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Author Topic: Very new to bee keeping....HELP  (Read 2185 times)

Offline foodguru

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Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« on: March 25, 2017, 07:02:13 pm »
Hello all, a little about myself, I am 39 and engaged to a spec ed teacher who is a HEALTH NUT, me not so much......So she wanted to start raising our own honey, so I went and got a few boxes thinking after she had to help me build/assemble them that she would say screw it....well she is excited and I am  :angry:  LOL.....so its now time to get bees etc......

 I have a OLD man gonna set me up with bees and a queen etc, but he is getting too old to really teach me the particulars....After getting them settled in the box, do you let nature take its course or do you feed/water them? I have heard sugar water?? I have 54 acres and a 6 acre and a 2 acre pond..I would assume since bees live in the wild, that they would be self sufficient.

Please give me your thoughts.

Offline paus

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2017, 07:23:36 pm »
Your general location would be very helpful for advice that is more accurate in your location.  Locate a bee club and join, then you can usually get very helpful advice and maybe a mentor.  I wish you lots and lots of luck.

Offline Aroc

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2017, 07:26:15 pm »
There is an incredible amount of information you will need to be successful as a beekeeper.

My advice is read as many books as you can.  Watch YouTube videos.  Ask more questions than you can handle on places such as here.  They to join a club if there is one or find a mentor.

In today's bee world it takes more than just let nature take its course.

Getting started is actually the easy part.  Might not get honey your first year.  I would feed them sugar water at a ratio of 1:1 early then 2:1 later in the year....thinner in spring and heavier in fall.  Make sure you have some sort of water source nearby.

Let them do their thing but inspect every week or two.  Learn to handle bees and understand what you are seeing.

The single biggest threat to your bees is the varroa mite.  DO NOT IGNORE THIS THREAT.  Decide what plan you are going to take to deal with them.  There are several ways to manage this threat.  Don't let someone tell you not to worry about them your first year.
You are what you think.

Offline foodguru

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2017, 07:31:00 pm »
Your general location would be very helpful for advice that is more accurate in your location.  Locate a bee club and join, then you can usually get very helpful advice and maybe a mentor.  I wish you lots and lots of luck.

sorry, Pascagoula MS....on the coast

Offline TheBroodLord

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2017, 09:52:11 pm »
Like others have said, there's a wide variety of information you can find on the web or in the library. I'd recommend you watch Beethinking's videos on youtube as well, most of them are short and informative. Browse through them first to get a basic idea about the concepts behind beekeeping.

Offline Hops Brewster

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2017, 10:55:14 pm »
Hello all, a little about myself, I am 39 and engaged to a spec ed teacher who is a HEALTH NUT, me not so much......So she wanted to start raising our own honey, so I went and got a few boxes thinking after she had to help me build/assemble them that she would say screw it....well she is excited and I am  :angry:  LOL.....so its now time to get bees etc......

 I have a OLD man gonna set me up with bees and a queen etc, but he is getting too old to really teach me the particulars....After getting them settled in the box, do you let nature take its course or do you feed/water them? I have heard sugar water?? I have 54 acres and a 6 acre and a 2 acre pond..I would assume since bees live in the wild, that they would be self sufficient.

Please give me your thoughts.
What I read in this; you don't want to keep bees, your fianc? does, and your support is less than enthusiastic.  Perhaps we should be communicating with her.
That said, beekeeping is a hands-on venture.  While wild bees are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, the colonies we keep domestically require a certain amount of care, minimally as required by law, more so out of the respect and, Yes, the affection that we have for them.   There is a measure of physical work involved and also time.  Your opinion of bees and beekeeping might change once you've gotten into a live colony.  I hope so, for the bees' sake.   Meanwhile, your basic questions can be answered  as already suggested.  I would also suggest that you and your fiance do some reading here on this forum and on various websites such as honyebeesuite.com ,  bushfarms.com/bees.htm , and scientificbeekeeping.com
Winter is coming.

I can't say I hate the government, but I am proudly distrustful of them.

Offline FlexMedia.tv

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2017, 11:47:32 pm »
so its now time to get bees etc......

Check out my blog of my first year. I made a ton of mistakes so you don't have to. I'll make more, hopefully not the same ones..

http://Http://beekeeper.flexmedia.tv/
Check out my Blog!:

http://beekeeper.flexmedia.tv/

Retired State Trooper. Part time Beekeeper. If you ever see me run, Run!

Offline heidi.k.cummins

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2017, 12:21:43 am »
I live in Pass Christian, MS. There are several good bee keeping associations down here. I go to the one in Picayune. There is one in Gautier, I will try to find out who runs that one for you.

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Offline heidi.k.cummins

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2017, 12:24:38 am »


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Offline sc-bee

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2017, 03:34:14 am »


 I have a OLD man gonna set me up with bees and a queen etc, but he is getting too old to really teach me the particulars...

