So, somehow I have gotten the itch to start beekeeping. Skip to the line of asterisks if you don't want to read.

Where I am at:

• I have read "Homegrown Honey Bees An Absolute Beginner's Guide Beekeeping Your First Year, from Hiving to Honey Harvest" by Alethea Morrison
  
• I am about 1/4th of the way through "First Lessons in Beekeeping" by C.P. Dadant
  
• Tomorrow the "Beekeeper's Handbook 4th Edition" by Diana Sammataro should be in the mailbox
  
• Saturday I am attending an 8 hour beginner's class that includes time at hives
  
• My jacket/veil arrived today
  
• Gloves should be here before Saturday

I am excited and nervous about Saturday. It's one thing to watch videos, but actually being at a hive for the first time brings some apprehension. Some of my desire is to take a fear and conquer it. I am not talking about a paralyzing fear, but there is some fear there. Blame all of the TV and movies that showed killer bees.

I want to do this to get past that apprehension and to be able to show my wife and boys that bees get a bum wrap. I also want to help the bees, I understand how important they are. Any honey would simply be bonus.

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My request would be that for those who have or are keeping bees, would you please take a moment to share something you wished you knew early on but didn't? Would you share any stories good or bad about the process? We're your hives in your yard or far away? Are there any must have items that aren't mentioned in beginner information? If you got out of doing it, what caused that? Where in the country (on the planet) did/do you keep bees?

Thanks. I know there is a ton to learn. I have also gathered that there are many different approaches and that some topics are polarizing. I am excited, hope I can bring something good to the craft and want to show others in the future.

edited errors

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ffips,

I can't help you but 45cal and Gustofer are member bee keepers and should respond. Good luck with your endeavor.

Jim

I applaud your efforts and wish you luck. Maybe, in my near future, I may follow in these steps.

And thanks for keeping a hive alive.

Great hobby

I am not into Bees but my son and his wife have been for the last couple of years

When my son showed me the hives he was just wearing normal clothes and he said show no fear and they won't bother you.
We didn't get stung
His wife showed up and she was not wearing her bee keeping suit and you could tell she was a little afraid, sure enough some of the bees came after her

My son laughed a little and said, see they sensed her fear.

He went back to explaining about the hives as she took off to get her protective clothing on.

Tagged. I want to know this stuff too.

quote:

Originally posted by RC:
Great hobby

I am not into Bees but my son and his wife have been for the last couple of years

When my son showed me the hives he was just wearing normal clothes and he said show no fear and they won't bother you.
We didn't get stung
His wife showed up and she was not wearing her bee keeping suit and you could tell she was a little afraid, sure enough some of the bees came after her

My son laughed a little and said, see they sensed her fear.

He went back to explaining about the hives as she took off to get her protective clothing on.

Not wearing a suit, but I bet that they were using smoke.

No matter how cute it looks, do not lick the bee's belly...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
No matter how cute it looks, do not lick the bee's belly...

Or its knees.

Especially, its knees.

I ain't no bee licker. Least I don't think I'm a bee licker, least not yet anyways.

Part three is my favorite, but part four gives a good comparison of suit vs no suit, or how protective a suit can bee.

quote:

Originally posted by ffips:
So, somehow I have gotten the itch to start beekeeping. Skip to the lone of asterisks if you don't want to read.

Where I am at: [LIST]

I have read "Homegrown Honey Bees An Absolute Beginner's Guide Beekeeping Your First Year, from Hiving to Honey Harvest" by Alethea Morrison

Thank you for this thread to remind me I need my eyes checked. I read the title as Bookkeeping 101. I got to your first bullet point and still wondered what do honey bees have to do with bookkeeping??

Well, I've been at it for several years now and still feel somewhat like a beginner. As some family members and a good buddy who have all been at it for decades tell me though, even they are still learning.

It is a fascinating, frustrating, and rewarding hobby/business.

A couple your points that I can address. I, too, read through the Dadant book before my first package arrived. It has some good information to get you started, but as I recall, not much more. The Sammataro book, though, is an excellent resource.

Taking the class is something that I wish that I'd done, and would still like to at some point.

Regarding protective gear, don't go cheap is my advice. Get some good stuff and wear it every time until such a point that you are comfortable enough around them to not wear it. I'm not there yet and there are a couple of reasons for that. I have one hive that is so docile that I have done some work around them without it, felt perfectly comfortable, and didn't have an issue. I have another that is the complete opposite. If I so much as crack open the top, I immediately get 100 or so bees attacking my head. It's a little unnerving. The problem isn't so much the bees, it's the queen. She gives the hive their/her personality. This one hive is so angry that I've entertained replacing that queen this year. Bottom line? Don't take them for granted. They can ruin your day.

Also, get a good smoker and use it.

I keep my hives about 100 yards away from the house. I initially placed them there somewhat out of the fear of having 60-70,000 bees right around my house. Turns out that that's really not an issue for me and they are not really problematic at all...except that they can be when you start messing with the hives. Away from the hives? Not so much. Where ever you position them, make sure they get good sunlight on the entrance. Bees get their directions from the sun.

Also, make sure you treat them for mites and nosema. Several different means of doing both, but I would do both.

And, the best advice that I can give you is to get in touch with other local beekeepers who've been at it a while. They are a wealth of information and most are more than happy to help.

Good luck, and enjoy! I'm really happy that I got into it and you likely will be too.

This guy has a really good series on beekeeping. This is part one of it and the rest can be found on Youtube. It's an older series, so some of it might seem kind of corny, but there's lots of good info in here.



Feel free to email me with any other questions. If I can help at all, or share what little wisdom that I've attained, I'm happy to.

Good paying hobby.
For me it ended when the clayton county sprayed fall before last for mosquitoes every week the whole summer .
Wiped out 17 hives in my back yard and four of mine in a friends yard a mile away.
Thanks for the flick Detroit,good times.
Sad for me as I have worked bees from 1955 of and on.
To the O P,learn as I did with a hive tool and a smoker,that other junk is just that,get your mind in a calm place and work your bees with out that protective crap.

Picking up my first batch of bees this Sunday. I hope I don't screw up too much and they go off to look for a competent keeper. I'll bee watching this thread for sure.

The beeper's around here make sure that their hives are NOT visible from the road, and if possible, not visible from surrounding properties.

between that and keeping them from surrounding farm field , where pesticides will be used ,
it's kind of a tough go .

25 hives were stolen from 6 people in the county ,
all were visible from the road.
5 were recovered , they think the other's went to other states

Yes, thievery is an issue nowadays, sadly. Although I don't know what kind of moron would try to steal a friggin' BEEHIVE! Either really desperate or really dumb.

I put a motion camera on my "bee yard" last year after a bear got through the electric fencing and fooked up one of my hives. It's pretty visible, so hopefully that will deter any potential thieves.

The hardest part is naming them all. . .

My grandfather kept bees. It sounds like an interesting hobby.

If you have bears get an electric fence around the hives.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
If you have bears get an electric fence around the hives.

And place pieces of bacon on the wire. Bears' fur insulates them enough that they won't get zapped. But if there is bacon on the wire they'll sniff it and get zapped on the face and they won't know enough that it won't hurt the rest of them.