Newbie from North Mississippi

[keito]

I will be purchasing bees in 2011 and I am in the process of acquiring all my equipment. Any information is always welcome. One question I did have is if I start with a few hives is it better to have all the same breed of bees or can you mix them up. Say two hives of Italians and two hives of Russians?

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Welcome, if you put all your eggs in one basket, don't get upset when they all go bad! I ran a mix of Italian Cordovan and Canadian Buckfast hives this year. Gentleness for teaching and mite/small hive beetle resistance are my greatest concerns. Russians will have to be requeened annually with "store bought" mated queens.

[justinh83]

Welcome! I wanted to be the first to direct you to our Mississippi Beekeepers Group.

Once you have signed in to beesource, click on the 'Community' Link, then click 'Social Groups'.

Type 'Mississippi' into the search box and you will come back with a listing for "Mississippi Beekeepers".

You should see a 'Join Group' button somewhere on that page.

Tell'em I sent 'ya!

[Broke-T]

Welcome to beesource. My father and I have around 140 hives in Philadelphia. We sell honey locally and raise a few nucs to sell.

Have kept a lot of different breeds and now have mutt Italians. Breeding for gentelness and disease resistance.

If your not a member of MS Beekeeping Assn you can join by going to the website.

http://www.mshoneybee.org/

Annual meeting is the 29th and 30th of this month. Hope to see you there.

Johnny

[indypartridge]

Hello and Welcome!

I'm sure you'll find this site to be a good place to learn more about bees and beekeeping. Be sure to check out the "How to Start Beekeeping" subforum which contains tips and suggestions covering the basics.

I also encourage you join a beekeeping club. Clubs often offer beginning beekeeping classes and are great places to find mentors and get connected with nearby beekeeepers. Since you're in the very northern part of the state, in addition to the MS links posted, you might consider driving across the border if any of these clubs are closer:
http://www.tnbeekeepers.org/locals.htm