Raising Bee's

[BP in ME]

Good luck with that, hope they thrive

Don't spray needless poisons trying to maintain a golf course lawn and weed free sidewalk cracks. That stuff has a bad effect on bees and the environment in general. Bees need all the help they can get these days. I let clover take over much of my lawn, they love it.

You might also pay attention to what you buy for flowers since they're sometimes dosed with this stuff that beekeepers are worried about. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science...y-killing-bees

[Perchpro]

I helped a friend work his 400 hives last season. Get a good suit! Work the bees in the middle of the day when the drones are out of the hive. Do not work them when it's cold or rainy! They get a little angry if your loud or if you smell of deodorant or cologne. If you want honey production buy more aggressive bees. If you want a fun hive to play with get the ones that are sold to the hobbyists. Some people can work them Without gloves. I can't recommend that!

[Grizzly]

Good luck with you bee's-nis Steve

[cwenbass]

They are dying. I was interested in it until I spoke to several beekeepers in my area. They told me their numbers are reduced almost 30% every year for the last few years.

[Stumblebum]

My grandfather had about 30 hives in the 1950's when I was growing up. That is where my interest in bees started .
Grandma taught me that old honey that solidifies can be heated and it will return to liquid.
I know people that didn't know that until I told them.

[Basscaster]

My advice to you 》》Bee Careful...

[bhjr.]

I like bees. Boobees!

[Charles Prestridge]

My wife got me into it about 8 years ago. It has turned out to be a very interesting hobby. If you can, find a local bee club to join that is a good way to get questions answered a learn how the season (honey flow) goes in your area. You will get a lot of different opinions about what to do and you just have to figure out what works best for you. The biggest thing to remember is honeybees know what they are doing all you really need to do is help them out if they have a problem. You can do things to manipulate them into making more honey or more bees or you can just let them kinda manage those things themselves.

The biggest issues I hear people mention are:

Pest control - dealing with hive beetles and wax months. If you have is strong (lots of bees) they will take care of that themselves. If the hive gets weak (declining bee population) you need to do something or the pests will take over. The varroa mite is another pest that is a problem that will need to be monitored.

Weight of hive boxes - when a hive box is full of honey it is going to be heavy. Boxes come in different sizes so a big box of honey is going to be heavier than a smaller box. I use medium size boxes that can weigh about 50 pounds when full. Sometimes more sometimes less.

Dealing with the honey - After the first year you will need to figure out what you are going to do with the excess honey the bees collect. This is overwhelming to some people. If you know someone with an extractor it makes it a lot easier. I borrowed one from a guy I use to work with for the first 4 years and finally bought my own. Some local bee clubs will have one that they share among club members.

I think it is a good thing to get into if you have the interest. Don't get discouraged if you have setbacks. I think it is better to start with two hives if you can. It gives you something to compare to and it allows you to use the resources (bees, honey, eggs, etc) from one hive to help the other if one starts having problems.

This is very good info.

This year, my wife and I are going to use (2) horizontal long hives.

We worked with my My Father-in-law for many years. He would have 2-4 traditional Langstroth 10-frame hives.
He quit raising bees 2-years ago for main reasons. Pest control (beetles, mites, etc) was never-ending, bees not making thru Winter, and the weight of moving boxes full of honey to manage hives.

To help minimize work, I have built insulated Horizontal Hives to trial.
We will use oil-trays under hive to help with pest-control.

We will pick-up (2) packages of Russian bees, the 1st week of April. Russian bees should over-winter better and be more resistant to mites.

Horizontal hive management should be much easier.

https://horizontalhive.com/ has good information. Many youtube videos.

Splitting hives should be part of your plan. Some hives will not make it, so by splitting hives, the loss of some hives is not a big concern.

[motomania]

Hives in direct sun as much as possible has made a huge difference with hive beetles for us. Virtually non-existent in our hives in the sun. Ones in the shade constantly struggle to hold off the hive beetles. No matter how strong the colony.
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Ventilated suit or jacket. Don’t cheap out here; working hives in the heat of summer suited up can get miserable, fast!
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You'll get stung; it can’t be avoided.
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You’re going to lose bees. It happens. Remember every colony is different. What works to manage one, doesn’t always work for them all. Countless variables.
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It can be fascinating, but frustrating at times too.

[huntertn]

We worked with my My Father-in-law for many years. He would have 2-4 traditional Langstroth 10-frame hives.
He quit raising bees 2-years ago for main reasons. Pest control (beetles, mites, etc) was never-ending, bees not making thru Winter, and the weight of moving boxes full of honey to manage hives.

It is discouraging to loose hives year after year. I know several people who have gotten out of it for that reason. Seems to be more common now than in the past when I talk to the guys who have been doing it since I was a child There are a lot of things that can cause it. Starvation is the easiest to prevent but you have to check on them. I think it is more of a problem in years where is gets warm for a week and then cools off for a few weeks repeatedly like it seems to do more and more in recent years. I think that the mites and diseases that they carry causes a lot of overwintering problems. But I don’t have any evidence to prove it.

I know several people who have done the top bar hive and seem to like them. My hives usually get pretty tall in the summer and are not much fun to pull off a 40 pound box of honey.

[Wild Heethen]

Our friend suggest always starting with two hives, so we are looking at about $1k for hives, bees and basic equipment.
got plenty of room for them and they will be a couple hundred feet from a pond.
no worries about restrictions or neighbors or Bears (i hope )

Steve, I guarantee you that you have black bears in your area. Not saying that they will be a problem. Go talk to some of the deer hunters in the plant and ask them. They are thick all across northern and north central Ar.. In Ozark National Forest where we camp and hunt, they're almost as thick as deer.

[GOTTA BIG SACK]

Love local honey. The honey I’m using now a guy gave me from a hive someone called him to get. They had built a hive between the rafters on a porch. He went and removed the ceiling. Scraped and got all of it out. Said he ran it thru a screen one time just to get the trash out of it. It’s some of the best I’ve ever had.

[suck my wake]

If you’re close to anyone using pesticides you’ll have trouble maintaining your colony.

[cowtrimmer]

my wife has been to several classes on starting bee hives and has decided that we need to get a couple of hives and raise our own ..
We have several competent "Bee Ranchers" here locally that have said they would be glad to help us get started..

Join a local/county beekeepers assoc. There is a wealth of knowledge and support and most of the members will trip over themselves to help you get started. They have the inside scoop on where to buy from and more then likely can get you set up with some good used equipment. I used to have around 25 hives and helped another guy with his, very satisfying hobby.

[omcforever]

Love raising bees and watching them. The honey is good as well..learned early not to over complicate it. Get with someone that is successfully raising them in your area and mentor with them as well.

[omcforever]

 Make sure to have plenty of flowering things around for them, he has a small orchard and also many flowering plants as well as a garden.

Not necessarily true,,,been raising them for years. Bees will find what they need. Doesnt hurt though especially for the plants and garden nearby (I insure they have food supply when installing a new hive/after that, they are on their own LOL)),,,bees have a big range. Amazing how far they will fly for the reward. Honey here is a brilliant gold in the fall. Have a lot of goldenrod around the area.

[WVBullet]

No major downfalls. It takes very little work, unless you’re going to produce a bunch. We had hives in the late 70’s and all through the 80’s. Nothing like having your own honey. I love it!

[omcforever]