I have wanted to get into beekeeping for a long time but I had no clue how to get started. Now I have a wonderful bee mentor. He brought over the hives last night and set them up in our orchard. He will be tending the bees with us until we know what to do, how great is that ;D
Anyone else keeping bees?
That is really cool, Christy! I have two friends who have started beekeeping this year, too.
It is something I'm interested in, but I'm spread a bit thin right now, so am struggling to not get into one more thing that will push me over the edge. I do want to work with my friends on their hives, though, to be sure that it is something I really want to do before I delve into it.
I know how you feel. This is good timing for us and with the beekeeper easing us into it it was the perfect situation. Now to find time for all the honey related projects, mead, candle making, soaps, lip balm, lotion bars, mead... ;D
My hives ;D
<Sigh> Someday, maybe!
That's really kewl Christy.
Quote from: Christy on April 30, 2010, 11:37:08 AM
I have wanted to get into beekeeping for a long time but I had no clue how to get started. Now I have a wonderful bee mentor. He brought over the hives last night and set them up in our orchard. He will be tending the bees with us until we know what to do, how great is that ;D
Anyone else keeping bees?
Then he will be tending them for the rest of your life. No offense, I have been keeping bees for 8 years now and they constantly amaze me. They are by far the most difficult livestock to tend. I now live where there is only one honey flow per year and it had made things much simpler, but they are still finicky little bugs.
QuoteThen he will be tending them for the rest of your life
Oh, I think you're wrong about this! We don't get into things lightly do do anything half way around here ;D
Quote from: Christy on April 30, 2010, 11:37:08 AM
I have wanted to get into beekeeping for a long time but I had no clue how to get started. Now I have a wonderful bee mentor. He brought over the hives last night and set them up in our orchard. He will be tending the bees with us until we know what to do, how great is that ;D
Anyone else keeping bees?
I have never had my own hive, but I had a run in with bees years ago and read a bunch of books on beekeeping, it has to be one of the coolest hobbies on earth.
They are so misunderstood.
One thing I remember is they said to never wear a full bee keepers getup, just to use the head coverings. Because if you wear the whole suit the warning scent gets imbedded in it and they will nail you each time you go out there wearing it.
Are you collecting the pollen too? Bee pollen is a great energy booster.
Good luck, post pics if of your honey hives, Id love to see them.
Sincerely,
Eric
Hi again Christy.
Thanks for diverting me to the depths of this site. Although I started working wth bees at 15 years old ( at school, I am now 42 ) and spending 2 years at agricultural college, with my free period ( thursday afternoons ) in the college bee club. I have not worked with them since, they are very rewarding " critters ". in my experience, but dont dive in, they are very sensitve and have their own needs. Learn from someone who knows, hence me learning from you.
As it happens, the guy I bought my first goats from in my village, is the lead beekeeper here. I too want to go down this route, you are aware that you need a swarm before you can introduce the new queen and colony to a hive? I presume you do. This is probably the most difficult ( to a novice ) procedure, I would leave it to an expireinced bee keeeper. Once the queen and conony are in, mark the queen, a spot of bright enamel paint on her abdomen was the way I was taught. If you can accomplish this then the fun starts.
In a way its like making anything, the more you know, the more help you get, the better you will become, But bees " bite " I take it you are in the states, Africanised bees have an attitude!
I dont claim to be a "master beekeeper " , but I know a man who is, so any questions you have I will gladly put to him.
Regards Q
Wow!! How great to have you here ;D The bee keeper I am working with rescues swarms from peoples houses and other areas where they need to be relocated so my bees are 'wild' bees. He said that these bees are less susceptible to problems. He said each hive has it's own personality and the hives he brought to us are not aggressive at all. So far the bees have settled in well and nobody has been stung yet.
It seems as though you are in good hands, Ive been stung a few times by bees, it was then I learned that I am allergic to bee stings! Comes with the territory I suppose, all worth it
in the end when you do your Pooh Bear bit and dive into home produced honey.
