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Slow day at work which tends to leave my mind wander. Who keeps bees or used to keep them? Is it a difficult hobby? Etc etc..

Used to, not in 25 years though. It can be a challenge.

I do. I have two hives now, and am expanding to five next week.

Difficult? Not especially, IRT physical exertion, except during the honey harvest. The learning curve is pretty steep at first, but not insurmountable, and once learned, can become habitual. Everything has its time and a rough checklist can be established to cover necessary tasks.

The bees themselves can be the most frustrating thing about the endeavor, as they are subject to numerous pests, diseases and inexplicable behaviors, and trying to figure out what is going on in your hives can be frustrating.

It can also get to be an expensive hobby, especially with all of the medications one must purchase for the aforementioned pests and diseases, and the equipment needed. I would say that one hive and the basic equipment can cost you close to $500, including bees. Once you have the basic equipment, every other hive you add will run around $225 depending upon how fancy the hive box itself is; less if you can make your own. Once you start to take surplus honey, the extraction equipment is expensive, but less so if you can borrow, share or rent it. If you want to do this as a business, it may take quite a few seasons to recoup your expenditures.

Overall, I enjoy it. But I have a steady paying night job to support the hobby, and no children. If I were on a strict budget, or had other obligations, it could become very expensive, very fast.

Somthing on your mind, honey? Might be a pun there.

Beekeeping is a very calming hobby. It has to be because bees are intolerant of impatient behavior. I used to keep several hives when we lived in the country and have know people who kept them in town. As long as they have something to do, stay busy as bees, the are fine. It's only when they don't have a flow or it gets hot and they are just hanging around the hive fanning their wings that they get irritable. I will PM you a website (forum) that I read a bit on but I don't post much since I don't have any bees right now.

Alan

We've had hives in the past, but my wife has developed a sensitivity to bee venom. We have not had hives in 2 years.

The work involved is mostly in getting hives set up and the colony established. Once there are flowers out, bees are pretty much self sufficient.

There is a fair amount of work involved with the harvest. Most people here only keep the bees through the flowering season, then kill them and harvest the honey.

Even though we are still getting snow, it's getting late to start up. Packages of bees have been ordered and are on the way if they have not already arrived.

There are quite a few people in Anc and the valley that have bees.

If you decide to have hives, please keep a few epi-pens handy.

Benadryl works for me. If I get stung I swell up pretty good. I take one of two depending on how many times I was stung and then I'm fine except that then I go to sleep. Used to, the stings never bothered me. Then one day (about 1985 or so) I got into a bad hive and got stung up. After that, it seems, I was allergic. Now I wear a veil, long sleeves and gloves if I do anything with bees. My activities with them for the past 20 years has been to kill them. Most all of the feral bees around here are Africanized and they are a little testy!

Alan

I've had two hives going for exactly one week now. The best move I've made so far was joining a local beekeepers association. The members are eager to help new comers to the hobby, and many associations hold classes and workshops for novice beeks. I bought my bees from a local beekeeper, and I got my hive bodies from another local beekeeper who runs a woodworking shop.

I have bees. They are great. Highly recommended for anybody that just likes animals. That are more fun to watch than anything else. The honey is a bonus.

The comment about an epipen is not a bad one. I almost lost my flatcoated to bee stings. She got mobbed by a goodly number and it hit her hard. I as lucky to figure out what had happened pretty quickly. Never had a problem after that, just steered Codi away from the hive a little. I think she was harassing them initially.

Carnolians are what I am running now. Buckfasts are great too. Italians are the gentlest but don't overwinter so well. And Russians, you can keep'em...

I have got all kinds of respect for folks that raise bees as a business. It can be brutally hard work for not much money. But as a hobbyist, they cannot be beat!

Brent

My Mother raised bees as a necessary ancillary part of her 40 acre hobby heritage orchard. We had 8 supers in heavy chain-link enclosures to keep them safe from bears, skunks, and raccoons. She used to collect the honey to give as gifts and with which to make honey wine. I always liked the hives and can remember laying in the grass on warm spring days watching the bees come and go from the supers. My Mother believed that bee stings were a holistic treatment for arthritis.

Jeff

Yes Sir :-)

I should have one now for my deadly Iodine/Betadine/shrimp/seafood in general allergy.


Where did you order yours from? I know a couple of people in the valley that keep bees ( dog mushers of course ;-) ) I could probably pick their brains at some point.

There is a loosely formed coop here. They put together bee orders as a group. The last couple of orders were through Steve Victors, who I believe is in Anc, but may be in the valley. He puts together orders combining KP and other southcentral beekeepers.

I don't know if bees are undergoing some sort of evolution of their venom, but I know some people, and have heard of others, who have had an increase in their response to bee stings that they had not had previously.

A friend of ours here, grew up with hives that her grandfather raised commercially. She has been keeping bees here for 8-10 years. Last fall she had a massive anaphylactic response to some bee stings. If another friend with her did not have TWO epi-pens, that allowed her to keep breathing until EMS arrived, this would be a very sad story.

She has since been to an allergist in Anch who is surprised she is alive! She is now undergoing immunotherapy (allergy shots) to reduce her sensitivity and will have to take them for the rest of her life.

Thank you for the information, it's much appreciated. If I progress enough to the bees themselves I will be sure to keep an epi pen available.

I have two hives that I started last year. Like someone else mentioned, it's a very calming hobby. Bees are fascinating when you start learning about their behavior.

Check out this forum: http://www.beesource.com/forums/index.php

It's the 24 Hr Campfire of bees. Keep in mind that asking a group of beekeepers a hive management question is like asking "what's the best caliber?" on this site. Ten people will give you twenty answers. Heated debates will ensue...

My recommendation is finding a source for "survivor stock" bees. Also, a very controversial topic. I've had good luck with them though and don't use chemicals to treat my hives for pests. The amount of work involved with two hives is minimal and enjoyable. Good luck!

mike762 has it down about right. He likely also has the same sourwood trees that we have up at the farm in Asheville that produces a good quality honey. We've had bees as far back as I can remember. We now sub out a small piece of the land to a local beekeeper who keeps us into a steady supply of sourwood honey.

Here's a few pics I took last week after I picked up my bees. My wife asked the beekeeper that sold us the splits how many bees were in each split. She was surprised at the answer -- 15,000 bees per split.


Here I am getting suited up.



A pic of the girls at work. They are working on drawing out comb on the new frames (like the two on the left). The darker, older frames in the shot are part of the frames (5/hive) that came with the splits.



And here is a shot of the hives themselves.

Wimp!



Bee owners wear gloves, Beekeepers work without gloves.

Extracting day.



[img]http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww211/compassrosefarms/DSC_6071.jpg[/img]

I've always wanted to keep bees. Even read a couple of books and went to a local meeting, just haven't taken the plunge yet. Maybe someday...

WIMP!

Better have a big bore rifle for the hives here!

Here is the result of an overnight raid:




Calling card - just to make sure you know who done it!