real resolution if they are a different breed or hybrid. Where do you live? I do bee lining and it might be interesting to try and lure several of the black bees to a bait station and then track them home to find their natural colony. -
Just learning about bee's, got my first hive, no bee's yet. I guess I started to late for this year, will get bee's next year. I read that sometime is helps (jump starts your hive) if you add one of your boxes to an existing hive to pre-build it. What are people thoughts on this? If it is a good idea, does anyone have a hive I could drop one of my boxes on? Sorry for the newbie question.
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totally black bees collecting pollen in sweet corn
Joe Guirreri replied to Joe Guirreri's topic in Visitors Questions
Robert, Yes, no problem with the corn. It ripened normally, not perfect, but normal for our garden. We have had black bees in the garden multiple years, presumably wild bees. We also have had our bees heavily in our corn one year. It seemed to be a particular variety one year. We did not record exactly which variety it was. Neat to walk in the corn with bees all around. I understand that it does not make the best honey but we did not put up any signs that said "Keep out"..... Have a great summer, Joe and Chery, Old Apple Valley Farms, LLC -
totally black bees collecting pollen in sweet corn
Bobo62 replied to Joe Guirreri's topic in Visitors Questions
Hi Joe The black bees are collecting my sweet corn pollen also. I was wondering? Did your corn make alright? There's allot of bees in my corn. Thanks Robert -
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No longer available ..
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I have a colony that just swarmed. I have it located and pretty easy grab. I just don't have space or equipment for it in my apiary now. Call me 703 395 1943 if you want to come capture it.
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Thank you Bret for sharing this info. I will definitely read it before starting. I will check on the LBA course also. Again thank you for your reply and sharing this info.
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Zafar, I would strongly advise you to do a lot of reading before trying to install livestock (bees/animals) in your back yard. Also, take the LBA beekeeping course, arrange your equipment, and prepare for this adventure in animal husbandry. This is a bit more complicated than getting a puppy or kitten from the animal shelter. Beekeeping Basics_agrs93.pdf Please start by reading the attached Beekeeping Basics pdf. Once you've read that you can visit our queen and nuc sellers forum to see who has bees available. https://www.loudounbee.org/products-and-services/buy-nucs-and-queens.html/ Best of luck!
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Any recommendation where to buy 3 or 4 hives and bees? I am thinking to keep them in my backyard for hobby. I have a small single family, less than 0.5 acre but backyard is towards large woods. I have limited knowledge of bee keeping. Thank you in advance
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CANCELLED --- April 2020 LBA Member Meeting
bruce ruscio commented on Bonnie Creech's calendar event in Community Calendar
until