>A honeybee brain has a million neurons, compared with the

>>2448577
they don't really have an interest in being a pet tho

working for the colony is all they care for

>>2448577
>Are Bees the best pets?
the answer is yes

>>2448594
I agree, but bees are cool and i wanna raise some for their honey

dont they sting?

>>2448638
no thats a vicious lie spread by wasps

>>2448638
no but they like to snuggle and give bee sized kisses

>>2448577
>bee's

>>2448701
big fuzzy bee with bumble as first name

>>2448638
I was stung by one once, but only because it got caught in my hair while I was boating and I smushed it with my palm not knowing what it was. Bumblers are gentle good boys and don't sting unless you do something stupid like that. They feel like little bundles of vibrating pipe cleaners.

>>2448733
>good boys
>hes

>>2448734
I am but a humble bee-noob. Forgive me, bee-senpai.

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>>2448577
bumblebees are harmless
honeybees kill people every month
honey is worth it, but damn, beekeeping is a job

I enjoy wasps because unlike bees they'll stop and make eye contact with you and make gestures, and anyway without wasps we wouldn't have enough plants for bees to pollinate in the first place

>>2448746

>honeybees kill people every month

lol

>honey is worth it, but damn, beekeeping is a job

anybody who keeps bees will soon learn that honey sales aren't a viable option for sustaining the operation

>without wasps we wouldn't have enough plants for bees to pollinate in the first place

wtf?

>walking down the street on a very windy day
>cross a bumblebee struggling so hard against the breeze it's stuck in place while it struggles to go forward
>It's trying so hard to push on but everything is trying to push it back
>Interrupt the breeze with my bod
>bumble flies into and clings to me
>walk with my chest turned to protect it against the world that is against it
>reach the post office
>the bee let's go and is taken by the wind

Stay strong, buddy.

Everyday i live with regret. I used to keep a bumblebro in my night drawer as a kid. But i ripped his wings off in fear of him flying away and leaving me ;_;

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>>2449082
>the bee let's go and is taken by the wind

>>2449077
>lol
http://www.govexec.com/management/2015/08/bees-are-deadliest-non-human-animals-america-cdc/119328/

lol

>wtf?
Wasps are the main predator of caterpillars and some other pests. Without them we would have massive outbreaks of caterpillars defoliating just about everything.

>>2449299
I know in my heart of hearts that bumblebro didn't give up, anon. It must have realized sometimes you just gotta go with the flow and see where the breeze takes you.

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>>2449082
>tfw going out of your way to help bumblebros and other insects in a pinch

>>2449302
>>>2449077
>>lol
>http://www.govexec.com/management/2015/08/bees-are-deadliest-non-human-animals-america-cdc/119328/
>lol

They refer to bees and wasps in one package
The headline is just misleading to get you attention (clickbait) shit site

>>2449246
U are a horrible human bean

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oh my god I used to feed my flytrap with bumblebros someone help my guilt

>>2450159
use your anus to start a [spoiler]colon[/spoiler]y

>>2448577
>Harmless
wrong. bumblebees can still sting and they have no barb so they can sting more than once

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>>2450159
excuse me

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>>2448638
Yes. I keep honeybees and have several hives. They will sting the shit out of you. There's a number of reasons,

•fucking around physically with their hive
•standing in the flight path in front of the hive and getting blindsided (accidental reflexive sting due to the trauma of smacking into something at full speed)
•waving one away from your face, even without touching it, because you think it is something else
•inadvertently pressing one against your body (stepping on it barefoot, gets caught in your hair, etc)

Some hives are meaner than others and more defensive. They will take a big interest in you if you are within 5 feet of the hive and start head butting you (Italians do that) trying to get you to leave. It goes downhill from there if you don't GTFO.

>>2449077
You have no idea what you are talking about.

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>>2448746
Wasps are bros, but fuck yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets.

>>2450180
Where the hell do you live, we have a beekeeper near the woods and as long as you don't touch their hives most of them don't even get close.
We still wear protective gear of course

>>2450180

>You have no idea what you are talking about.

>keeps italian bees

kys

>>2450193
That's exactly what was stated.

>>2450303
I've no clue what mine they are because they are wild swarms. I've worked at places with Italians and they are major head butters. A couple of my hives do the same thing. But, it isn't like I care since each hive puts out 80lbs of honey twice a year at max. It's been fucking amazing this year. I'm already up to 1 ton of honey produced.

>>2450325
>I'm already up to 1 ton of honey produced
If that shit wasn't so precious I'd take a bath in it

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>>2449302
>deadliest non-human animals
>honey bees
>lol
Unless you mean africanised honey bees, you're dead wrong bucko.
Also, I'm a little confused here.
>wasps eat caterpillars
>caterpillars eat leaves
>therefore, wasps help bee pollination
Why would caterpillars eating leaves stop flowering growth.
Bees can't just pollinate trees right.
If you're so worried about caterpillars surviving off of what nature gave them (hence why this is still going for MILENIUM) there are plenty of other predatory animals and insects that "hunt" caterpillars.
This kind of logic is wrong on so many levels, I can't even. Really, I just can't even.

