?? ﾁbout bees

   / ?? ﾁbout bees #1  
A

AlbertC

Silver Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
156
Location
Perry, GA
Tractor
New holland 3930
Am thinking about learning about and possibly getting into beekeeping. Does anybody here have knowledge of beekeeping?

How much time does beekeeping take? Do you have to do anything daily, weekly, etc?
Do you have to worry about varmints, racoons, skunks, foxes, destroying the hive.
Do you enjoy keeping bees?

Thanks
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #2  
The best/largest forum on the Internet for Bee Keeping information is Bee Source.
Beesource.com - Beekeeping resources for beekeepers since 1997!
See if your local area has a County sponsored Bee Club. Mine in Texas has about 110 full time members and we help each other out a lot..
Get free catalogs from Dadant,Brushy Mountain and Mann Lake to read up on supplies.
I have 4 hives and check them 5-6 times a year and really enjoy the hobby.
Generally get 12-15 gallons of honey a year. Can be a lot of work depending on how you set things up. Just like gardening for food you can go small to mega large.
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #4  
The answer to many of your questions is "Yes", but not all of them. There is too much to explain here. I have a page on my website, setup to introduce newbees to the art. There is a PowerPoint there you can also download.

Beekeeping
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #5  
We let a guy put his hives on our property, that might be an option for you to get started depending on your goal. If you just want the honey, he gives us all we want because he just does this for a hobby and doesn't need the money. You can pick the guys brain and learn how to do things before you make any investment to see if you like it.
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #6  
I run a warre hive. I can say that beesource and biobees are the two places that have answered any/all of my questions.
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #7  
AlbertC said:
Am thinking about learning about and possibly getting into beekeeping. Does anybody here have knowledge of beekeeping?

How much time does beekeeping take? Do you have to do anything daily, weekly, etc?
Do you have to worry about varmints, racoons, skunks, foxes, destroying the hive.
Do you enjoy keeping bees?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The questions you are asking are area specific. if your not willing to tell us what corner of the globe you reside in, I for one have no interest in assisting you.
Hope this helps
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #9  
I'd make a guess that AlbertC is from Alberta, Canada and base any responses on that assumption.
 
   / ?? ﾁbout bees #10  
Beekeeping depends on what kind of keeper you will bee. There are hands on and "bee"havers which run systems that do not disturb the bees. I open my hive up twice a year, once in the spring (in a couple of weeks) to add boxes under the main hive (nadir) and then after the first frost I will put in an excluder and pull two boxes of honey off the hive. Not every hive is run like a warre though.
My biggest pain is bear. I had one rip though fencing, crush three hives on me and rip out the other side of my fence. (The electric was shorted by blackberries). I then finished by fieldstone garden shed, added a second floor and put my hive in there. I was lucky that a swam decided to enter the hive since I told my wife I was not going to buy anymore bees. (I used lemongrass oil as a lure). I have bees again, I just want one hive atm to give us honey. I like bees but I only mess with mine twice a year, so as far as "pets" "livestock" they take no/little work.
 
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