Bees

[Arcticdude]

My wife is going to be ordering her bees and hives soon for spring delivery. I think she's going to start out with 4 hives and expand from there. She's going to set the hives up near the orchard and garden area. I'll build a bear proof fence around the area where she wants the hives.

 

[Arcticdude]

I'm looking at a out $400 for my start and I didn' think that was bad at all. I know not to expect much honey the first year. We pay $16 per quart for the honey we buy. So that will help offset some next year.

I basically want to help the environment and my gardens with the bees. If some little punk ### vandals ruin mine like the two instances in the news lately, I'll really ne mad then. $50k loss would be major.

$400 is a good start. I think my wife's "must have" list is up to around $3500 now. That includes all the processing equipment, extractor, tools, etc. The bees and hives are the cheap part of bee keeping. Oh, and her bee house was $4000. And of course she "needs" a deck added to her bee house so she can sit out and enjoy a cup of tea in the mornings. I better learn bee keeping too. Since she's gone most of the time I'll end up caring for the bees.

 

[TexasFreedom]

AD, come right into the best addiction you'll ever have!

A couple of words of advice.
#1: Your wife needs a mentor. Find a local BK club & join & attend every meeting
#2: GET A LOCAL MENTOR (just in case you missed that advice)
#3: with the local club, see if they have an extractor. Many clubs 'own' one and everyone borrows it for free.

If I break it down, let's see. 4 hives, $300/hive for the bodies/frames, $1200. Then bees are $150-400 per hive (package/nuc/complete hive), let's say $250 each (nuc?) so $1000 there. That leaves $1800 for equipment. That's a little high, but it depends on what she is getting. Now another reason not to get an extractor now: unless you get intact good hives, you will not get any honey off the hives the first year!

But I will add, if she wants to do cutouts, it'll cost you. I'd recommend getting a vehicle 100% dedicated to doing cutouts. It just makes it so much easier. Down here many of us just get a junker car/minivan & just leave everything in it, so we're ready to go when the call comes (time is critical with getting swarms). But if she's a newbie, she doesn't need to be at that level (but be ready if she does go that way). I will tell you doing cutouts is really enjoyable for many of us. Oh, a 'cutout' is when I remove a colony from someone's shed/deck/etc & take them home. "Free bees" are great, and you get really good genetics which matters.

As with Robin, I'm here to answer any questions. And you will have many. And if you missed it in previos posts, remember that 10 BK will give you at least 15 different opinions. Keep in mind my bees in Texas are different than by you. And other things are like the Ford/GM/Dodge debate: personal preferences.

 

[Robinjopo1]

Arctic i I ordered my kit from a club and saved almost $100. You should check into that. I went to the company web page and compared. Same kits exactly.

 

[Robinjopo1]

I painted my hives today. A grey color so that they won't be seen very easily. They are pretty far off the road, but some kids will desteoynthwm for the hell of it. Like when they stole my nature cam. They left the feeder and tree stand, but took the camera.

My mentor said he can't understand why people paint their hives bright colors and draw attention to them. I dont think the bees care if their hives are decorated.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Bright colors are great in a back yard. And yes, kids can be morons. I've seen hives shot point blank with a shotgun.

Only paint the outside of the body, leave bare wood inside. At least 2 coats outside.

 

[Arcticdude]

The wife ordered her bees a couple of weeks ago for a May/june delivery. She plans on painting her hives when the weather gets warmer too, color choice unknown at this time. Bee hive vandalism isn't a problem at our location, but bears are a major concern.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Hot wire fences. Very HOT wire fences work great with bears. And check them often to make sure they don't short out.

(sarcasm on) But if you're a liberal, just put up a 'no bears permitted' sign. And no fence. Because according to liberals, you just need a 'law' to solve problems... and open borders are great. (sarcasm off)

 

[DrHenley]

Yup, just declare it a "Bear Free Zone" and if the bears come in anyhow, blame it on Trump and the NRA.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Doc,

Don't tell anyone, but did you know bears are part of the assault weapons problem? Think about this...

"bear" ends with AR. And if you search for "Bear 1500 pounds", you'll get over 12 million hits. So there you have, it, beAR-15, shortened to AR-15.

