Honey Bees have taken over my salt water pool
bigpaws12
13 years ago
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softmentor
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Is it practical (safe) for me to have Bees.
Comments (17)Yes it is definitely possible and practical. The first thing as said is check ordinances and talk to neighbors. I live in town with houses on either side, a driveways width apart. I have About 40 ft of frontage. My backyard is about 60 long and is ideal in that it is partly level then slopes uphill and faces south. I have 4 hives at the top of the hill,with the nieghbors yard from the next street back to back with mine. My bees fly mostly right over my rooftop, and have never been a nuisance to anyone in the neighborhood.There are woods nearby and lots of basswood trees and general good forage and one hive produced over 100 lbs of honey last year. Most people wouldn't know I have hives if I didn't tell them. I have an electric fence due to the nearby woods and signs about the beeyard and electric fence posted on the fence to keep the curious kids at bay. The only problem I've had was young boys throwing rocks at the hive. I talked to their parents and them about the good that bees do and also the danger to them if they tipped over a hive, and I gave them a taste of comb honey. They became curious and now sometimes watch from a distance while I work the hives and wonder why the bees don't sting me.One even donned a veil with parental permission to get a little closer(but not too close) look at what I do. It has worked out so much better than yelling at them or calling the cops would have. The bottom line is give it a try. It can be an educational experience for all in your neighborhood. By the way,less than a quarter mile down the road from me off the main rt through town, 2 other members of our club have 7 more hives so that's over a half million bees during the summer peak with no complaints ever. good luck and happy beekeeping Tony...See MoreHoney Bees anyone?
Comments (9)My yard is mostly clover... or should I say mostly honeybees. They are everywhere. You can't take one step without disturbing a few. I also have quite a few borage plants in my herb garden and they are constantly loaded with honeybees. I mentioned this to a lady who lives in the area (I'm near Chattanooga) because I had read that a good percentage of the population has disappeared and I thought they had just been misplaced and were all here in my yard, and wondered if she had a lot of them too. She said she hadn't seen a honeybee in her gardens in 2 years, but that her neighbors use a lot of chemicals. I try to stay as organic as possible (not strictly) and I don't have neighbors' yards bordering mine. It seems strange that it's so spotty. So many here and none there. Might that be explained by areas where more people are or are not using pesticides that are not bee-friendly? Chris...See Morepesticides and honey bees forgaging
Comments (8)A very interesting article. I was disturbed by the finding of the court that: "the that respondents were not liable for common-law negligence (from spraying sevin) because they owed no common-law duty to bees foraging or flying over their land; respondent landowners were merely prohibited from intentionally or wantonly harming the bees." This seems ill advised considering the important role in pollination that honey bees play in agriculture for a major commercial sector that produces our fruits and vegetables. I would view honey bees not as trespassers or (not just) property but as a natural resource like water or clean air that should be conserved through at least more prudent use of pesticides. Lily, I raised bees as a kid to harvest nectar from our blooming apple trees - the honey was incredible - a light tan color. Bees will forage for nectar as close to the hive as possible so insuring organic honey is probably a matter of seasonal timing of flowering plants and placement of hives as much as anything. Some of the best honey I've had was mesquite honey from Texas. The best by far is Tupelo honey from the swamps of Louisiana where the beekeeper times the opening of the new hive with the blooming of the Tupelo tree and closes the hive when the tree stops flowering. Honey produced from (wild) trees would I think likely be organic and even from orchards that are sprayed could probably be managed to reduce exposure of bees to pesticides (though I guess they wouldn't be technically organic). I have been following the story of the decline of bees for some time. Below is an article from National Geographic about the 50% decline in honey bees and what that might mean to the agricultural sector. Bee Decline May Spell End of Some Fruits, Vegetables John Roach for National Geographic News October 5, 2004 Bees, via pollination, are responsible for 15 to 30 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat. But in the last 50 years the domesticated honeybee populationwhich most farmers depend on for pollinationÂhas declined by about 50 percent, scientists say. Unless actions are taken to slow the decline of domesticated honeybees and augment their populations with wild bees, many fruits and vegetables may disappear from the food supply, said Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at Princeton University in New Jersey. Anecdotes of farmers losing their crops owing to the honeybee shortage appear to be on the increase, Kremen said. Last February, for example, there were insufficient honeybees for all the almond blossoms in California. As a result some farmers failed to meet expected yields. "There are shortages [like this] that pop up from time to time," Kremen said. "Whether there are more [shortages] than there were 20 years ago, one would guess yes, as there are fewer bees to go around, but it's not well documented." Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate in the department of entomology with Pennsylvania State University in State College, said honeybee shortages are not yet impacting commercial producers of crops, but that community farmers "are struggling to get bees for pollination." In fact, Dewey Caron, an entomologist at the University of Delaware in Newark, started to study the problem of the honeybee decline when he noticed that farmers in the northeastern U.S. increasingly lacked sufficient bee colonies to meet their pollination needs. "Growers didn't have options if they didn't like the quality [of the bees] they got from one fellow," he said. "So, we started to ask, Well, what is affecting the bees? What can we do to keep them healthier?" Bee Decline The honeybee decline, which is affecting domesticated and wild bee populations around the world, is mostly the result of diseases spread as a result of mites and other parasites as well as the spraying of crops with pesticides, scientists say. continued...See MorePotential builder trying to talk us out of salt water system!
Comments (36)"racket, I think you've made your opinion clear. Now if someones has a leak at the equipment, or the tile is falling off or the deck cracks or a liner rips or a scottish terrier drowns in a pool you can say 'I told you so'. " We sell salt systems, but do with reluctance and caution. Many builders up here are in the same boat. I am not sure the premise of your post, but its kinda dickish. My intention was to educate on real world issues I have had with salt, not anecdotal tales. We don't have a pool store so we lose money by not selling salt. "Bought/Used about 100 lbs of tabs and 40 lbs cal-hypo and 25 lbs calcium, 75 lbs of alk up, 50 lbs pH Increaser. Rough cost $800/yr " 40# tabs $80 at costco 50# calc $30 50# bicarb $30 each or $60 50# soda ash (not needed in a gunite pool) $30 $200.00 $800.00 for 4 years. Salt system installed plus salt = $1,500 After 2 years circuit board fails, pay $400 installed. After 3 years flow switch goes bad pay, $200 installed After 4 years cell dies, pay $700 installed. $2,800 for 4 years plus you need to still buy chemicals mentioned above. This seems to be about par for the course. "Truth is pool treated with chorine burns eyes,with SWG swim under water all you want with your eyes open,no problem...." I have been in hundreds of commercial pools over the past year, and the skin/eye irritation occurs in both types of pools. Not completely true. This has to do w/ pH level more than what the water is being sanitized with. The salt helps a little bit. I don't think that salt system should not be installed, but I feel that care should be taken when it comes to the design of the pool, and what types of materials are used. I install them on 1/2 my pools, but if the pool has a automatic cover I won't warranty the damage from the salt after 1 year....See Morejulysun
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agobarkdog
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agojulysun
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKonrad___far_north
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoJRG13
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agojjs95
7 years agomannixcarver
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoCarolyn
6 years agoKonrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta
6 years agoBecky Boat
5 years agoHU-808484371
5 years agoMatt G
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoAngela Zuill
4 years agoEveline Zoratti-Oser
3 years agoHU-449247595
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26 days agolast modified: 26 days ago
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