My brothers keep bees and have gone to all "wild" bees. I think all of the original "tame" hives have died out no matter how well cared for. When they get a hive that is more aggressive they will replace the queen with one from a milder tempered hive. It is an elaborate procedure to get her settled in, but it's worked for them.
Honey bees are fascinating. I hope someday to have my own hives.
I'm so jealous! My wife knows that as soon as we move into a real house (when I graduate) we're going to have an apiary! I lived on a farm in Peru for a few months and the farmers I stayed with had a few hives. It's something I miss so much!
I asked my husband what he thought about it and he freaked out! Apparently he doesn't want them, which makes me kind of sad. I think I would need to find a good bee mentor before I tried bees, but beewax candles are divine....
Italian or Italian cross bees are very gentle. I've taken naps a few feet away from many hives while they were going about their business, and have never been stung. If he's allergic it can be a big deal. But bees are so useful. I don't keep them, but my dad does, and we plant things in similar ways using similar soil, but he has so much more come harvest time, and I think it's the bees.
Maybe take him to a hobby bee farm so he can see what it's like? They're really amazing little critters.
Here I go bumping older threads!
I have two hives - I took a one hour class and then ordered bees. Yup, dive right in! Turns out I'm highly sensitive to bee stings (not actually allergic as in a systemic life threatening reactions, but I SWELL like you've never seen). Ah well, it's all fun!
I did comb honey last year and it is so wonderful. Fussy to produce and I only sold it for $5 a section. Just saw it in the store this last week for $15!!!
(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x11/texasmadness/yummy.jpg)
I haven't had any success with the hives this year but I've been too busy with other things and one has swarmed twice :(.
Mmmm....last night I had 'Hooligan' (http://www.catocornerfarm.com/cheese.php) with my deep dark honey drizzled on top. Wow, nothing beats a super stinky cheese with a little liquid gold!
How are the hives doing? When's the honey flow in your area? It's some sticky fun!
We've just completed building our first Warré hive. (a vertical topbar frameless hive)
It's a bit late to buy a package, but who knows, maybe we'll get a late swarm from somewhere.
Groves, I wish I could play around with top bar hives. My hives are within the city limits and they have to be Langstroth type. I was actually going to just doing something else but I have a neighbor (well, a guy who lives a mile down the road) who calls the city anytime he thinks there's a violation. So I've been inspected for the bees, chickens, veggie garden, fence height, grass height, etc. EVERYTHING. Glad I went by the book!
Let us know how the top bar hives go - I've heard good things!
Work closely with your inspector. There should be no trouble at all, legally speaking, working with top bar hives, either horizontal or vertical. Of course, I don't know what country you're living in, so I should note that your location will greatly determine what the laws for beekeeping are.
There are laws around bee keeping?!?!? I should have guessed! :: eye roll::
Quote from: Groves on July 24, 2010, 01:32:38 AM
Work closely with your inspector. There should be no trouble at all, legally speaking, working with top bar hives, either horizontal or vertical.
There is here. No idea why and none of the inspectors who have been out have ever even seen a bee hive before mine. So they just have to go by the book and pictures of Langstroth hives all have 'full frames' around the comb. So no luck.
Hehehe. The first group that came out was two young women who were new to the unit (I'm sure someone sent them on purpose to get trial by fire from the local weirdo - aka me - who knows every city code inside and out). The wanted to make sure the hives were the required 25 feet from my property line. The didn't have a tape measure or anything so they decided to pace it off. They got within 15 feet of the hives, started getting 'noticed' by the bees and decided it was "definitely" at the right distance! :)
Bee inspectors that aren't beekeepers...what's the world coming to. Do they even know what they're looking for in an inspection? Or are these just city code inspectors?
I am so over the health inspector thing. I am really supporting and pushign the Wyoming Food Freedom act, its the first of its kind and hopefully it will set a precedence for other states!