Just curious is an OLD man  older than an  old man  :wink:
John 3:16

Offline little john

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2017, 04:50:59 am »
Quote
I am 39 and engaged to a spec'ed teacher who is a HEALTH NUT, me not so much......So she wanted to start raising our own honey,

If wanting a few jars of honey is the ONLY reason for keeping bees - well, that's gonna be a helluva lot of hassle/work for such a relatively small reward.  Better - and cheaper - perhaps to have located a local beekeeper and buy a few jars of honey from him/her.  In fact, that's not a bad idea anyway: to visit a local beekeeper and see first-hand for yourselves a little of what's involved - for there's a lot more to keeping bees successfully than (say) having a handful of chickens scratching around the yard.

Your acreage sounds like a very nice patch in which to be living - but in bee-terms, that's actually quite a small drop in the ocean.  Bees forage for several miles in all directions, and if you run the numbers that becomes several thousand acres - so it's whatever forage exists within that much larger area which will determine the quantity and type of honey you'll be extracting.

Extracting honey.  That brings me to another issue.  Basically, there are two ways of approaching the keeping of bees.  One is to go down the road of being a 'mini-commercial' beekeeper - what I mean by this is keeping bees in a conventional manner - in conventional boxes, and on frames fitted with foundation.  As the term implies, the 'foundation' gives the bees a structure upon which to draw their combs.  To preserve those combs, such beekeepers usually extract honey using machinery which is expensive, and for the hobbyist it's wise to join with others (say, in a beekeeping club or association) to share that expense.

The other approach to beekeeping is commonly known as 'Top-Bar Beekeeping' - which is basically a 'hands-off' philosophy in which the bees are left to draw their combs as they wish.  When harvesting such combs, the honey is extracted by crushing (i.e. destroying the combs) by hand and then straining the resulting honey- which is an ok method if you have but a few hives, but would be impractical if you had dozens.

There IS a middle-ground (using foundationless framed hives), but I won't expand of that here - as there's quite enough confusing stuff to master with the basics.

So - my immediate advice would be to search out and go visit a local beekeeper - and have a chat with him/her - and take it from there.  Good luck.
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Aroc

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2017, 11:26:12 am »
It may sound like folks are trying to discourage you.  Not necessarily the case.  Just what you and your future spouse to know what is involved.

I think there are many people that want to get into beekeeping for the wrong reasons.  Once upon a time beekeeping was a lot less involved and easier to get into.

It is a fascinating hobby and can be very rewarding if you are willing.
You are what you think.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2017, 03:07:55 pm »
Please give me your thoughts.

I started off very much the same LOL.  However my wife set the ground rules so it was easy for me.  There were to be no chemicals put in the hive.  The problem with LJ's advice is that if you go to another beekeeper to buy honey you will have no proof what was put in the hive.
My advice to you is that you could very easily get hooked on bees.  It has happened before.

Let's say you are going to think of this endeavor as a hobby and spend 300 for the initial equipment.  Figure that as money spent ... it's a hobby.  So if you have to buy bees every year that costs around 150 bucks a season.  That is only 15 jars of honey which is about what we eat directly every year.  So the worse thing that could happen is that you have to buy a package each year but it really doesn't cost you anything because you are going to get at least 15 jars a year.
Good luck.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline bwallace23350

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2017, 09:48:41 am »
I would make sure that your fiance and you were willing to do the work required to take care of the bees. You don't have to inspect them a lot but you probably will need to feed them when you first get them. Don't get bees though if you are not ready to take care of them. Many people, myself included almost come to think of them like a pet. I love my bees.

Offline little john

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2017, 10:46:22 am »
There were to be no chemicals put in the hive.  The problem with LJ's advice is that if you go to another beekeeper to buy honey you will have no proof what was put in the hive.

What control does any beekeeper have over chemicals that foragers bring back with nectar, and which will end up in the honey ?
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Captain776

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Re: Very new to bee keeping....HELP
« Reply #15 on: May 01, 2017, 12:57:41 pm »
A simple test BEFORE you buy bees or equipment...........look at all the Topis listed here, read as many as you can, then read on the internet and watch Youtube videos on Beekeeping...........after you get started learning about bees........if you have a burning desire to just keep reading and learning........you have been bitten by The Bee of Interest and you can become a beekeeper but if it doesn't interest you to read more and learn more, then it isn't fir you.
There is a lot to know to keep and manage bees, but once you have good background general knowledge that is half of it or better, then it is just learning the practical techniques of actually physically doing what is needed.

Thanks,

Bruce
Bought my first NUC April 7, 2016.
Like all you when you first started, I am fascinated with beginning Beekeeping and trying to learn all I can.
I retired May 2015 and have added this to my short list of hobbies.

 

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