beekeeping before reading

[riverrat]

I am interested in how many beeks got there first hives without ever reading up on bees first. How did it work out and would you do it the same way if you had to do over again

[honeyshack]

We had a friend help us when we had questions. We started with 2 hives(recommended). He took the bee course and had a year under his belt. As well we talked to and bought from a reputable breeder in our province. The second year we bought the book "Beekeeping in Western Canada" and wished we had it when we started.
So if you are going to start without having a manual, get a mentor. Start with a couple of hives so if you kill them both you are not out alot of $ and you won't get discouraged.
just a note. out of the two hives we started with, one survived the winter well, and one had about a cup of alive bees left.

[Jeffzhear]

I got my first hives, but only after reading and learning much about honeybees before i got them....

And I have to say, BeeSource has sure helped my bees in a huge way!

[WVbeekeeper]

I never read or studied before I got my first colony. I did however help out my mentor for the year prior to acquiring my first colony. There is a detailed explanation of when I started beekeeping through the link below.

http://wvbeekeeper.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-i-got-started-beekeeping_01.html

[riverrat]

I got my first hives, but only after reading and learning much about honeybees before i got them....

And I have to say, BeeSource has sure helped my bees in a huge way!
I agree. That is the way I started. I was just curious on how people do when they start without much studying.

[Matt Guyrd]

I have yet to take possession of bees. With that said, I am currently building my own woodenware, sans frames. I have read (and am currently reading) books for the last four months. I am a subscriber to ABJ and BC magazines. I have been scouring BeeSource's wealth of information. And, I started my beekeeping class with the local beek club last week.

Although there is something to be said for jumping in feet first to start projects, preparation is my preferred route.

However, I can say with relative certainty that many of the folks in the class started the first day with no knowledge/preparation other than the idea of "beekeeping sounds interesting...lets take a class". Now this is a great way to determine if beekeeping is something one wants to commit to starting, but 8-weeks of preparation (from start of class to receiving packages) seems like a short period of time to make decisions, build/purchase equipment, etc. For those with financial capability and adequate free time, maybe this works.

As it is said, knowledge is power. I won't gurantee I can start my three colonies and successfully over-winter my first year, but I like to think the more involved and the more educated I can become, the better chances my hives will survive.

Matt

[deantn]

Ah yes starting beekeeping before reading anything just the way I started back in the late 70's.
Got 5 hives from a friend that wanted to get out of it because he had a child that was allergic to them. Bought them for a really good price and never looked back.
By the end of the first season, being in S MS. at the time, had 10 hives and plenty of honey for sale. After investing in lots of equipment that is.
Found a sale for most of the honey the first year but the surprise came the next season, got an offer from a horse trainer to buy all my honey plus all the pollen I could collect. Not having any pollen traps or knowing how to use them is when I started reading about beekeeping and the downfalls of it. Got the ABC's of beekeeping first then a few more magazines and plenty of catalogs.
After reading how to go about trapping pollen and the different traps made at the time invested in a few and went full force into pollen trapping. All the while increasing the number of hives. Having set up 17 in the front yard was running out of room so started an outyard about 10 miles away. What a mistake that was, with nobody around them they were always getting robbed or knocked over. Lost almost all of them the first year so moved them back home and ended up with 25 in the yard.
Working full time and trying to keep that many hives with no help got to be a headache and a half so sold a few of them and decreased down to 10. More manageable to say the least.
When moved here to TN. is when the varroa mites first started and trying to get the proper paperwork from 4 different states to moved them here was almost impossible. Each state wanted me to get them inspected at different places along the route to TN and none of these places were anywhere along the route that was being taken. Finally gave up and just sold them for a song but kept a lot of the equipment.
Glad I did as am now back in beekeeping for the third year now and getting more honey than know what to do with again.
Am building a TBH right now to use this spring along with the Langs I have.
Would I do it again without reading up first maybe not but it has been interesting doing it this way.
After joining the Assoc I'm in now got to go to Inspector class at UT Knoxville, was warned against it form the Assoc. but went anyway and passed with flying colors. Then went to their beginners class, what a joke that class is but necessary for a complete beginner. Teaches basics but nothing else, mostly about diseases and mite problems. Will go back this year and take the inspectors class again when offered so can brush up on the things that were missed the first time.
Wouldn't invite anyone to do it this way but it can be done if you try hard enough to make it work. Lots of errors made but quite a few triumphs also.

[kopeck]

I had a Book (the Dummies book) and this year I'm taking an adult ed class to sharpen my skills (I hope any way).

But thinking back, I wonder what my Grandfather did? We're talking back in the 30s, I'm pretty sure the internet wasn't around back then. :)

I bet there was a book or two available back then, but I'm willing to bet it was more learning by the seat of his pants. There weren't as many issues back then either...

K

[Michael Bush]

I read every book in the local library on the subject and then went to the larger town and read every book in their library on beekeeping. But that still doesn't really prepare you for what you're about to do. However it does help you make sense of it as you see it.

[jdpro5010]

My mentor (uncle) called me about 5-6 summers ago looking for a back to help him harvest his honey from 45 hives after his partner died earlier in the spring. By the end of the summer I had 2 hives and during that winter bought and read every bee book I can find. Now of course he has me hooked and he wants out:rolleyes:. So I would say I did a combo deal and I wouldn't trade it for the world! By the way having just found this site a year or so ago I would have to say that it definitely brings a lot of different ideas together also. Thanks to all!

[Mitch]

I got a swarm from a friend with out much warning.Had some help from 2 local beeks.Then started reading.The local beeks helped alot at the beginning.After that i under stood the books a bit better.

