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Author Topic: Beekeeping for dummies (new and improved!)  (Read 18989 times)

Fridgetroll

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Beekeeping for dummies (new and improved!)
« on: May 31, 2011, 01:31:19 pm »

I've seen a few threads about problems with beekeeping, and I think I've got it licked. Most of this has been covered in other threads, but I thought I'd lay it out all in one place so even a kobold can understand.

1) Only permit one dorf with beekeeping labor enabled.
2) Keep a large supply of empty jugs available.
3) Build not more than 40 hives and build them in a "safe" outside area.
4) Sit back and enjoy all the "Urist McLazybastard has been stung by a honey bee!" messages. (I like to build my hives next to my sparring area.)

There is no need to micro manage the hive settings! Just set it up and leave them. The only thing you need to worry about is maintaining your supply of empty jugs.

Also handy, but not necessary, is to dump a nice pile of empty jugs next to your hive area and build your screw press there too or dump another pile of jugs near the press.

It's also a good idea to assign a pack of war dogs to your beekeeper as he may decide to wander to the far side of your map to collect a new colony of bees and wander into an ambush. Plus the dogs will get stung while he's tending the hives!

If you are going to bother with a hive industry at all, build all 40 hives. It will keep your beekeeper and related workers busy. It is not a bad idea to initially build them in small batches, perhaps 1-2 at a time to start and wait until they have all been colonized before building the next batch. Once you have active hives and have started harvesting hive products, you can build increasingly large batches of new hives as your beekeeper will split mature hives to fill uncolonized hives. A batch size of up to 50% of your current number of active hives is not unreasonable. The faster you can get all 40 hives up and running, the better.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and corrected my erroneous assumptions!
« Last Edit: June 14, 2011, 11:05:51 am by Fridgetroll »
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Maklak

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2011, 01:35:05 pm »

What bout setting half the hives to "split", ant other half to "harvest"?

After building a few hives in my current fort, I concluded, beekeping is not woth it. Low value, low output, and lots of downsides.
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FrisianDude

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2011, 01:36:42 pm »

FORTY?  :o Most I've placed was three. And then sort of lost interest. :P
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Lagslayer

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2011, 01:40:08 pm »

What bout setting half the hives to "split", ant other half to "harvest"?

After building a few hives in my current fort, I concluded, beekeping is not woth it. Low value, low output, and lots of downsides.

But this is DF!!! Rediculously complicated, inefficient, and awesome projects are the heart of the community culture!

Fridgetroll

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2011, 01:53:27 pm »

What bout setting half the hives to "split", ant other half to "harvest"?

After building a few hives in my current fort, I concluded, beekeping is not woth it. Low value, low output, and lots of downsides.

I tried fiddling with setting some to split and some to harvest, but it was too much work for no noticable improvement. Just keep them all set to split and harvest.

Yeah, the products are not terribly valuable, but once you set it up, the only thing you need to worry about is your empty jug supply.

FORTY?  :o Most I've placed was three. And then sort of lost interest. :P

With 40 hives, your beekeeper stays busy, it helps keep your screw press busy and you can keep another dorf busy carving wax crafts.

But really, it's all about the bee stings. :D

and this:

But this is DF!!! Rediculously complicated, inefficient, and awesome projects are the heart of the community culture!
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Fredd

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 02:13:20 pm »

Do they actually cook the honey, and royal jelly?
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Lagslayer

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2011, 02:51:40 pm »

Do they actually cook the honey, and royal jelly?

Honey can be eaten as is, cooked, or brewed into mead. Royal jelly I think can be eaten as is or cooked, but I'm certain it can't be brewed.

I haven't messed with the bee industry much, though.

