? Bartering bees for a/c services

[Daisy]

Our air conditioner repair man has been interested in keeping bees for about 25 years. He has fourty some acres of wild area with a river running through it.

He offered to exchange equal cost of setting up two stands of hive at his place for that part of the repair bill. I had already told him that I'd help him in anyway I could to get him started. (LOL)

Well he showed me the bill and said, how much I need off of it to set his bees up next spring and I estimated what I could do it for and he took that off the bill.....

OK here's my questions......

I will buy four deeps and two supers with frames, bottom boards and lids.

Now for the bees.

I have four established hives, one weakened (being treated and doing better) by mites, and one "nucc" I created last week, doing well so far. A new package of bees cost about fifty bucks around here.

I have to create two colonies to take to his place sometime next spring.

Can I get two new colonies from what I have by next spring? If so, how? Then I have another option. I know a fella who has 1800 hives of bees. He said I could come, work with them, to learn. etc. When I do, and I am going, how do I approach him with my need for two colonies, in exchange for working in the beeyards with them. Or is this asking too much?

I would very much appreciate advice.......

Thanks again...;^)

[joens]

as far as the beekeeper with 1800 hives giving you a hive or 2 in exchange for helping him it would depend on the situation.
If the task at hand was inspecting hives .a beginner along would not be any help and he would be doing you a favor letting you come as a lot of time would be spent showing you things explaining things etc. however if you were helping remove honey supers ,extracting honey lets see 1800 hives times 2,3,4,5 or more supers .that might be worth some compensation. I would try to learn as much as I can from this person he likely knows a lot. You are fortunate you have someone like that around .If it were me I would not even bring up the subject of payment .I would go help him every chance I get and assume that if I actually end up being an asset he would offer something on his own.
Joens

[This message has been edited by joens (edited July 27, 2003).]

[mark williams]

I'm with joens,that would be a greatplace to learn.
i know some beekeepers with alot of hive's that never bother catching swarm's.I'd ask the bee keeper about that,With 1800 hives I'd bet you can get all the swarm's you can use next spring.want hurt to ask.>>>>Mark

[Daisy]

Joens, I left that part out. Yes, we'll be helping with the collections of supers and hanging around doing what I can in the extraction plant.

I'm not asking for pay. I wondered if it were appropriate to ask for a couple of colonies of bees with a queen.

I thought about taking the camper down there and camping out at night. Working during the day.

I do feel very fortunate to have befriended them.

[Michael Bush]

Pulling supers is back breaking, sweaty work and you really won't learn a lot about beekeeping from doing it. Whatever work you do will be a great benefit for the beekeeper and not that much for you and I would definitely ask for something in return. As mentioned before, helping with instpections etc. you would be learning a lot and not helping all that much and it would not be appropriate to ask for anything in return, because the benefit is all to you.

[Mark Carden]

I started out similarly, helping a well established beekeper. My first year I had 1 hive, he gave ~30 swarms, and in 3 months I was up to over 50. I wouldn't worry about getting two hives next year it will most likely take care of itself. The other side of the coin, many commercial beekeepers requeen some fraction of their stock every year, you could get a real price break if they let you order with them. Then when you get your queens, shake ~3#'s of bees from your hives, it has been my experience that this stimulates the queen and she will kick it into high gear. This is also a great form of swarm prevention. Hope this helps.

Mark

[hoosierhiver]

i did some work for a commercial beekeeper when i just got started,i learned some things,but it was some long days of hard work.he paid me the equivelant of minimum wage for my time in exchange for bees and equipment in the spring.it worked out okay,but he really got the better end of the deal.it was a good learning experience.

[rainesridgefarm]

Where are you from? I am raising queens now for fall requeening. You could push them and get some nucs started for next spring but you would sacrafice honey for making bees. I would feed heavy and get some drawn comb so you have easy foundation for a new queen to lay in.

[beeman 202]

Answers to your questions depend on your geographical location and that locations unique honey flows and weather---especially the winter weather. Fill out your profile more and it will be easier for all to give appropriate answers.