It is funny now that i think about it,I got a phone message when i got home at 2 am to call right away but figured it was realy late to call back.Then sunday morning i had an email telling me to check if he put the swarm in the right yard.Guess he didnt want to get my neighbors to excited.It was in the right yard lol.

[Troutsqueezer]

I hit the Internet before I made my first purchase which gives you good exposure being as there are so many different takes on "best known methods" coupled with the fact there's lots of folks who like to blog on the subject. Oddly, I didn't run across BeeSource until after I had the first hive for awhile.

I think my first question to the forum concerned the difficulty of spotting eggs. "Blow lightly on the eggs to move the bees away so you can see them" was the reply. It worked. That and a nice digital camera allowed me to see what I was looking for.

[Dave W]

I read a couple books that made it sound easy, bought a package (lived 4 years), and have been reading "everthing" since. :)

>help you make sense of it as you see it . . .

Really helps when you have lots of others "helping" :)

[dug_6238]

...I was just curious on how people do when they start without much studying.

Riverrat - I started without much reading, first year with one hive. 100% loss first winter. Coming through second winter now, after another year, with 9 out of 9 still alive. Books have helped a good amount, but beesource has been a more direct means of not only acccessing just the relevant info, but getting a few different takes on it...or at least seeing it from a few different angles.

As with any other source, one really has to sort through the info here and look at their own situation to see what's really relevant to them...

I would say it's probably hard for someone without any experience to root through the different views on here and figure out which ones to apply in their own situation. I sometimes feel like maybe we spend too much time arguing on here and make it hard for the beginners to know which way is up and which way is down.

Perhaps one thing we could do here is to explain what works in a bigger operation and why, and what the differences in operations are for sideliners and hobbyists...I doubt Dave Hackenburg sits in his attic painting homemade hives with his kids, but I sure to like it.

<Beesource members grumble "Get to the point...">
Hard to start out without knowing what you're walking into, but also hard to apply what you're reading without a little bit of real-world experience. Riverrat is not new to this - so my recommendation for you to tell newbies is
1) to maybe consider counting the first year as a learning experience and maybe a throw-away, and
2) to consider trying to dedicate some of your first summer's time to reading while you're experimenting hands-on.

[BearNBee]

I read everything about beekeeping I could get my hands are before ordering my first hive. What I would suggest is to get to know a local beekeeper/organization so that you learn about hive management in your immediate area. I am a bit of a bookworm but nothing compares to tried and true experience!

[paintingpreacher]

I believe it was 1968, I was working with two elderly men on a farm. After work they ask me to go with them to do a cutout. I told them they were crazy. Somehow they talked me into going and to my suprise I loved it. Within a couple of weeks I had them helping me cut my first bee tree. I did no reading, knew nothing at all about bees. Over the next two years I collected around 20 hives. Kept bees until the late 80's and lost them all in one year to the mites. I gave up on beekeeping until about 2000 when my neighbor called with a swarm on her chimney. So I again begin to catch swarms and cut bee trees. Now I try to read and learn all I can. There is still so much I do not understand but I have certainly enjoyed learning.
IMO 40 years ago you could keep a few bees and do fine. Thing's have changed so much with all the pest, (mites, beetles, etc.) If I were a young person going into beekeeping today I would read all I could find.. Also would try to find a mentor.. Join a club where you can get advice from other beekeepers.
I keep bees as a hobby and would like to see more young people give it a try..

[omelay]

i am just starting this adventure. i get my bees very soon. the pick up was postponed by catching a cold.

i am amazed by the amount of information out there regarding keeping bees. it is overwhelming to say the least. mostly i have decided that keeping bees is largely opinion based. all encompassing solutions are few and far between.

some of the methodologies really intrigue me like some of the bush bees approach. initially i have resigned myself to mimic my hive provider. he has 150 working hives and is pairing down because of health and age. i plan to assimilate his methods for the first year. taking a path less traveled alone seems risky since my best hopes for mentor will guide me down a beaten path. after my first year i'll have that experience as a baseline to help expand and venture to less traveled concepts.


i have read <i>bee keeping for dummies</i>. it seems to gloss past the direction i want arrive. we want organic hives. we want to solve our problems without poison. luckily my (mentor hopeful) doesn't use pesticides which is my minimum criteria.

we have a milk cow and have successfully managed with the internet as our main crutch. there are bovine forums very similar to this one that have been invaluable. i hope this forum can help us on our rocky path ahead.

[yoyo]

I started last spring, when all the hoop-la about the vanishing bees was in the news every other day. It got my curiosity up because I had not been seeing any honey bees that I could remember. I then spotted an advertisement in the local paper about a bee club meeting that had just occurred. I started researching the net for more information, and asking around locally about the club. I then found out they were having a feild day at one of the members' houses and I was welcome to attend. I showed up that day not knowing anything about bees. I was REAL worried when they started putting on thier suits! I did not have any protection but was loaned a pair of gloves and a veil. We went thru 6 hives, looking at every frame. I got stung only once as I had a bee get on me just above the belt line and when I bent over, she let me know! I then decided that I would try keeping bees. I was then in Burger King one day and the county animal control person came in behind me. I asked if anyone ever called him about bees and he said yes. I told him I was thinking of getting some and he told me he had a colony in his barn that I could get, was that quick enough for me, he asked. I had to then order a suit and decided on the master pollinator kit from dadant to help me get started.So my first hive was a cutout of a big colony. It took two days to get the queen and get them home. That was last June, I now have 3 strong hives and I am bottling my first honey as I write this. It was from a cutout I did a few weeks ago. I hope to get to at least ten by this fall. I have read everything I can get my hands on, and the forums are one of the best places to gain knowledge.