# Honey Bees



## Mt Spokane Photography (May 6, 2013)

Saturday evening we became the guest of 32 hives of Honey Bees. They are out behind our house, (we have a lot of space behind us) and the air is thick with them. They quickly found our flowers and Crab Apple tree. They are peaceful, and just work like ... Bees  

I used my 5D MK III and 70-200 f/2.8L to capture a image. Its at f/6.3 and 1/500 sec to try and stop the action a little. We will get a small amount of the honey for the use of our land, and we will get everything well pollinated.


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## awinphoto (May 6, 2013)

where's my industrial sized can of raid when you need it lol


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## Drizzt321 (May 6, 2013)

awinphoto said:


> where's my industrial sized can of raid when you need it lol



For shame! Honey bees are your friend. It's wasps and hornets that you pull out the big guns and go in with overwhelming force.

Mt Spokane, I don't suppose you could have a bee keeper open one up and get some macro shots of them working inside on the honeycomb? Or do some of them climbing in and out or something. That could be some neat shots


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## CarlTN (May 6, 2013)

Some of my family on my Mom's side, raised and sold honey bees, along with honey...all through the Great Depression, and up until the 1970's. I got the feeling they loved it a lot, as a kid when they would talk about it.

As for your photo...you should have gotten closer!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 6, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Some of my family on my Mom's side, raised and sold honey bees, along with honey...all through the Great Depression, and up until the 1970's. I got the feeling they loved it a lot, as a kid when they would talk about it.
> 
> As for your photo...you should have gotten closer!


I tried to get them all in the image. There was a incredible cloud of them, and I was not one to walk into thousands of flying bees.

I can crop the image, but there is little to see, very few are on the outside of the supers. Perhaps I'll get up closer in the evening when they settle down a bit. Its a warm day and they are extremely active.

I guess I can now use my 100-400mmL + 1.4X TC


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## serendipidy (May 7, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Saturday evening we became the guest of 32 hives of Honey Bees. They are out behind our house, (we have a lot of space behind us) and the air is thick with them. They quickly found our flowers and Crab Apple tree. They are peaceful, and just work like ... Bees
> 
> I used my 5D MK III and 70-200 f/2.8L to capture a image. Its at f/6.3 and 1/500 sec to try and stop the action a little. We will get a small amount of the honey for the use of our land, and we will get everything well pollinated.



SWEET! ;D


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## awinphoto (May 8, 2013)

Drizzt321 said:


> awinphoto said:
> 
> 
> > where's my industrial sized can of raid when you need it lol
> ...



eh all flying insects creep me out.. friend or foe lol


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## CarlTN (May 8, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> CarlTN said:
> 
> 
> > Some of my family on my Mom's side, raised and sold honey bees, along with honey...all through the Great Depression, and up until the 1970's. I got the feeling they loved it a lot, as a kid when they would talk about it.
> ...



Or you could just wear a beekeeper suit...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 8, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Or you could just wear a beekeeper suit...


 
I walked out there about 8 AM (without my camera) and they were still pretty quiet from the night before. By the time I got to within 10-15 ft of them, they started buzzing me, and one hit me but did not sting me. 

I left them bee. I will take a closer photo one day, but mornings are usually buys for me.


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## CarlTN (May 9, 2013)

Cool. A honey bee can't sting you without dying (or so I've been told). Of course, they might not know that...haha. "Killer bees" ("Africanized") probably can sting without dying, I forget. I've been stung by yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps...hornets are the worst...yellow jackets second worst.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 10, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Cool. A honey bee can't sting you without dying (or so I've been told). Of course, they might not know that...haha. "Killer bees" ("Africanized") probably can sting without dying, I forget. I've been stung by yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps...hornets are the worst...yellow jackets second worst.


Yellow jackets are hornets, and indeed are a nuisance. We just put out our traps a couple of days ago. Fortunately, the attractant used does not attract Honey Bees.

The bees seem to have settled in a bit now, there is no longer a huge cloud of them around the hives. I expect that they are spreading out to forage further afield. They can often go 3 miles away, so bee keepers don't put them closer than 6 miles apart.

We bought a couple of young goats this afternoon, so our attention will be focused on them. 

Our horse is goofy for goats, he loves them and watches over them like a mother hen. We put the young ones in a adjoining pen to the horse for the night, he just stands there with his head over the fence wanting to be in with them. 

One of our two goats is old and ailing, and likely will have to be put down. The other is also old (one in the photo below), but doing fine. Having a couple of young ones is a insurance policy so the horse will always have some friends to help calm him down. He freaks out if separated from his goats.


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## CarlTN (May 10, 2013)

Haha, such a cute picture an anectdote!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet

That is what stung me 3 times in the stomach, back when I was a teenager.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket

That is what has stung me all over my body when I was like 3, then twice on the head when I was about 8, then numerous other times throughout my youth and adulthood. They especially don't like it if you are mowing anywhere near their nest, a hole in the ground.

I thank God that I have never been bitten by a poisonous snake. I've heard horror stories about anti-venom costing $40,000...so the guy had to go on without it. He said his arm swells up huge once a year! Was a Copperhead...I almost stepped on a baby one once...but I had thick mud boots on. Might not have helped! Beware of wide, triangle shaped heads and thick bodies...It's always a relief to see the non-venomous snakes around.


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## Drizzt321 (May 10, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Haha, such a cute picture an anectdote!
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet
> 
> ...



Oh yea, yellow jackets are NASTY. Probably stung at least 3 or 4 times when I was a kid, maybe more. Once I accidentally stepped on some ground wasp (not sure if yellow jackets or not) nest and got stung 7 or 8 times all up my leg. Wasps don't wait for you to bother them. Just by existing you bother them, and they *will* mess you up.

Some profanity, but otherwise SFW http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Wasp_e45706_742760.jpg


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