I am a beekeeper so since someone already took bee suit I will take a lit bee smoker. They actually keep killer bees in much of the areas were they are common as they produce more honey and are not as susceptible to varroa mites as strait European breeds.
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We went to a class but are putting off buying our nuc until next year. too many freaking projects and mites is why im getting russian bees. how many hives and how many years?!?
6 years and I had 12 colonies at the peak, I was raising queens and selling nucs but lost them all two years ago. I took last year off and I picked up a swarm this year it was two clusters so I put them in two boxes as each cluster had a queen. The larger cluster had a drone laying queen so I gave them a frame of eggs from the other colony and they raised another queen though she has not started laying yet takes a few weeks to get her mated and laying.
wow thats awesome I may need to pick your brain when we get started
You should look into mason and leafcutter bees I raise those too. Almost no work with them except harvesting cocoons and cleaning trays in the fall.
No honey though right?
Yeah no honey but you get pollination and the joy of watching them do their thing. You can sell the harvested cocoons on Craigslist or at http://crownbees.com/beebuyback