Overview, the big picture

[Barry]

Focus: What needs to be considered before taking the first step.

[iddee]

Visit a beekeeper.
Check out the library, google for info, READ,READ,READ.
Revisit the beek with questions that came up from reading.
Locate and visit local beek club..
Go into another's hive with them.

Now, do you want to continue with bees???

[Barry]

Knowing what the cost of the initial startup equipment/bees are and what the time commitment will be.

[Dan Williamson]

READ!!!

Find a local beekeeper...

Get some beekeeping books and READ!.

Spend some time with a beekeeper. Ask questions like... what percentage of your colonies die every year... Do you have to buy bees every year?

If they have to buy bees every year or if they lose large percentages of colonies every year... then FIND A DIFFERENT BEEKEEPER TO LEARN FROM!

READ!

Did I mention READ?

Try to get yourself as knowledgeable as possible before aquiring any bees. I see folks asking questions sometimes about topics that are covered in every beekeeping book I've ever read! It is obvious they have done little to educate themselves prior to getting bees. Do your homework.

READ!

You won't learn everything from reading... but it will give you a good start!

[Cyndi]

....then after you read, read, read.......

last month I met a beekeeper who had some really good advice. He said that people were always asking him where the best source of beekeeping knowledge was at. His answer: look in the mirror, YOU are the best source.

I can't tell you how many times that I have known the answer to my own questions, only to doubt myself, then not act on the answer I knew, only to ask someone else's opinion, only to find out later that I should of listened to my internal intellect. Beekeeping is such a Zen thing, :)

Best wishes and good luck!

[mike haney]

i'm sure there are zillions but i personally have never met a beekeeper that didnt have a pet. something about the desire and ability and intellegence and patience to care for another creature seems to be a requirement, and a decent preparation.

[MichelinMan]

Get stung. It's gonna happen anyway. Find out how you react before you get too involved. Learn your flora. Talk to farmers. Attend beekeeping associations meetings. Do nature walks. Oh yeah... did some one mention "read"?. Also when you're ready to go... start small. Build stuff yourself if you can. And most important have fun with it.

[tecumseh]

read and study a bit... read some more. one of the real changes in my lifetime is information is so much more at your finger tips than when I started beekeeping.

find an individual beekeeper or club and do.. get into a hive, build some equipment. try to implement at least part of what you learned.

and yep always smile (enjoy)... the girls are easier to sneak up on when you smile.

[Dan Williamson]

i'm sure there are zillions but i personally have never met a beekeeper that didnt have a pet. something about the desire and ability and intellegence and patience to care for another creature seems to be a requirement, and a decent preparation.

Funny... I don't have a pet and don't want one! I have many many pet bees though... oh yeah... they all have names too! LOL

[Barry]

What book(s) would you recommend?
My first book was FIRST LESSONS IN BEEKEEPING and I'd still recommend it.

[NasalSponge]

One of my first and all time favorite books... The How-To-Do-It book of beekeeping by Richard Taylor. It is dated so newer books MUST be used as well but as for the parts of beekeeping that never change....IMHO this is a great book. Then there is the bible...ABC-XYZ's of bee culture.

[xC0000005]

First book - Beekeeping for Dummies. I hear this book scoffed at at meetings some times but I never regretted reading it, in fact it was very well done. Interestingly enough a friend gave me a (several decades old) copy of "First lessons in beekeeping" and as I read through it I am struck by how similar they are. The "dummies" book is a more entertaining read but the material covered is pretty much identical. Of course I got my copy of beekeeping for dummies for $1 and I was given "first lessons in beekeeping" so I can't complain price wise about either.

[tedstruk]

My suggestion is kind of dumb. Bees need to spend time alone to build their colony. You need to watcha nd learn from them. Get some bees and plan on losing them. Don't open them, just learn about them. You will be suprised at how much you don't really understand about bee cultures, societies and colonies. After you know how basic insect lifestyle works, you will be alot better beekeeper. I watched them for too long(7 years). I think I am part of their world now.... this is my first year of apiary work...

[tedstruk]

And... I would say you need to assess the amount of work there is in beekeeping. Take the number of days you plan on working per month and times it by 7. That is the work you will need to do. Take that time and add any special stuff to it such as honey recovery, super work, and nucleus building. There's the time and effort.... sure you want to be a beekeeper?

