beekeeping

[N80]

I've thought about this as well. How time intensive is it? I'm just wondering how often they have to be tended. My property is about an hour from home. I'm down there several weekends a month. Would that be sufficient?

 

[dmccarty]

WTA,

Check you local Extension Office, Ag Univerisity and Commnunity College. One of these groups had a Begineers Bee Keeping class this summer. I think I saw the notice after the "class" otherwise I might have gone. I think they where givng away starter hives.

At a minimum they should be able to point you to the right people.

Later,
Dan

 

[srjones]

Was that 25 trees or or 25 acres of trees?

Also, some random thoughts on the subject.

Don't worry about the wind. Bees know how to get back home.

Another option to consider is Orchard Mason Bees. They may or may not work for pecans, I'm not sure. But they're easier and cheaper to deal with. I know that the almond polination in California is a big deal and it's done with honeybees.

Also consider 'renting' bees for a season during flowering and see if it makes a difference in your results.

I've been beekeeping since 1998.

 

[WTA]

We only have 25 pecan trees left after the cotton farmer across the highway defoliated us. We still have a few fruit trees and a walnut too.
I don't want to rent bees. I want some to keep for honey and pollenating.
I thought about that but it seems like a hassle.

 

[randy41]

bees don't need a lot of attention. if you buy packages they will need to be fed for a while so at the beginning they need more attention than later on. if you can find nucs they are better established colonies and require less attention. Nucs are half sized hives that some beekeepers sell. a package is usually 3 lbs, or between 10,000 and 12,000 bees. a nuc can be twice that many. Packages as well as nucs come with a mated queen.
expect that if you buy all you need to spend about $500 at the beginning.

 

[JeremyL]

I am in the process of jumping on the beekeeping bandwagon having just acquired my first (empty) hive. I am looking at New World Carniolan bees. Local beekeepers are ready, willing and enthusiastic about mentoring newbies, just put yourself out there. Good luck to us.

 

[ToadHill]

When I started keeping bees about 15 years ago you could order a package of bees for about $35. Now they are close to $100.

 

[heehaw]

in the central parts of Arkansas: $100-125 for a complete hive of bees: some are with all new equipment, others sell established hives for that price. there are some bargains out there on equipment: lots of folks are giving up trying to keep bees. i keep them just for pollination: i have 4 hives, an just as soon not mess with honey.
heehaw

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid, my family used a lot of honey. In fact, I can remember my dad buying honey in a 5 gallon can that he and mother poured up into one quart fruit jars to store in the cellar. Of course a lot of it would turn to sugar, but setting the open jar into a pan of hot water would turn it back.

And then when I was about 11 or 12 years old, Dad & I were squirrel hunting on a neighbor's property (with his permission, of course) and we found a bee tree. We went and told the neighbor, who said he had no use for them; that if we wanted them to go ahead and get them. I sure didn't want them, but Dad did. So he went and bought a hive and borrowed a smoker, and I had to help him cut down the tree, split it, find the queen and move her and some honey comb into the hive. I had some vague hopes of not getting stung, so I put on a long sleeved shirt with rubber bands around the cuffs, found an old lace curtain Mother had discarded, put it on over my straw hat, turned the collar up on the shirt, and tied a string around my neck to keep that curtain down on top of the shirt collar. I don't think that tree had hardly hit the ground before there were 2 bees under that old curtain with me, so I discarded it and learned to work bees just as Dad did; with no protection at all. But he liked the job and I never did. Anyway, Dad was so pleased with that hive, that he went and bought 6 more hives with bees already in them.

And I decided many years ago that I'd never eat anymore honey if I had to be the one to take it away from a bee.

And then I worked in the Post Office in Dallas from March, 1959, to March, 1964. At that time, bee colonies were still shipped via parcel post. We'd get square cardboard boxes full of bees and the boxes would have a diamond shaped hole in two sides with screen over those holes. I once told my supervisor that he could punch me out on the time clock if one of those boxes got broken open because I'd already be gone home.

 

[heehaw]

just look at the memory you and your dad made!! i've kept bees since about 79 or 80: have been trying to get more people interested in it for years, but with the cost and the hassle it is nowdays, the number of beekeepers are dwindling: i have 4 extractors i loan or rent to people: just to try to keep people in the hobby. Honey is the only known food that will not spoil: it has all sorts of healing qualities too: but its to much trouble trying to get it out of the comb: this year was the first time in many years, i "had" to take a couple quarts off my bees, just so i could put new comb in an give them some room: adding another super would have been to much room and then i would have to take them off for the winter and store-em.
heehaw