If

[okaive]

I don't get any bees soon, I am going to get bored and find a new hobby. I already have another picked out, but know it would be a bad decision to try two new hobbies at once.

[Bsweet]

Try L. Ziegler You can get his phone # from his add on OSBA classified section or there may be others listed as well. Jim

[stripstrike]

Start collecting bee books. Eventually you'll probably want them anyhow, so start early...

My other hobbies are suffering badly since the bees moved in.

[okaive]

Oh I have plenty of bee books and bored of reading. I get rather bored just sitting around, I need the active part. Unfortunately, I am an on hands on learner, books really do nothing for me.

[Batman]

I was jonesing for some bees and last Thursday was the day it all started here for me. Don't worry, they will come. I was chomping at the bit last year for bees and then once I got my first swarm, I was getting calls almost daily for the next 2 months.

C2

[indypartridge]

I don't get any bees soon, I am going to get bored and find a new hobby. I already have another picked out, but know it would be a bad decision to try two new hobbies at once.

How about a complimentary hobby, like woodworking? Get a table saw and starting making your own equipment.

[okaive]

Wish i could, but have no room for any woodworking tools. My garage is full with my car and my motorcycles. What is killing me is, I picked another hobby that doesn't do anything for the winter. Along with the Bees, I also race motorcycles (see my point?).

My other hobby that I am wanting will take my time everyday. It will more then likely become a job then a hobby really until the winter time when I can take full advantage of it. But during the summer it will be fun to.

[brooksbeefarm]

Beekeeping can become a job also, you only get out of it what you put into it. Jack

[alpha6]

Am I missing something...why don't you get some bees? Plenty of packages and nucs for sale everywhere.

[pturley]

I can tell you from experience that racing motorcycles and bees do not mix! I once took a bee in the face at 130mph! I was stupid not to have a full helmet on at the time, but this is NOT an experience I want to repeat.

Regarding your question... ...only you will be able to answer that. Find a local Beekeeping association, try to shadow a local beek to see if it is as fascinating "first hand" as it appears to be on these forums. Either it'll scare you, or you'll be hooked.

I shadowed two keepers a long time ago (once ~10yrs ago and the first time(s) well over 20 years ago). I've only just now come back to try my hand at beekeeping for myself.


Sincerely,
Paul Turley

[okaive]

I am in an ass and also have a mentor (who is great). But at the time, my packages Wong get here until the end of the month. I do agree that they can be a job, but during winter, you do nothing just like the motorcycle, unless I have read posts wrong.

Also, unless I read wrong, you really don't do much during the summer except add supers and only check them a few days of the month. Even though I am older, I get bored quick and need something to do. I am going to have 2 hives this year and upgrade to 4 next and that will be it. No more then that. Big I do catch swarms, I will give them away if I am at my max.

With that said, I am off to get my certificate for my next hobby that I will start learning this year and actually start next year.

[Pyrotechnician]

Am I missing something...why don't you get some bees? Plenty of packages and nucs for sale everywhere.

Where in KY? I have looked, anyone have a couple for sale near central Ky or will ship USPS, give me a shout please. Now back to the original thread info.

[hoodswoods]

You might want to rethink how you are approaching your future interests (hobbies). There are those of us who can find satisfaction in long-term projects which ebb and flow through ideas, study, experimentation, which many times, results in no end-game, but it is just the process that satisfies us.

Others want relatively immediate results for efforts/investment (cause & effect).

Yes, there are lulls in beekeeping, but you have to remember that the results of what you are doing with regard to their management is totally dependant on the bees (and other things such as drought, nosema, mites, SHB, foul brood, wax moths...) which can take time.

Not that I have hardly any experience to call on, but if you can get those 2 hives thru next winter and be able to expand to 4, that would be fantastic.

If changing the plugs out on the cycle, or putting on stiffer struts and then taking it out the same day for a road test is what you're looking for, I say go for it.

I nuced 1 hive and packaged 1 hive late april/may last year - both made it thru the winter and have been split into 2 new nucs last week. I wouldn't worry that much about start dates - if you treat them right and your lucky, you WILL have 4 hives next year. Patience, grasshopper.

[okaive]

Patience I have. When I first started this thread, I was being partly sarcastic. On Sat and Sun it hit me that it is the winter and main days during the summer that I am needing something to do and not just build things. (You could say instant results or idle hands).

I am still staying on course with the bees and hope that next year that I am able to have 4 hives. After that and if I am still interested (get bored alot sometimes), I am hoping to be able to split those 4 hives and sell the nucs (still staying with 4 hives).

I do want honey, but don't care how much I get. It isn't about the money for me. I have plenty and really don't want this to be a job per se.

My new hobby is going to be a 2nd job but hoping that I will get much satisfaction out of it. It will be a daily activity and many hours that I have to dedicate to it. I think this is what I was wanting in the first place and somehow choose Bee keeping.

I am going to start into Falconry. I have ordered the books and found out that by Nov (if I am wanting to capture a bird then), that I will have to study my butt off to take a federal test, build a facility for the bird, have it inspected by a game wardon or the national wildlife and find a sponsor who will take me in for 2 years to make sure I do everything right before I can actually be on my own.

The training of the bird is what will motivate me the most. Going hunting for its food and watching it soar and then come back to my arm is what will be worth all the time. It demands attention everyday and if I am not on my toes, the bird will die due to my failure. Bees on the other hand can fend for themselves and will leave if I don't succeed.

I still have medium boxes that I need to build, but I know I can sit on them until beginning of summer. I am a procastinator and that is what I need to get out of. I cannot do that with Falconry. Don't get me wrong, I still am anxiously waiting for my bees to come and enjoy hanging at my mentors house talking about bees when I get the chance (which isn't to often either due to weather or one of us working), so don't count me out of this hobby yet.

[hoodswoods]

Great!

I kept a hawk (not falcon), many years ago before any sort of regulations, she would call to me as I came home from school (only wanting to be fed, of course and not any other attachment, as I could tell - she didn't 'kiss' my lip like a parakeet).

Sounds like you can have a lot of activities going on a daily basis.

[okaive]

Yeah the regulations are huge. It's amazing what they can think of, but it is all for the good of the bird.

Not much going on a daily basis, that is why I am trying to find something to take it. 40 minutes with the bees a week really doesn't cut it. (basing this on how much I spend at with my mentors hives).