[Putz]

Read...
The Hive and the Honeybee... Dadant publications
First Lessons in Beekeeping... Dadant publications
Bee Sex Essentials... Lawrence Conner
Increase Essentials... Lawrence Conner
A Years Work in an Out Apiary... Doolittle
Fifty Years Among the Bees... Miller
Fat Bees Skinny Bees... http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/HBE/05-054.pdf


WebPages...
http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
http://www.beehive.org.nz/tips-and-advice/tips-advice-index.htm
http://www.voiceofthehive.com/
http://www.beesource.com

Join a local beeclub
Get a mentor that you can work their hives with them

Get a hive with bees, with extra box or 2 with frames
Keep that one hive for a year, maybe increase to 2 hives the first year. Work that hive every week, slowly, gently, just to look and learn and get comfortable with the bees. Get so you can see eggs and find the queen. Get so you can recognise Pollen, Open Nectar, Sealed Honey, Eggs, Larvae, Sealed Brood.

Again, get a mentor that you can work their hives with them. I worked hives with a mentor once a week for over a year myself, the experience with invaluable.

[NasalSponge]

Great stuff here ...I would like to emphasize one more time an indispensable experience....get with a beekeeper and get among the bees. This is the litmus test. You will either be filled with joy, wonder, and amazement (you have the heart of a beekeeper)....or fear and dread (find another hobby). If you experience the first....it will be a stronger addicition than anything else on the planet and you will bee hooked forever!:)

[paulnewbee1]

This is my 2nd year

1) screened bottom boards many of the company's sell a starter kit but no screened bottom board just the solid.

2) Mite counts how many before you treat with something? and pics of what mites look like on a sticky board for us new-bees. there is lots of solids on the board hard to tell what they look like on a sticky board after a sugar treatment.

3) What is the best treatment for Mites so many all say there are the best.

4) how to make a sugar fond board for winter.

5) how to make sugar water and like 1 lb to 1lb of water many told me 2to 1 and that was all maybe it should read 2 lbs of sugar to 1 lb of H2O

5) a little on organic bee keeping on what they use to get ride of mites they must use more then just small cell frames?

6) some sites or from here on how to make some of the things people make

[NasalSponge]

I just got a copy of "Natural Beekeeping" and must say this is an excellent book. It covers, in detail, pest and disease issues, especially v mites and all current treatments.

[Scrapfe]

Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. The local grocery store sells granulated sugar in 4 pound bags just to help beekeepers. A 1 by 1 mixture is TWO 4 pound (64 ounce) bags of sugar to one gallon water. Don’t use boiling water. If you use hot water let it cool to about your body temp before you give it to your bees not a drawn out process in Milwaukee during the winter if my memory serves me right. A 2 by 1 sugar water mixture is FOUR 4 pound bags of sugar to one gallon of water. A 1 by 2 mixture is ONE 4 pound bag of sugar to one gallon of water. If you will read the paper or go to the grocery with your wife you will often find sugar on sale. Recently I found granulated sugar in four pound bags for $1.29 each this is about .32 cents per pound. The 25 pound bags were $11.55 each or about 46 cents per pound. This was a savings of $32.00 on a 100 pound purchase.

Also considering the part of the country I live in the Alcohol Beverage Control Board may question you if you buy sugar in bigger sizes. The grocery stores use to have to keep records on who purchased sugar in 100 pound sacks. When people worked for a living or starved this was the moonshiners preferred size. Some times they carried a ton or more of sugar over a half a mile into the woods, one or two one hundred pound sacks at a time.

If you need powdered sugar for a mite test or to use as a medium to administer medicine or to make cake fond do this. Put regular granulated sugar in a DRY food processor. Pulse it until you have a fine powdered product, about 30 seconds. You will lose some volume when you do this, so if your “recipe” calls for a cup of powered sugar use more than a cup of granulated sugar to get the correct volume. It will still weigh the same however.

Walter T. Kelley said, “A pint is a pound the world around.” A gallon of water contains eight pints. A four pound bag of granulated sugar contains eight pints also.

[Scrapfe]

oops my math was wrong

[tecumseh]

reading material...

abc-xyz in any of it many additions. my wife especially likes for me to read from my old copy (early '70's edition) with it very dated prose. she has commentedthat this older books really does reflect how much beekeepers love their girls.

[fatscher]

There are ABSOLUTELY NO ABSOLUTES when it comes to keeping bees.

As soon as someone tells you that bees always do this or always do that, or never do this or never do that, then DON'T believe them. There is absolutely NOTHING that bees will ALWAYS do. There are things that bees will MOST LIKELY do, but bees follow NO rules 100% of the time. Anyone who tells you they do, don't know bees very well. Things like beespace--MOST (99.8%) of the time bees regulate bee space, but NOT ALWAYS.

