Urban beekeeping in New Mexico's largest city.
Natural BeeKeeping
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Tells us about your efforts to keep bees in a Natural environment, share ideas, and methodology and purpose.
- If your walking the talk this is where you can strut your walk... Bashing, rudeness and negativity is not allowed, this is about fostering our HoneyBees in the best possible environment, purist and beginners are welcome, Share your best natural beekeeping practices.
Members: 43
Latest Activity: Jul 5
Natural Foundation, How do you extract your foundation for re-use by your Honey Bees, Top bar and LangLang!
I believe the bees honey comb is an integral part of the colony, whom is dependent on its health and availability, so I currently extract my deep Langstroth Frames that are all natural foundation for reuse and I only recycle comb into beeswax when I retire it from use. I use mostly deep frames and only attempt to radially extract lang comb when it is attached to all 4 sides of the frame, I use either a hot knife of cappings scratcher, or roller. I have had good success for the most part, however the temperature and extraction speeds can effect the process adversely. So I extract them at about 78-80 degree Fahrenheit for about 10-30 minutes in a radial extractor at a slower spin speed with good results. In addition I cycle out 2 year old brood comb into honey comb for reuse an additional year, I am cycling out all comb at 3 years. We still use and have some plastic foundation that we use for specific purposes, but we are cycling it out of our hives, slowly but surely. Proper storage of the Comb is still a challenge for me due to space requirements.
Discussion Forum
Les Crowder - Natural Beekeeping Seminar
Sunday July 28, 2019 Santa Fe, New MexicoNATURAL BEEKEEPINGLes Crowder will lead a workshop in the Santa Fe area on Sunday July 28th. Les began keeping bees in Bernalillo, NM 40 + years ago. He has…Continue
Started by Mark Sommer Jul 11, 2019.
N.B. Welcome Wagon 3 Replies
Welcome Randy Szymanski,Thanks for joining "Natural BeeKeeping", Please feel free to ask questions. Please feel free to share why you joined and what type of information you are looking for.Best…Continue
Started by Raymond Espinoza. Last reply by Randy Szymanski May 19, 2016.
Langsroth hive versatility in Natural Beekeeping. 1 Reply
Our Langstroth hives have had some great success and we had a great harvest last week, we bottled over 200 lbs of Honey, from the spring and early summer honey stores, 11 Lbs of creamed honey and…Continue
Started by Raymond Espinoza. Last reply by Rhett Renoud Jul 26, 2015.
Comment Wall
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Comment by Patricia Crumrine on August 27, 2020 at 1:45pm
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I don’t have bees (yet?) and I’m learning. I like natural methods and I’m leaning toward a top bar hive (or two). I learn a lot from reading posts and replies. I would like to connect with local beekeepers to discuss and to observe as a next step.I’m in Rio Rancho.
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Comment by Raymond Espinoza on May 11, 2018 at 8:37am
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I have a trapout referral (homeowner seeking volunteer) in the Rio Rancho, NM area, call/message me for more information.
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Comment by Rhett Renoud on May 7, 2015 at 12:33pm
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Ben, can you post pictures of your glass hive?
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Nice work Ben. Keep us posted.
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Nice work, Ben. Very commendable.
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Comment by Aimee Williams on April 26, 2015 at 10:57am
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There is a non-toxic, no VOC exterior paint made by Mythic that works really well and seems to last. I painted my hive box 2 years ago with it and there are no signs of flaking or even wear. It is no longer available in Albuquerque but you can get it on the mythicpaint.com web site.
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Jessie, thanks for the review. I've also read, that when using cedar hives, it's most economical to leave them bare. It seems that cedar will holdup just as well with or without product. 100% pure tung oil keeps the hive looking good, and can be reapplied as needed, but the long-term cost to benefit is debatable. For now, I am using 100% pure tung oil. The cedar absorbs the tung oil, so I feel that there is at least some weatherproofing protection.
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Comment by Jessie Brown on April 25, 2015 at 10:48am
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I used the Eco Wood treatment 5 years ago. It gives a really cool rustic looking treatment to the wood. The product worked well for a bit, but I've noticed that after a period of 5 years, the wooden ware is beginning to dry out and crack along the edges and the screw heads. In comparison to my equipment that I left bare, (without any paint or stain) the Eco Wood has not faired any better.
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Thanks for the lead Bob I will check it out.
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Hi Sam,
I know from some of the Tung Oils I have used in the past for other applications had petroleum distillates. Tung oil formulas can be proprietary and unless advertised as a food grade quality the formulation may be unclear in its labeling. I found a brand that would be worth checking out (http://www.serioustoolworks.com/millies-tung-oil/millies-all-purpos... ). Since their is a possibility that Tung oil can contain petroleum distillates, which trigers an alergic response fot me i avoid petroleum based pruducts as much as possible. To answer your question, check out Wikipedia for general info on tung oil.
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