Corona688

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2011, 03:17:41 pm »

1) Only permit one dorf with beekeeping labor enabled.
Why?  Is 2 just too many?
Quote
2) Keep a large supply of empty jugs available.
The small ones, not "large pots"?
3) Do not allow ANY Finished Goods stockpile to accept your jugs. (Either turn off tools in all Finished Goods stockpiles, or only make jugs from one material (i.e. stone) and only permit tools made from other materials into your Finished Goods stockpiles.)[/quote] Why?
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JmzLost

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2011, 06:16:58 pm »

1) Only permit one dorf with beekeeping labor enabled.
Why?  Is 2 just too many? 
When dwarfs go to collect a hive, ALL beekeeping dwarfs will try to collect the same hive.  One will do the job, the rest will just stand where the colony used to be.
Quote
Quote
2) Keep a large supply of empty jugs available.
The small ones, not "large pots"?
Yes, use jugs, not pots.  Honey and royal jelly are stored in jugs.
Quote
Quote
3) Do not allow ANY Finished Goods stockpile to accept your jugs. (Either turn off tools in all Finished Goods stockpiles, or only make jugs from one material (i.e. stone) and only permit tools made from other materials into your Finished Goods stockpiles.)
Why?
There is a bug where jobs don't recognize jugs in stockpiles.

JMZ
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LuckyLuigi

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2011, 04:22:06 am »

Very useful intel. I wanted to get started on this soon and I already see my plans, like usual, would have failed  :D
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Gamerlord

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2011, 04:58:09 am »

1) Only permit one dorf with beekeeping labor enabled.
Why?  Is 2 just too many? 
When dwarfs go to collect a hive, ALL beekeeping dwarfs will try to collect the same hive.  One will do the job, the rest will just stand where the colony used to be.
Quote
Quote
2) Keep a large supply of empty jugs available.
The small ones, not "large pots"?
Yes, use jugs, not pots.  Honey and royal jelly are stored in jugs.
Quote
Quote
3) Do not allow ANY Finished Goods stockpile to accept your jugs. (Either turn off tools in all Finished Goods stockpiles, or only make jugs from one material (i.e. stone) and only permit tools made from other materials into your Finished Goods stockpiles.)
Why?
There is a bug where jobs don't recognize jugs in stockpiles.

JMZ

For 3. My forts are fine with jugs in stockpiles. I've never seen any of the beekeeping bugs, except for the occasional bastard who sits somewhere for the rest of his natural life when set the beekeeping labor.

johnson21

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2011, 05:24:41 am »

What about the "X has been stung" messages ? Should I care ?

My bees are close to my pasture, so chicken and rabbits keep getting stung.
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Saiko Kila

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2011, 06:16:42 am »

What about the "X has been stung" messages ? Should I care ?

My bees are close to my pasture, so chicken and rabbits keep getting stung.

There is no consequence to it. Dwarves will transport the body of a bee to the refuse stockpile, as any vermin's body, so you may want to make sure it's not being overfilled.
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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2011, 06:39:29 am »

I think the most important thing to know is, you need to build your beehives one at a time, or else your beekeepers will try and find bees in a random corner of the map. I haven't had problems with four or five of them for redundancy's sake, just wait until a hive has been built, then populated, before you lay down your next order. I do wish wax crafts were worth a bit more than plain stone, and mead wasn't a poor value liquor, but overall it's a nice addition.

Also, I tried on a 6x6 map, and 41 is the magic "too much" number, so I guess 40 is a really hard limit that doesn't care about your map size. So, 20 hives on "gather", 20 on "do not gather", and you're done with this industry's production side.
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thunktone

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Re: Beekeeping for dummies
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2011, 09:05:50 am »

I do wish wax crafts were worth a bit more than plain stone, and mead wasn't a poor value liquor, but overall it's a nice addition.

I don't think wax crafts should be worth much more than the wax itself, though that should be pretty valuable. Candles are another matter as most people in 1400 could rarely afford candles. Wax crafts could be used with plaster in the production of more valuable metal crafts though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting). Wax could also be used in cheese making (more relevant if maturing is introduced), in bone surgery (probably post 1400), in bow-making (but not by dwarfs), or as currency or tribute.
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