The other piece of advice is get Iddee's phone number. I don't know how many times I've called Iddee in a pinch. He lives in North Carolina, I live in Virginia, 40 miles west of Washington, DC. His phone # is plugged into my cell phone. He is a modern day G.M. Doolittle and does not mind one bit answering questions!

[Locust n Honey]

Subscribe to the beekeeping magazines: American Bee Journal & Bee Culture

[blaine]

Maintain perspective. calm and relaxed. easy does it with everything.

Bees are just lovely, fascinating bugs with a pointy end ( avoid ) and the other end that collects nectar and processes it into something wonderful... But bugs nonetheless. And they have been getting along and surviving without our meddling since creation.

You will have your successes and failures. Sometimes you get honey, other times not. You will make mistakes on occasion. And in spite of the screw ups and errors, somehow they survive and make increases for you. Other times, you do it all right, and for no discernible reason, the colony dies out depsite our best efforts.

Learn, relax, enjoy, and harvest honey when you are so blessed.

if you must stress and worry about something, may I suggest working on a solution to rid us all of those nasty parasites that cause more financial loss and problems than all others.... NO, not mites. Politicains. :D

[clgs]

Do find out how you respond to being stung - yes it will happen. Good to know if you're one to swell up big time before you're in a situation where you get multiple stings.

But it HURTS! Many of my mentors (very experienced keepers) urged me to "get used to it"..."handle the frames with bare hands so you don't squish bees"..."just get a veil, suits cost too much"...."stings are good for you".

I think they love pain. Perhaps after going through hives, they like to slam fingers in car doors. Not for me.

The money for the full suit was the best money I spent. I always zip into the suit and put on gloves, 20 seconds and presto chango. Haven't felt that intense pain of a sting since - so I love the girls once more.

[fatscher]

But it HURTS! Many of my mentors (very experienced keepers) urged me to "get used to it"..."handle the frames with bare hands so you don't squish bees"..."just get a veil, suits cost too much"...."stings are good for you".

I think they love pain. Perhaps after going through hives, they like to slam fingers in car doors. Not for me.

You gotta do what's best for you. I choose not to wear gloves if I can help it. It is not a macho thing for me, it just makes me feel closer to the girls and closer to nature. The thrill and pleasure of having bees crawl over my hands far outweighs the pain of stings. It's common for me to get 5-10 stings a day when I visit my 8 hives and 4 nucs on a sunny Saturday like today. The more stings per week, I consider the better. It increases my resistance to the poison.

I can tell an aggressive hive right away, 50-100 bees pour out of a hive 10 seconds after you open a box. In that case I wear gloves, always. But when the nectar flow is going strong, I wear my veil with t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. Gentleness is VERY important to me, An aggressive hive results in a pinched queen, and she's replaced in an instant.

Do I slam doors on my fingers? NO, that HURTS!

[WayneW]

From my point of view, there are many and varried things i'd have done differently starting out.

I started beekeeping blindly, mostly for the benefit(s) of pollenation for my garden (and the neighborhoods as well). I thought it was a matter of "buy bees, equipment, woodenware, and VIOLA!!!! You're a beekeeper. That was a huge misconception on my behalf!!!:cry:

As i "restart" my adventure, i have to say READING is key (i didnt see that mentioned yet :D). There is certainly no shortage of books and informational material available, I'd bet many of the senior keepers on this site wish they had as much information available to them when started.

If making a 50$ or so book purchase is out of budget to start with, then a simple googling of the phrase "beekeeping pdf" (http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=beekeeping+pdf) will net enough results for a great beginning for free.

As for a mentor, i wish i had contacted one ahead of my experience, rather than at a point where my bees are in trouble. There is no written word that can fill the void of "experience".

Other resources would be things like the Apiology and Apiculture online course offered by the University of Deleware (i am currently attending it myself).

[Charlotte]

Hello-
Just gotta say along with everyone else READ. I am new to this too, and I have read a ton, and still am. Your local library can be your best friend. I personally bought a couple books, the rest I borrowed from the library. There really is a lot out there! I photocopy some stuff & highlight for reference. Saves a lot of $$$ to use your FREE local resources!

Good Luck!

[sylus p]

Smoker - always
Veil - sometimes
gloves - almost never

I personally don't like it when they get in my pants....