Let's talk Honey Bee?

[buckstar25]

I'm in my first year raising honey bees. I know nothing, I am learning every day by talking to different experienced guys. I also read a lot, Google a lot, and use what I pick up when working my hive.

I've always been interested in honey bees and a co-worker was nice enough to "pay it forward" and hook me up with 2 brood boxes, and a swarm that he collected. We transported the hive to my property and set it on a site I had prepared. Since then I have watched my hive explode with new brood and my queen is an egg laying machine. So far my bees are very gentle and I have not had any issues while doing my inspections.

My goal is to keep bees as natural as possible. I will plant native flowers and trees that are known honey bee preferences.

 

[NAC1989]

I keep bees and in my second year now. I started with 1 hive last year that went queenless and died I now have 5 hives this year. I'm still learning and there's plenty to learn!

 

[buckstar25]

Yikes 5 hives!! Is that from doing splits? And did you buy queens?

 

[buckstar25]

I am in the process of working a feral hive that I found. I want to try and get them through winter and hopefully catch them when they swarm next spring.

The entrance is vertical and has no shelter from rain/snow. I made some templates today and am going to try and seal it off so there is some protection for wintering.

 

[buckstar25]

Here is a few pictures of the feral hive.

https://vimeo.com/177479157

 

[NAC1989]

I didn't intend on having 5 hives this year. I put up 4 swarm traps in the spring hoping to catch 1 or 2 swarms, I thought I wasn't going to catch any since it was getting late in the season for swarms so I ended up ordering a package of bees and a nuc hive, and then 2 days after ordering them I caught 2 swarms. And then on July 11th I found this on a sunflower in my garden.

Hive number 5.

 

[NAC1989]

That sounds like a good plan on trying to get a swarm from them for next year. That's how I caught one of my swarms this year, I had found a feral hive about 20ft up a tree and hung a swarm trap in a tree about 25 yards from the hive.

 

[buckstar25]

Very cool!

 

[buckstar25]

That sounds like a good plan on trying to get a swarm from them for next year. That's how I caught one of my swarms this year, I had found a feral hive about 20ft up a tree and hung a swarm trap in a tree about 25 yards from the hive.

I made a cardboard cover to see what it would look like. I'm gonna get the wood cut this week and hopefully get it on next week.

 

[Dannmann801]

Some questions for you guys -
1) How much time per week do you have to spend on this hobby? Is it like having an animal, that you have to tend and do daily or regular scheduled maintenance? Or is it pretty much fire and forget? If you left town for a week with your hives untended would there be any consequences?

2) My house sits on an acre - I've got a garden planted and the wife plants flowers - I was thinking about starting a hive at the far edge of the property. How much money am I looking at to start one box, and is having just one hive actually practical? Or am I gonna end up with more as a natural progression?

Basically I know nothing about bees, I'm interested, and want to know what kind of time and money I'm looking at to get in the game.

 

[NAC1989]

I made a cardboard cover to see what it would look like. I'm gonna get the wood cut this week and hopefully get it on next week.

That looks good. I would think it will definitely help them out against the weather.

 

[NAC1989]

Some questions for you guys -
1) How much time per week do you have to spend on this hobby? Is it like having an animal, that you have to tend and do daily or regular scheduled maintenance? Or is it pretty much fire and forget? If you left town for a week with your hives untended would there be any consequences?

2) My house sits on an acre - I've got a garden planted and the wife plants flowers - I was thinking about starting a hive at the far edge of the property. How much money am I looking at to start one box, and is having just one hive actually practical? Or am I gonna end up with more as a natural progression?

Basically I know nothing about bees, I'm interested, and want to know what kind of time and money I'm looking at to get in the game.

Time wise you'll spend more time the first year you have them. You'll be learning the first year and will probably be working and inspecting the hive every 2-3 weeks to see how there progressing and to see what there doing. Once you know more about them and whats normal you'll be in the hive less frequently. Spring will be the busiest time of the year because the hive will build up quickly and you have to stay on top of them adding boxes to keep them from swarming.

Most people recommend starting with 2 hives so if 1 is struggling you can take from the other to help it out. Money wise your looking at different prices from different suppliers for the wooden ware. I'd recommend taking a look at the Ohio bee box company they seem to have the best prices I've found. If your good at woodworking and have the tools and time you can build pretty much everything you need for a lot less. The bees will cost usually $100-130 for a package or you can build swarm traps and set them out in the spring and try to catch them for free.