>>2450174
Fuck off pussy

>>2450180
Dauber shill
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber#airplane_incidents

>>2450325

>It's been fucking amazing this year.

yeah here in new england the entire month of may was rain... major nectar flow at one point I was producing honey faster than I could order jars. Things are slowing down now though, I anticipate the golden rod flow to pick things up for a last hurrah towards the end.

The reason I don't like Italians is because they are far more aggressive than Russians or Carnis, they don't produce as much honey, are highly susceptible to mites, and can't overwinter for shit, at least not in my region. People like them because they are least swarmy but frankly I don't think it's worth it.

>>2450330

>Unless you mean africanised honey bees, you're dead wrong bucko.

yes perhaps he was talking about africanized, but when talking general honeybees i don't really consider them... hence my lol

>>2450438
I'm in the USA and in my area there's like 2 choices for bee types. Italian and German. Someone had some Russian a few years ago and I was on a waiting list, but CCD wiped everything out.

>>2450439
>>2450330
People die from a single honeybee sting due to allergy:

http://www.govexec.com/management/2015/08/bees-are-deadliest-non-human-animals-america-cdc/119328/

>>2450472

I think I remember you from the last beekeeping thread... I have never seen German bees available anywhere in the states... Georgian (Caucasian) bees, but not Germans. Can you link me to a supplier?

I'm very surprised Russians aren't a thing in your area, are you in the Northwest or something? They fare so well in the winter and easily 30% more docile than Italians. I did a mite shake on all of my hives and for 60% of them it turned out to be a waste of sugar - not even treated. Same with my Carniolan hives. They have pretty similar temperament to Russians, but they just build up slower. First year with the carnis hoping they overwinter well

>>2450474

Stop samefagging yourself with that damn article no one gives a shit, this is like saying you're more likely to die in a car accident than riding a wild boar. There's more instances of humans getting stung by honeybees because they are a domesticated livestock. No one domesticates yellow jackets. And people who are sensitive enough to die from a bee sting would easily die from a hornet sting too, similar venoms.

not to mention 98% of the time people get stung by honeybees they are doing something stupid.

Oh did you know you could die from black widows and you DONT EVEN NEED ALLERGIES?!?! holy shit even moar deadly

take a bath with your toaster please

>>2449306
But so far away how could it get home?
>bumblebro
>'bro'
>he

>>2450180
joke's on you, I was stung by a mud dauber

>>2450180
I wish this anon would step on me barefoot haha.

>>2450489
Statistics don't lie, I don't even know why you are upset. I'm one of the anons with bee hives too.

>>2450498
It is rare. I've been bit by one, but it didn't sting me. Hurt like a bitch though.

>>2450484
No, that wasn't me. I've never discussed bee types before this thread. I don't give out locational information so no supplier. CCD wiped the Russians out, I'm told. That may be why there are more Germans and Italians here than other places. I've never seen anything wrong with my hives other than the occasional mouse, wasp nest, roaches, and wax moth, but that's normally occurring with a new swarm when they don't have the numbers to get their guard up really well, even with reduce entrances.

>>2450635

I think the problem here, is that bees, wasps, hornets are all lumped together. Even if it was #1, that alone is enough to take such a statistic with a grain of salt...

http://roaring.earth/which-animal/

>>2450635

> I don't give out locational information so no supplier

aka you don't have german bees. someone probably told you they were german, and sold them to you for twice as much as a generic italian or buckfast...

ccd isn't really a viable thing to pin the deaths of colonies on to be honest, bees absconding for one reason or another are a sign of poor pest control / poor beekeeping in general. hope this has not happened to you

>>2450857
It is extremely easy t o identify the Germans because they are black.

>>2450180
I've handled and even hand fed plenty of polistes. They're really docile.

>>2448577
The bees really should be saved. I always gently remove them when they get lost in my home. When they are against a wall or any other surface I put a glass around them and then use a piece of paper or cardboard as a lid and let them fly out of the window.

>>2450490
The wind will blow by, anon. Just like everything else.

Also that bee can be anything it wants to bee.

Bees need to be able to recognize things they've seen before so they avoid revisiting the same flowers over the course of a day.

>>2450325
>>2450438
Man fuck you guys Utah has been hella drought, the did good for a bit and now are just chilling. Hoping for a burst in September or something to ensure winter stores are solid.

Italians are literally shitty mafia memes. They are meaner. They rob. I bring one hive of pizzasuckers into my happy Carni apiary and bam, the shit pops off.

>>2450489
>people who are sensitive enough to die from a bee sting would easily die from a hornet sting too, similar venoms.
Wanna know how I know you don't know shit?

I've got around 80 hives at the moment, plan on expanding that a little more to over 1,000 if/when I can. They're great, gave me purpose. You get honey and a way of making cash too.

