Friday, June 22, 2018

So You Think You Want Bees?

We have had bees for a few weeks at this point, after years of talking about them, planning, discussion, changing plans. There are a few tips I have for anyone who thinks they may want to get bees.

Tip #1, Get bee's, seriously they are a wonderful resource to add to your homestead. Do not let all the scary bad stuff you will read online discourage you. Yes, it can be hard work, you may struggle with diseases, mites, and all manner of catastrophe but it is worth it. The rest of my tips are aimed to hopefully make it a bit easier for you.

Tip #2, Join a local beekeepers club. Call your county extension agent, contact your state beekeeping association to find an organization that meets near you. When we finally decided to get bees and joined a group the closest bee group was the next county over from us, just a short drive for monthly meetings and we have found a wealth of support and information. Many groups will also have equipment like honey extractors that you can rent and may be able to get you substantial discounts on your first nucleus colonies of bees. We learn something new at every single meeting we attend.

Tip #3, YouTube can be your best friend and worst enemy. We posted the videos of our installs on youtube. We have also watched countless hours of video on everything from different hive designs, to how to kill off all your bees (sometimes that is necessary). We have watched more videos on how to install your bees, and how to catch swarms than I can count. Sometimes we get sucked into the rabbit hole of videos. We have watched lectures from some of the best beekeepers from around the world, and we have watched a lot of videos that made us want to hang it up before we even started. One guy pretty much assured everyone that all their bees were going to die, everything was going to die and that was just how it was. We also have gotten hours of entertainment from the Bush Bee Man.

Tip #4 Books, books, and more books! We are big readers, I cannot recommend enough finding copies of Backyard Beekeeper, the Beekeepers Handbook, and the Beekeepers Bible. Great reads. Backyard Beekeeper was actually our first official foray into bees, we both devoured that book and knew that we were making the right call in adding bees to our little homestead.



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