Thx for the input, you discount your syrup to get rid of it I have the opposite problem I don't have enough to sell to ppl I had to tell ppl I was sold out this season. But Alot of ppl in my area love supporting local. But I would really like to try to get into it! There is a wild honey bee hive in a small shed on our property any way to transfer it to another hive?
Yes! Can't beat free bees. Especially wintered over wild bees. I'm a novice with only a couple years under my belt but... You have a few months to get supplies and study up before attempting the removal/relocation. Find the queen and don't hurt or loose her! It's easier to YouTube the process!. Lol." don the fat bee man" is good. Long winded but good info. There are other people with a Bunch of other videos. You will need a Smoker, at least a Vail(I use a bailed jacket), box's and frames. You will want to think about an extractor or finding a local club to partner with to learn and borrow equipment such as an extractor. You probably won't need one until fall or next year. You can buy used on Craigslist, I'd be Leary of used box's and frames due to disease/bad bugs. You can buy box's and burn them out if you get a good deal on them. Then just buy frames. Read a bunch and decide if you want to invest. We were profitable our first fall with two hives.
I was looking into top bar hives I can build one myself or if I get a longstroth there is a local honey and bee keeper supply about 30 mins from me where I could pick up the equipment! I'll have to YouTube catching the hive. I haven't heard any activity yet but it's still pretty chilly for them. I hope they survived the winter.
I have had top bar hives for 10 plus years. Many people like them for a variety of reasons. For several years we also had Langstroth hives in partnership with another guy. When he moved he took all the Langstroth stuff and we keep the top bar equipment. For some reason we never have had a good harvest with either. Our former partner has now sold all of his Langstroth hives and has gone back to only top bar hives. This last year his top bar hives out produced the Langstroth hives. We have decided to sell ours. We still have two colonies going, plus one empty hive box. We have tried to follow the "The Barefoot Beekeeper" in his management style for the last several years. All but two of our colonies have come from either swarms or trap outs. I have always argued the advantages of top bar hives and have seen other people have good results, but honestly I wouldn't say that we've been successful with them. For what it is worth.
Anybody try "swarm commander" lure? Pricey for two ounces! Thinking of trying to catch a swarm (or two) this year.
I got my bees last week, and opened a hive (to check the queen) for the first time on Tuesday. I found myself much more scared when I heard the bees' response than I though I would. But it went fine.
Funny seeing my previous response. I now have 21 hives, sell hives and honey, and teach beekeeping in the local beekeeping association. Times change!
My wife hinted (not so subtly) that she wanted a beehive for Mother’s Day. She’s been talking about keeping bees for awhile now. Would Mother’s Day be too late to get started?
Has she been learning about beekeeping? I spent 4 years picking the brains of friends who were beekeepers before I got my first hives. Around here, people are now scheduling their deliveries of packages and nucs for April and May delivery. I would think that NC you could get started earlier. Want to give the bees plenty of time to get established before next winter... best person to ask is your local bee supplier.. Is this near you? Package Honey Bees, Beekeeping Equipment, Honeybee Queens - farm &...
She’s been casually reading up. We talked some more about it this evening and it seems to me she’s still on the fence. 40% chance we try bees this year.
When I started, I was advised to get two hives. That allowed me to compare them. Turned out to be good advice as I lost the queen in one but was able to give that hive a frame of eggs and larvae from the other hive so they could make a new queen. Lost one hive in Oct probably due to Varroa mites. Just checked the surviving one yesterday and they are doing well. Hope to split it in the spring so I again have two.
Well. 70ish degrees today and tons of activity with bees coming and going. I’m guessing for most of them it was their first flight to scout out their surroundings. Winter’s not over yet, but I think my one hive will survive. Gonna take the foam and coroplast off after the next cold snap. Planning to split this hive and then maybe split whichever one ends up with the queen again... hope to have 3 hives going into next winter and this spring should be our first to extract honey. Hope it works out..
I haven't been to my hives since before Christmas, long story. The ones that survived are flying (the weather is often in the 50-60s), and I am chomping at the bit to check them in a couple of weeks. I have this fear that they are all going to starve before I get there to feed them!
Did they have a good supply of honey for the winter? I use medium boxes and had 3 mediums that were fairly full going into the winter. As this was my first winter, I had the same concern about them running out of food.
Yeah, all of them (except the nucs) were either double-deeps or deep + 2 mediums, and fed like crazy in the fall. This has worked for me in the past, except I usually put dry sugar on top as well, and this year I didn't. And usually they are not yet flying in March, but this year is warmer.
I put 4lbs of dry sugar on top of mine back in December. When I was in a few weeks ago, they had barely touched it.. perhaps they will eat it up before I switch to the summer configuration and make a split.. I basically followed this guy’s advice for the winter.