>>2448577
>tfw my first time posting on /an/
This board is surprisingly neat as fuck.

What was it that made you anons decide to bee keep? Reading the thread has made me really dig the idea of people owning these guys as pets.

>>2452758
For me it was just something I brought up as an idea and my granddad really liked the idea. I've wanted to get into agriculture for a while now and beekeeping was my easiest way. I have a constant supply of honey and also get money from selling excess. I'm the guy with 80 hive.

>>2452758
Well pardner, I've been fixin to be a honey rancher since I was knee high to a hornet. Ain't nothin better then tha feeling of riding out in the desert, staring at the stars, with the sound of your herd roaring, a million heads strong.

Real talk, I just fucking love bees. They're fascinating. I had ant farms when I was little, bees are the natural progression. I sit out by my hives for hours and watch them; I'll be building an observation hive this winter so I can load in some next year and have a hive in my living room to watch. I try to volunteer to help local beekeepers so I can learn as much as I can, read about bees constantly, turn most conversations towards bees pretty quick. Next year I will make splits and scale up to 10 hives, and possibly drop some cash to get even more. If you're careful, you can make them pay for itself, and most of the "several hundred" small-time-pros I know basically just got there to cover the costs of their hobby. You can be aggressive with splits early in the year and increase the count of hives you have to expand for cheaper, though on the whole they eat money. I don't do it for the honey; this year I'm letting the bees keep it all, but second year hives are when they really start raking it in and I'll actually have surplus to fuck with. Lots of money in pollination contracts, renting them out to Cali for almond season in Feb; if I have enough hives I can roll mine in with the big boys when they all chip in on a truck to ship them out and make some early season dough.

i hope you post pictures of this observation at some point and i dont miss it

Kill all bees. In allergic and they go out of their way to sting me.

Also, how else do we prove Einstein wrong?
1: Isolate a few queens and their hives to an underground remote location with 0 access to the surface.
2: kill ALL remaining bees.
3: profit or start to die off within 5 years.

If he was right, release the captured hives back into the wild. If Not ... No big deal.

>>2452903
As a side note, there is an upside if killing all the bees kills humanity, as Einstein suggested...
Earth would be better off, pollution would eventually drop to 0, along with green house gases etc.

>>2452903
>they go out of their way to sting me
bullshit. You're probably freaking out and waving your hands in their faces as soon as you see one, so they feel attacked.

A sudden disappearance of all bees would affect more species than just humans, anyway. Do you actually think we're the only ones profiting from pollinisation ?

>>2452903
Bees smell fear.

I shit you not, the stress hormone people release somehow attracts bees. Perhaps they equate it with danger and go over to investigate.

I have a family member who is deathly afraid of bees and when she freaks out they all start following her. It's the strangest thing.

>>2452898
Oh I will, sometimes I try to stream beekeeping operations on twitch for showing here. Sometimes there's a beekeeping general thread, we need to get momentum so all the beekeeps here are more active.

>>2452908
>>2452903
"Bees are dying" is a meme, there were dips in livestock population due to a series of combination threats one-two punching everyone's hives for a while, but the counts are going back up as we improve pest control and hive management. Globalization has spread some really annoying problems (looking at you, varroa mite) but such things are inevitable and the bees will evolve around it, even faster because bee scientists and farmers are working on new strains all the time (sorry about the Africanized ones lulz). If all the bees died, human's core foods are ok: rice, grain, corn, etc are wind pollinated. It's mostly fruits and nuts that would vanish, basically everything tasty. Also remember honeybees don't belong on North America at all; there are no wild honeybees here, just ferals escaped from humans. Native bee populations would rise to take over and balance out the world if humans and honeybees all vanished. Some native bee populations have been hurt by diseases spread from honeybees, and others suffer from habitat destruction (Rusty bumblefriend), but insects evolve rapidly and it would all balance out.

Always remember when they say "muh colony collapse", honeybee populations are insanely swelled above natural levels just like chickens, cows, and other farm animals. They're livestock. They are used for industrial pollination contracts and are an important part of the modern agricultural network, and a threat to them is as dangerous as a corn disease or swine flu, but ultimately we would survive without them. It would just be shitty and needless. Hippies trying to help the bees by becoming "natural" beekeepers that don't use treatments just increase disease loads in the populations and make any problem worse.

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please rate my bumblebee photo :)

>>2453402
haha it upside down ( :

>>2448638
you can remove their stingers but its too time consuming

>>2450502
haha

>>2450180
I fucking hate Yellowjackets. Don't these fuckers also make their colonies underground instead of on trees or in branches? I remember getting the shit stung out of my left leg and ankles when mowing my lawn last summer by these fuckers.

>be me
>be a beekeeper
>last week 5 bees stung my left ankle
>must have hit a nerve or something
>unable to walk for 2 days
heh..

>>2448577
i got stung in the neck once and it hurt like shit