Beekeepers

KrisB

Ten Pointer
I took a beekeeping class this past fall and winter, but haven't gotten any bees yet. Still debating with myself about it. Do you have bees?
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
 

Jammer

Six Pointer
There is a very steep learning curve. I started 4-5 years ago. I got up to 20 hives a couple years ago but I'm sitting at 11 right now.
 

lbksmom

Banned
I have been doing it 5 years now. Great if you have a garden or fruit trees for your pollination, or you love honey everyday to keep you healthy. This is not a money making job, another hobby $$$ I have 3 hives like to make it to 5 but each year something will happen. Frost can hurt production, wax moths can destroy a hive, mites can ruin them, have to treat them twice a yr. hive beetles? To start with 2 hives with no gaurantee with supplies @ $600.00 so that is a heads up for beginners and definately take some classes/training. Best advice too is to get to talk to other local beekeepers for tips etc. If you need any more advice etc. drop me a line, thanks.
 

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
2 hives is okay to start out but if 1 hive starts having problems its hard to pull from the other to suppliment without hurting it. have 4-6 hives is ideal to keep enough bees to spread brood or honey around if a hive starts dying off. i dont have been this year, last 3 hives over the winter-early spring. Not sure what happened but several other bee keepers experienced similar results in my area so be prepared for that.
 

dbcrowbar

Six Pointer
Been into it around 5 years now. u learn something every time u do an inspection . I have 7 right now. they are an amazing creature. as a side note i have a fellow bee club member who has several hives for sale ,if any one is interested i'll put u in touch
 

Tarheeler

Twelve Pointer
Cool. Me and my Dad have 3 together and are gone try to start another. They are fascinating and complex

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dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Get yourself an Epi-pen.

Got my hospital bill the other day. If I had to sell honey to cover my cost, it would be about $300 a pound for me to break even this year.

It's a great hobby for someone with time to do. I sold every thing I had that involved a bee. Good luck.
 

Lastfling

Six Pointer
I started the year with 3 hives and currently have 7 with a potential 8 as one of the swarm traps that was unoccupied a week ago, now has residents. It’s a bad time of year to catch a swarm, but is what it is.


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witler

Eight Pointer
Wife has a fountain out front, I noticed a lot of bees there drinking. I started feeding them sugar water, the number of bees has grown to 700-800. When they leave that all go in the same direction thru the woods. The nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile in that direction, I don't know if they have bees or not.
I recently bought a bee keeper starter kit, with a 10 frame hive, etc. My question is if I buy a Queen will the bees go into the hive to her or will they go home to their mother queen?
 

dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Wife has a fountain out front, I noticed a lot of bees there drinking. I started feeding them sugar water, the number of bees has grown to 700-800. When they leave that all go in the same direction thru the woods. The nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile in that direction, I don't know if they have bees or not.
I recently bought a bee keeper starter kit, with a 10 frame hive, etc. My question is if I buy a Queen will the bees go into the hive to her or will they go home to their mother queen?
That queen is waited on by the worker bees. If there is no bees, Queen dies. Take the class, should be one fairly close to you.
 

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
Wife has a fountain out front, I noticed a lot of bees there drinking. I started feeding them sugar water, the number of bees has grown to 700-800. When they leave that all go in the same direction thru the woods. The nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile in that direction, I don't know if they have bees or not.
I recently bought a bee keeper starter kit, with a 10 frame hive, etc. My question is if I buy a Queen will the bees go into the hive to her or will they go home to their mother queen?

