- Thread starter Brian806
- Start date
Dave H (MI)
Well-known Member
There is a fella who keeps hives next to my hay field down the road. A little annoying at first because he points his fool hives into the field so I have to drive thru a pretty heavy stream of bees at two points when doing hay. But he is a good guy and, honestly, driving thru a cloud of bees many many times and never been stung once. Guess we both have the same goal...get about business without a fuss. They like the alfalfa in my mixed hay. He has replaced his queens many times. There are a lot of diseases, fungal infections, mites, etc that are after our bees these days. It is not as easy as it used to be. There was a TV series by a university guy that ran on PBS for a while and he has a pretty good book out. Give you a lot of info. New plastic hives are being made that should be more sanitary than the old wood ones. I have often wanted to try it but there is a lot of equipment, a lot of heartbreak but the real reason is I don't like being stung...not even a little.
Yes, just got into it, and know probably as much as you LOL. We have very knowledgeable person at the beekeeping supplier here, which is a big help. Best thing you can do is learn from someone experienced, and it falls into the same category as most types of farming where lots of things can and will go wrong, from mites, predators knocking hives over, harsh winters. As was told to me, be prepared for heartbreak LOL ! We lost one already, but its a worthy cause, nothing like fresh honey, wildflower honey etc. There is one tall hive on display at the supply place, on an old fairbanks type balance scale, during peak production this year, they were able to get 5 lbs of honey per day. Myself and a long time friend are pursuing beekeeping, hopefully we learn and can produce, conditions here are ideal for them at least.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
My wife has two hives,she took a course on Bee Keeping at the local community college
Tom OConnor
Member
Brian,
Ernest and Julio Gallo did not know anything about making wine till Julio went to the library and started reading about it. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Don't get discouraged, just learn as much as you can from others mistakes. Tom
Ernest and Julio Gallo did not know anything about making wine till Julio went to the library and started reading about it. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Don't get discouraged, just learn as much as you can from others mistakes. Tom
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
Many many years ago I and my dad had bees. I had to stop working with them due to an accentdent (sp) where a hive broke open when we where moving it and I got 150 plus stings. Still have a lot of the equipment for bee keeping. There are a couple companies that sell bee keeping supplies and they also have some good books that will explain how to do it.
My wife and I got our first hive this year, so far, they are doing well. I placed the hive in the middle of my 55 acres of hay, we harvested 30 lbs of honey last year. So far they are still alive and doing well. We got ours from turtle bee farms in byron michigan. If you are in Michigan, look them up, they are great people. Have not gotten stung yet which is a huge bonus. I used to not like bees much, now they seem pretty cool.
We have bees, on the third generation, working on the fourth. Some of my first memories are the smells while around my grandpa when extracting. Give it a shot, it's not that hard. Read a few books, check with your local usda office. It's very interesting when you find out all the things the little guys (mostly gals) can do. You know the males are lazy and have no stinger right.
ditchwitch
Well-known Member
I thought i wanted some bees also till i talked to a actual bee keeper just last week that raises bees to sell. I figured out right quick it would be cheaper for me to just go buy a jar of honey when i wanted one.
I run between 20 and 50 colonies depending on time of year. I'm gearing up to start selling overwintered nucleus hives and working on getting a good overwinter percentage from queens I raised myself.
It's one of those hobbies/businesses that you have to be REALLY interested in, read everything you can find, and not afraid to experiment (and fail). If you are a casual beekeeper with a couple hives and want to look at them 2-3 times a year you will fail miserably.
It's one of those hobbies/businesses that you have to be REALLY interested in, read everything you can find, and not afraid to experiment (and fail). If you are a casual beekeeper with a couple hives and want to look at them 2-3 times a year you will fail miserably.
glennster
Well-known Member
ron, at our illinois roundup earlier this month, one of the yt'ers there was a beekeeper and we were talking about this. seems the air planters are a big problem because it blows the dust off the seed coatings into the air, and disperses the insecticide. he lost three hives last year within 48 hours of the adjacent field being planted.
gene bender
Well-known Member
If you are going to do it plant Clover and stuff so they have a huge supply of blossums to feed on dont makethem fly for miles to get the nectar. Common sense have food supply near.
Cory Schmidt
Well-known Member
Lots of work, that's all I can say. We had some hives, but got to be to much with everything else we had to do. Couldn't keep up with supers and harvesting honey. The last time we had them was 10 or more years ago
Plant buckwheat that makes good dark honey (darker the honey the better, in my mind) Then you'd also have some grain for birdseed or flour
Plant buckwheat that makes good dark honey (darker the honey the better, in my mind) Then you'd also have some grain for birdseed or flour
Dark honey will hardly sell. Next door neighbor has been in the bussiness for years. Has his own extractor and also I think does custom work. Shipps out a big load of 55 gallon drums each year and sell at local stores and flea markets, farmers market. Acording to him no one wants dark honey, bad tast. The lighter the better. He had slowed down the last couple of years and did not replace lost bees. Sounds like now he has someone ready to start taking over. I am 71 and he was already in high school, think senior when I started so would make him 82 now. Was in bee business for 50 years.
Cory Schmidt
Well-known Member
Dark is about the only stuff I had so I might just be bias or crazy compared to the rest of the world.
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