So, to say 'bear-free zone', you are saying code for 'gun free zone'. Is this too silly? (yes it is... but still a bit funny)

 

[Arcticdude]

In the name of "animal rights", shouldn't we remove all fences? And let bears just run around wherever they want doing bear things? And speaking of animal rights, isn't bee keeping just another form of animal slavery? We make them live in a box, they work in the fields non stop until they die to produce a product, and then we take the fruits of their labor away from them.

 

[TexasFreedom]

AD,

Don't forget child abuse and separating families. When I split a hive, I separate the mother from 10's of thousands of her daughters! And I murder at least 10's if not 100's of bees every time I open the hive (crushed, sting me, rolled/killed...).

Oh, and doesn't that include violation of the privacy rights? Who do I think I am, the gov't?

 

[Robinjopo1]

Well, I've discovered that bee math is like chicken math. You say you are going to have a few and then whoosh, you have a large flock.

I've lready been talked into having two hives instead of one. It really made sense to me. So hey.

 

[Arcticdude]

Well, I've discovered that bee math is like chicken math. You say you are going to have a few and then whoosh, you have a large flock.

I've lready been talked into having two hives instead of one. It really made sense to me. So hey.

Yeah. My wife is already talking about getting 3 more hives next year. We just need to find a location to set them up.

 

[DrPrepper]

I painted my hives today. A grey color so that they won't be seen very easily. They are pretty far off the road, but some kids will desteoynthwm for the hell of it. Like when they stole my nature cam. They left the feeder and tree stand, but took the camera.

My mentor said he can't understand why people paint their hives bright colors and draw attention to them. I dont think the bees care if their hives are decorated.

What kind of paint do you use? Spray paint? Do the bees come after you when you try to paint? I never heard of this, fascinating. I was curious about bee keeping, but I don’t think I have the room. I have a large Cat Mint plant and the bees are all over it. There is no honey or anything involved, but I love watching them. I don’t know what kind of bees they are, but they never chase or sting anyone. You can get really close to them.

 

[SheilaT.]

Hive theft is big business over here so a lot of Beekeepers have taken to keeping their hives in small shipping containers with holes drilled in the sides for the Bees to go in and out.

 

[Robinjopo1]

What kind of paint do you use? Spray paint? Do the bees come after you when you try to paint? I never heard of this, fascinating. I was curious about bee keeping, but I don’t think I have the room. I have a large Cat Mint plant and the bees are all over it. There is no honey or anything involved, but I love watching them. I don’t know what kind of bees they are, but they never chase or sting anyone. You can get really close to them.

Mine are bare wood so I painted with some old porch paint I have
You do this before you get the bees.

 

[Robinjopo1]

Hive theft is big business over here so a lot of Beekeepers have taken to keeping their hives in small shipping containers with holes drilled in the sides for the Bees to go in and out.

Young kids and bad neighbors destroyed complete colonies here. $50,000 each

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Good luck everyone with your bees! My former neighbors had 3 hives that looked like Japanese temples lol. They were pretty cool, but you couldn't see them from the road.

As soon as we are out of town, my wife and I plan on getting a couple hives. If I get the Airstream I want (please sell it to me) it should come with a bunch of boxes and equipment, its being used as hive storage right now, and the owners kids don't want to have bees.

Bees have always seemed to me to be one of the coolest things you could get into. Amazing insects, and you get some honey to boot. Plus, a reason to grow tons of flowers.

 

[Robinjopo1]

Good luck everyone with your bees! My former neighbors had 3 hives that looked like Japanese temples lol. They were pretty cool, but you couldn't see them from the road.

As soon as we are out of town, my wife and I plan on getting a couple hives. If I get the Airstream I want (please sell it to me) it should come with a bunch of boxes and equipment, its being used as hive storage right now, and the owners kids don't want to have bees.

Bees have always seemed to me to be one of the coolest things you could get into. Amazing insects, and you get some honey to boot. Plus, a reason to grow tons of flowers.

I'm going to plant extra clover too. I have 3 veggie gardens and I grow a few perennial, but I'm going to plant more bee friendly flowers. I cut lots of trees for the wedding so I have more sun.