Any Doper beekkeepers? I'm thinking of starting.

I’m taking classes sponsored by the local beekeeper’s association in March. I don’t plan to make money with it (although that would be nice). I’m just interested in bees and maybe they’ll improve my pastures. It’s expensive going in. I’d planned to start with 5 hives, because I hear the first year you’re likely to lose your hive, and I thought my chances would be better with multiple hives. I might take that down to 2 or 3.

Any advice? Like run as far and fast as you can.

StG

Is there a local bee expert who could mentor you? Bee keeping is all the rage around here & we have a local expert who goes to people’s houses & gives advice on their hives.

I guess I’ll find out at the classes. This is a county-wide association, but I don’t know if there’s anyone nearby.

StG

Second that you really would benefit from a mentor. And the very worse find one you can stay in touch with by e-mail and phone. Of the people I know who tried to go solo, even after classes and a good foundation of research, the success rate was pretty low without that one person you can reach out to and ask.

I think filbert on here keeps bees as part of her college course so you might ask her for advice also…

No. It’s just a logo.

My mother was a beekeeper. Do this. Hives can be a lot of work.

As a business, destined for failure. As a hobby…well, hobbyists don’t consider costs much, do they?

I kept bees for a hobby, 5 hives max, in a suburban environment, long ago. And I went into it with no assistance or knowledge other than some good books and parental discouragement. It was so long ago that I can’t offer good advice except to say I’m glad I did it.

Anecdote: I had a chemistry teacher for 3 years of High School, someone who I saw in class and out, and who sponsored the camera club. Since I spent much after-school time in the science building and darkroom, we knew each other well. But it wasn’t until I went to college and Mom was looking for someone to take over the hives that I found out this teacher was also a beekeeper on the side. I guess the topic never came up.

Quartz - Approximately how many hours per week did the beekeeping take up?

Musicat - Well, I don’t want a hobby that’s like a boat, where you’re throwing money out constantly. I accept that there’ll be a considerable initial outlay, but hope it slows down after the main equipment is purchased.

StG

The main problem you will have is the uncertainty, like many agricultural pursuits. Budget for 20% hive loss per year, then one bad year you lose 50% and your budget is shot to hell. Make it up the next year when you have a bumper honey crop, then you discover a bee disease; one of your hives swarms and you lose half of your producing crew; find the swarm in a nearby tree and you have a new colony, which you have to house…

I’m sorry, I don’t recall; it was so long ago. I do recall that my mother limited herself to 6 or 7 hives and when it came to doing any heavy work like extraction, the cleaning, and the like, my brother and I got roped in. There’s also a lot of heavy lifting in winter when you feed the bees. Sugar syrup weighs a lot.

I’m used to caring for my horses. I planned to put hives near the barn, but not too near. I figure if I can lift bales of have and bags of feed, I should be able to do the work in a hive.

StG

Yup, that sounds about right.

Don’t put the hives too near the horses. You want the bees flying nice and high when they’re near the horses. Higher than rider height, anyway. And could the horses cope with a swarm of bees?

Have you considered hosting a hive rather than owning? That’s an option available in the UK and I’m assuming in the USA too. It’s something I’m considering doing myself…

See if you have a local beekeepers’ club/association who could maybe tell you more about hosting.

At one time I had a bee tree with wild bees in it. They never bothered the horses and the horses didn’t seem to notice them, which seems to be the trick in not getting stung.

RobDog - I’ll see what they say at class next month.

StG

Beekeeping is becoming all the rage in my local area, though they seem to be mostly hobbyists. I will advise you of the same thing I advise them of; if you have neighbors, it’s a good idea to talk to them prior to setting up a hive. I use natural remedies around my yard to keep it as bee-free as possible due to a severe allergy, and this can have an impact on your bees’ traveling area (which in turn has an impact on their survivability, apparently). If you have neighbors that put out more lethal methods of bee-aversion, you can lose a big portion of your hive.

I talked to my nearest neighbor last night. She’s about 1/4 mile away, although closer to the potential hives. She’s not allergic, but says she “hates bees”. Since bees are all around us, and I don’t live on a 1/4 acre suburban lot, I think I’ll be okay. It’s a rural area, pretty much live and let live.

StG

Brother-in-law has done bees for a few years now. It’s a bit like building a castle in a swamp…

First batch of bees introduced died and never established themselves. Next batch seemingly thrived, lived through the winter, then faded and dwindled over the summer and died. Third year of bees struggled for a year, didn’t produce any usable honey, but the following year established themselves and have been going strong for two years.

This is Seattle. The codes are pretty lax. No more than 4 hives, 1 swarm (how do you manage this? Can you keep a spare swarm in the pantry?), and stay 25 feet away from property lines.

Update: The code is apparently 1 swarm per hive. I mistakenly read it as a verb instead of a noun. Swarm could also be an attitude or state of mind I suppose, I don’t write the laws. So I guess a hive must be a single-swarm dwelling, no duplexes or shared housing. Are multi-level honeycombs considered separate? No language on whether having an easement between the hives classifies it as a shared unit or not. Best just to paint all of them a single color and claim that it is all one hive.

I’m a fairy newbie hobbyist beekeeper (not part of my course, just an interest), in the UK, where things are a little different (different diseases, for a start).

The advice everyone gave me was to start with 2 hives; it’s not that much more work than one, but it means you have something to compare each hive to, if that makes sense. You’re a lot more likely to pick up on a weak hive if you also have a stronger one. Plus if gives you options; you can re-queen a failing hive from the other one, or split the colony if you do lose one.

The other reason people say 2 is that standard recommendation for dealing with swarming, which most colonies will do most years, is to have at least one spare hive or at least a nuc box (aka nucleus hive, little basic box for little colonies) per hive at the start of every summer. A complete hive includes a bare minimum of 2 super boxes, as well as a brood box, at least for most hive styles, so starting with 5 means a lot of gear.

That said, I’ve only ever had one hive, for 4 years, and I’ve never had them swarm (they did supersede one year, and I did lose the colony in the 3rd winter, starting again with a caught swarm last summer), which is extremely unlikely according to everyone. The hardest part of beekeeping is getting the little buggers to read the books.