Too much Choice? want to get started right the first time

[Clayton Ross]

Hello all i have really injoyed reading the forum so much great information.

Ok here is the deal, I really want to start keeping bees this year,have been kicking it around for a few years but other farm stuff got the money.

I know that If i can i want to start with 2 hives. and i think i want to use all medium boxes
becuse i like the versitlity and weight , but i just dont know.

the other thing and this is the real biggy Frames
i dont know what to go with wax , wired wax plastic ,black white ,big cell, small cell this is the part that has me perplexed.

in fact the only thing i really know is why i want bees and that is becase i have a personal orchard thats almost 5 acres and growing (mom works at Tri B Nursery #1 supplyer of lowes and walmart :D ) and in the past would help an old bee keeper in the fall haul in suppers and realy enjoyed it.

but back to the point i want 2 hive but am not sure the best route from looking around package bees are about 90 bucks plus shipping and i would like to spent around 500 ~600 no more at first

i was looking at these hives brushy med hive (http://brushymountainbeefarm.com/products.asp?pcode=107BSFIP)

and lastly should i get the same type of bee for both or two types. the bees i was looking at from
B Weaver Apiaries (http://www.beeweaver.com/home.php) i wanted to get a pack of allstars and a pack of BeeSMaRt

Please set me Strait

[peggjam]

Start with the frame size that you want to work. Med size is excellent choice for both brood and super applications. If you pick one size, stay with it for all of your boxes, that way everything will interchange. If you can afford to start with sc foundation, that would be the best thing to use, IMHO. Pachages are ok, but pricey for what you get, nucs are a better deal, but most are in deep frames, which won't fit with the med boxes you want to use. Although some producers are starting to supply med nucs. Best thing is to shop around and find the best deal. Things to think about when buying nucs are: desease is the biggest one, look for AFB, chalkbrood, mites, SHB. Anything bought out of TX could carry AHB genes, so that is something you would want to look at as well.

Frames are a personnal choice. I use wood with wax foundation. I have never tried the premacomb frames, so I can't commet on those. As far as strains of HB's I would get two of the same type in case you have a queen that fails. That way if they raise one, you won't get crossbreeds, not that there is anything wrong with that. The important thing is if you want to do this, just do it, regardless of cost. Good luck.

[Michael Bush]

>I know that If i can i want to start with 2 hives. and i think i want to use all medium boxes
becuse i like the versitlity and weight , but i just dont know.

I think you should use all the same size for the interchanability.

I think you should choose that size based on what you want to lift. Personally I don't see how any can want to lift 90 pound deeps full of honey. 60 pound mediums are plenty and 48 pounds eight frame mediums are what I've chosen.

>the other thing and this is the real biggy Frames
i dont know what to go with wax , wired wax plastic ,black white ,big cell, small cell this is the part that has me perplexed.

There are obviously all of those opinions or there wouldn't be all of those kinds. Part of this choice is going to depend on your philosophy. If your philosophy is to have everything neat and perfect and control things as much as possible the plastic is pretty controled. The bees can't rework it really, although occasionally they will build something funky on it. The PermaComb is already drawn. If you really want to do this without chemicals and want to be natural then natural drawn comb by the bees (from starter strips or comb guides) would be my choice. If you're somewhere between wanting to do standard beekeeping practices and wanting to have less Varroa problems, then the small cell wax foundation would probably do well.

>but back to the point i want 2 hive but am not sure the best route from looking around package bees are about 90 bucks plus shipping and i would like to spent around 500 ~600 no more at first

Of you really want to save money, you could build a top bar hive. They aren't complicated. There's nothing wrong with package bees and if you want mediums on small cell that's probably the simplest way to get there.

>i was looking at these hives brushy med hive

Or the eight frame medium hives from Brushy Mt. smile.gif

>and lastly should i get the same type of bee for both or two types. the bees i was looking at from
B Weaver Apiaries i wanted to get a pack of allstars and a pack of BeeSMaRt

The Allstars should do well in Oklahoma.

[jessbee]

Clayton,

I'm just starting this year also and have purchased everything but foundation. It's easy to spend over $500. I already have and I shopped around. I went with mediums and am starting with small cell after reading every word on this site.

One thing I wish I had done was order screened bottom boards instead of regular, because now I want the SBB.

Good Luck to us!

[David Stewart]

>>One thing I wish I had done was order screened bottom boards instead of regular, because now I want the SBB.<<

Easily enough solved by simply using a sabre saw to cut out a bunch of the solid bottom and stapling some 1/8" hardware cloth. That's what I did. To close up the bottom in the winter if you choose to do so all that is required is to simply set the hive on a piece of scrap plywood and stuff the openings with leaves or insulation. Or if you kept it.....the piece you cut out with the sabre saw.

David

[LaRae]

Hi Clayton,

We started with 2 hives last year. I went with Cypress wood hives (Rossmans carry them http://www.gabees.com/) due to it's natural resistance to rot and no need to paint them either. Missouri has year round humidity and I figured Cypress would be an advantage in the long run.

I started with small cell wax coated plastic foundation and it's worked well, however I am going all wax small cell this year with my two new hives.

I am currently working with Russian and All American bees which both seem to be doing really well resisting mites. The only thing about buying bees from areas known to have Africanized bees ...if the queens are open mated you do run a risk of ending up with an Africanized hive.

The queens I'm getting for my two new hives (when I do splits this spring) are NWC (new world Carnolian) http://www174.pair.com/birdland/Breeding/NWCmain.html and .....a Russian X NWC cross from http://www.geocities.com/fatbeeman/

I will probably be requeening my existing hives this fall but I haven't decided what I want to put into those hives yet....we'll see how the NWC queen/hive goes this year....but I do have an interest in SMR bees and Cordovans: http://members.aol.com/queenb95/index.html


I got more stuff than I really needed last year when I got into bees, I ended up spending around 800.00 for everything (including bees) but I could of probably spent 500 to 600 and got everything I really needed.


LaRae