I'd also recommend doing a lot of reading over the winter to understand the basics. Our library here had quite a few books on beekeeping so I'd recommend checking yours out and also there is a lot of info on the web. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on how to do things so be prepared for that.

 

[buckstar25]

Dan, it is gonna be what you make it. Yes mainatanace is a big part of it. I am in my first year and am enjoying it so far. I actually have to stop myself from checking the hive. Once it is established and the bees are doing what they are supposed to do, your inspection intervals get longer. If you leave for a week or 3 in the spring you could come back to an empty box.

I suggest finding a few beek's at your local bee club. Ask them to go on an inspection with them. Talk to as many people as you can, read as much as you can, watch as much as you can, and prepare through the winter to start your hive in the spring.

A lot of different ways to save money. But from what I understand you could have close to 700.00 starting out. That includes all the protective gear, boxes, foundation, frames, etc.

Bees will use a 4 mile radius from the hive. Once the orientation flights are done, fanning has taken place, the bees know where their house is. The problem may be with neighbors who aren't understanding to keeping 40,000 bees beside them.

I am not in any position to give technical advice, I am learning every day and have so many questions but I've never seen a group of people so willing (,and genuinely interested in helping) to help. It really is enjoyable.

One thing I have heard over and over again is to be prepared to fail, you will lose a hive. Go into it knowing that no matter what you do there is always that chance of losing the bees, either by swarm, or by disease.

Also, you have to register your hive with the state. If you have multiple bee yards you have to register each yard.

 

[NAC1989]

Dan, it is gonna be what you make it. Yes mainatanace is a big part of it. I am in my first year and am enjoying it so far. I actually have to stop myself from checking the hive. Once it is established and the bees are doing what they are supposed to do, your inspection intervals get longer. If you leave for a week or 3 in the spring you could come back to an empty box.

I suggest finding a few beek's at your local bee club. Ask them to go on an inspection with them. Talk to as many people as you can, read as much as you can, watch as much as you can, and prepare through the winter to start your hive in the spring.

A lot of different ways to save money. But from what I understand you could have close to 700.00 starting out. That includes all the protective gear, boxes, foundation, frames, etc.

Bees will use a 4 mile radius from the hive. Once the orientation flights are done, fanning has taken place, the bees know where their house is. The problem may be with neighbors who aren't understanding to keeping 40,000 bees beside them.

I am not in any position to give technical advice, I am learning every day and have so many questions but I've never seen a group of people so willing (,and genuinely interested in helping) to help. It really is enjoyable.

One thing I have heard over and over again is to be prepared to fail, you will lose a hive. Go into it knowing that no matter what you do there is always that chance of losing the bees, either by swarm, or by disease.

Also, you have to register your hive with the state. If you have multiple bee yards you have to register each yard.

^That
Buckstar said it far better than I could.

 

[buckstar25]

This is my set-up. I had the site already, I need to do some trimming to allow more sunlight. This is right after I added a medium honey super.

Brood frame

Frame with larvae

Honey frame (it's amazing how much these weigh)

 

[buckstar25]

Eventually I want to make a stand that is higher off the ground with a frame holder. I have heard the higher off the ground the less mite problems the hive will have.

 

[buckstar25]

Condition yourself to stings, I got it on the tip of the nose. I gotta tell ya, it was almost unbearable. I couldn't find the venom sack due to eyes watering and trying to back away from the hive. My first official panic moment. So hard not to run! Calmed down and quickly and gently closed the hive back up. Lol!

 

[buckstar25]

Had to make some adjustments and used some scrap to fill in the opening. I couldn't believe how many workers there were. Only got hit once on the calf, I'll be back tomorrow to seal of any holes I missed. Took the video before I modified the face board. I did notice some workers dumping the pollen they were carrying, not sure if it was from the hive being disturbed or what.

https://youtu.be/hkwcnZr18lw

 

[NAC1989]

That turned out good! I would bet that ups there chance of surviving the winter quite a bit.

 

[buckstar25]

Thanks, I'm wandering if I need to make that entrance longer. Airflow may be an issue?? I removed the piece of vine seen in the video and put hardware cloth on, and then a piece of wood to close the gap.