No they won’t come just because you have a queen


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NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
After 5 years of trying in another state, I lost every hive I bought and gave up. I put out three box sets this year here in NW/Central NC and got one free hive. Looks like smaller Italian bees, but agree with others, lots to learn and as with most things through experience and knowledge from others. Wax moths have always been a problem and had a few on the outside of the box this year, hoping they didn't make it in and were not present inside a month back. I'm trying to just let "bee" and not disrupt them. So far a week to medium hive this year but they're active and I have a queen producing eggs. Picked up 3 used vertical bee boxes this year cheap and have tons of milk weed on the property which the bees seemed to love, so hopefully next year I can get about 5 hives going? Not sure if good for honey production but probably close to 8 acres worth of milk weed. If planting in the middle of lemon bee balm will it keep away moths? Evil buggers they are.
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
Witler, if you can get a used frame from another keeper often bees are attracted to old hives by left over honey/wax and then will form a home in you box(s)
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
These are some things that I tried and my reasoning or based on what I've read over the years. If anyone with more experience can add or make suggestions, I'm willing to learn as well. This May, I set out 3 empty bee hive boxes. I got to thinking about the very few hives I've seen out in the wild/nature including one very active hive entering through a small hole in a shed's wall. They were all up high, 4 feet minimum. Much of what I did this year is not traditional and by no means am I a professional bee keeper, but I set all my boxes off the ground up 3 feet at minimum. I also kept the entire base area around the ground clean and clear of foliage and the landing board free from any obstacles. The base is wider than the cinder blocks all the way around as to help them protect from intruders. I then used reducers to make the opening small which also helps a a small colony to protect from predators until numbers increased. Keeping it high and clean I believe helps keep mice, snakes, and hopefully wax worms out. (I've killed 4 out of 5 wax moths on the outer box.) I put one box out in full sun, another shade, and another partial shade. The one with partial shade is the one a nature hive inhibited. It gets sun from 10am to about 3pm and even then they were fanning to keep the hive cool on hot sunny days. For those that set boxes out in fields, I've seen them low and around tall grasses and among other boxes with might offer some shade? Again others here in NC might know better but my garden bakes in the hot sun and I know bees can too. The entrance was also facing south which is the direction two of the hives I saw in the wild were facing. It is about ten feet off of a building that then protects from heavy winds and also the reason why I though south facing might be good too? Winter weather once killed a hive of mine and know hot sun can kill them too. I once had a super strong hive only to have them split with half my honey (swarm) and then not make it through the winter. I also lost two hives to wax worms and had to restart over. I've bought one set of boxes (2 supers, 2 honey, base and top) along with 5 packages of bees (easily over $800) and I've gotten maybe 30lbs worth of honey. It's fustrating to say the least and a lot of experienced bee keepers are losing bees at alarming numbers. As I'm sure I don't need to mention they're really important and wish more were into it but with cost and time can understand why not. Keep an eye out on craigslist or yard sales as you might find boxes cheap and with a little luck pick up a swarm or two - that's the cheap and simple route otherwise it is a large investment with often little to no return. Next spring I'm going to look into a bee class as well. Good luck.
 

7mm-08

Twelve Pointer
I started with two nucs this year. They have split and I now have four hives. I’ll probably shrinking them down to nuc boxes before it turns cold. There have been plenty of challenges along the way. Not a dull moment. It’s not cheap starting out. I can see where it would plateau once you decided what you can manage and you have acquired the hardware for that. I can see how it could pay for itself too.


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jhwilli2

Eight Pointer
Wife has a fountain out front, I noticed a lot of bees there drinking. I started feeding them sugar water, the number of bees has grown to 700-800. When they leave that all go in the same direction thru the woods. The nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile in that direction, I don't know if they have bees or not.
I recently bought a bee keeper starter kit, with a 10 frame hive, etc. My question is if I buy a Queen will the bees go into the hive to her or will they go home to their mother queen?
The bees that are coming to the fountain will not go in your hive just because there is a queen in there. They are programmed to stay with their queen for their life. The best advice I can give you is to wait until the spring and buy a nuc from a local beekeeper.
 

jhwilli2

Eight Pointer
The biggest problem I see with beekeepers losing hives is not keeping a close eye on their mite load. Varroa mites are the number one killer of honeybees in North America. Varroa mites are vectors of viruses witch can lead to number of problems for the hive. Wax moths don't kill bees. Wax moths show up when the hive has gotten weak from another source, most likely varroa. A healthy hive will keep moths and other pest out of the hive. If you have hives, now is the time to get a mite count. If you are seeing more than 3% mites you need to treat your bees. The bees that are raised in October and November are the bees that will be overwintering. These need to be healthy bees for you to have any chance of overwintering your hive.
 

Tarheeler

Twelve Pointer
I have started treating ours with apiguard and Oxalic over the last month. 1 hive had a large mite load

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