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Hello from Ohio!

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MJHellmann:
Soon to be new beekeeper here.  I have most of the equipment I need and a good mentor (that mentioned this forum), so I think I'm ahead of the curve.  Bees arrive in just under a month.  The kiddos and grandmas have painted the hives, neighbors are aware and at least haven't protested.  I just found out I need to elevate my hives to avoid skunks/possums, so that's next on the list.  I found the beginner beekeeping book I got 2 years ago (when I first tried to talk my family into letting me get hives.)  I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes, but I'm very excited to get started!!

It seems there are a lot of different opinions and ways to go about everything in the hobby.  I'm a little nervous about getting lost between all of the conflicting strong opinions.  My main goal is to have fun, teach my kids about raising animals and try to get them to have fun with it (one is excited, one is nervous), and get to try out some home raised honey and beeswax.

I went to work on a hive for the first time with my mentor recently.  I was most taken aback by how sticky everything is and how calm the bees were.  I hear they're particularly calm as spring starts kicking in.

Any areas of the forum I should check out?  Any websites or youtube channels you find particularly educational for beginners or particularly entertaining?  Looking forward to the forum!

Ben Framed:
Welcome MJHellmann! We are glad to have you join us! I did exactly the same thing. I joined beemaster before I obtained my first bee 🐝. And like your circumstances, Beemaster was recommended to me as well.

As you say, there are a lot of different opinions and ways to go about everything in the hobby. what one person may prefer as a means in obtaining a goal, another may have a different way of obtaining that same goal. As you progress, you might wish to try different methods just to see for yourself, what method may work better for you in your location. One thing you will find here at Beemaster, even with different methods, we have good intentioned members here who are eager to help!

You are very fortunate to have a hands on mentor. I did not have this luxury when I started, so I adopted the members here at beemaster as my mentors! This was a good decision!

Also, you will find most valuable information here in the Beemaster Archives! If your questions are not answered to your satisfaction, simply use that search tool and help yourself to a vault of almost limitless, locked in real time, discussion packed with valuable information!
Thanks for climbing aboard the Beemaster Bee site, and never hesitate to ask any questions you may have! We love to help!

Sincerely,
Phillip

Terri Yaki:
Welcome from PA, MJH. I was born in the Buckeye and moved to SE PA before I knew it. In my OTR trucking days, I drove all over that state and really enjoyed the many small hometowns that you have there. Well...they were there forty years ago anyway. I am in the same boat as you, anticipating my first colony which will arrive when my seller reports that they are ready. I enrolled in and have begun an intro class for beekeepers at a local club. My course included a hands on mentor so I'm confident I can win this. If you have a local club, you might benefit from joining one, most beekeepers seem to enjoy helping others keep theirs alive and well.

The15thMember:
Again, welcome!  :happy:  The conflicting opinions can be overwhelming at times for a beginner.  The best advice I got for navigating that was to learn about bees, not just about beekeeping.  When you understand about bees' biology and social life and how they communicate and operate, it makes all your questions and finding the answer that works for YOU a lot easier to figure out.  The person who gave me that advice was Rusty Burlew, and she has a phenomenal website for all things all bees (not just honey bees).  https://www.honeybeesuite.com/

Just to reiterate, please feel free to ask any and all questions you may have, even if someone has asked them before, and even if you think they sound dumb.  We love to talk bees, and the only dumb question is one that remains unasked.

animal:
Hi and welcome !

My suggestions are ...
1. ignore my posts about bees because I'm just learning. (unless it's to see how the pros answer stupid questions)
2. Ask stupid questions to you're hearts content ... The pros will answer them politely and tell you they weren't stupid.
3. look at the bottom of any Michael Bush post and click the link to his website .. lots of info up you can read for free there. I plan to buy his book one day (Beekeeping Naturally), but I'm the type of guy that puts together a swing set for the kids and reads the instructions after, so I figure I'm not ready to read it yet.

The people here are my only bee mentors and my single hive has survived against ALL odds(poisoned twice, hive beetles, and my ineptitude), so you should feel confident with this site and having someone there in the flesh !
It looks like you may hate "sticky". I certainly hope so. That's the absolute worst part of bees to me. Somehow, any time I touch the hive, I need to take a shower because invisible traces of sticky seems to get all over me. Haven't seen anyone else complain about sticky, so that's  something I still don't understand. Sticky is way worse than a sting, imo.

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