[GLOCK]

So who's self taught?
I mean the ones that had no mentor or class's a father or grandfather just books the internet magazines and BS and hands on.
Me I never saw a hive till I had one never know any one with bees . I just jumped in with both feet and started making mistakes . Now 5 years later I have a sustainable apiary and never have to buy bees again and if I do its for breeding only. I am honey independent witch is awesome and may sell a couple nucs this year. I have the nicest apiary around and am more bee smart then most . Plus I have 1000 plus pics just the best hobby ever.
Hands on best teacher I have found.
And books I bought all them you only need one good one and the MAGS. waste of money same old same old year after year. Your best info and help BS and the INTERNET make the internet you mentor it works for me.
And I mean this in the nicest way possible.

 

[Michael B]

I am self taught. Always wanted to get into it but never really knew how. I read a bunch of books and asked a lot of questions. I have a agriculture and science background so I am used to doing things with hard work and smarts.

I started with a couple packages and it has grown from there. The first couple years I was flying by the seat of my pants. It was hard to realize what was right and what was wrong. The more and more experience I gained, the easier it became. In the beginning, it would take an hour to inspect one hive. Now I go through 25 hives in 1.5 hours and I rarely do full inspections.

Now beekeeping is part of my life and who I am. I have made so many new friend because of an insect.

 

[shinbone]

I first kept bees while in high school and beginning college. I had practically no information resources at hand, just a local exterminator, who sold some bee equipment on the side. I would ask him questions whenever I showed up at his house to buy frames and foundation.

I built all my own equipment except for frames and foundation, including sewing my own bee suit. All my bees came from feral swarms I collected. I didn't know enough to split a hive, but all my neighbors knew to call me if they had a swarm. I built up to 12 hives over a few years. Then a flood hit the orange grove I kept my hives in, and everything washed away never to be seen again, including the table I had built to hold the hives. All that effort and time just gone in an instant. Discouraged and with other aspects of life demanding my attention, I walked away.

Roughly 3 decades later, I am back at it. This time, the internet has provided a HUGE amount of information for me. I know so much more than I did before, and still have alot to learn. I realize I am lucky to have had the experience of building up a hobby apiary from just wild swarms, no way could I do that today in my area where I have never seen a swarm except from my own hives.

 

[Lauri]

That would also be me.
No mentor, no family knowledge passed down.
I used Beesource, youtube and 35 years experience on a small home farm with gardens & livestock. An interest in genetics and science. I like to work and am perticularly stubbrorn about not quitting until I am successful., no matter what the task or challenge as long as it is worthy of my efforts.

I've learned to be a problem solver, to be observant and to use common sense.


I have been told hundreds of times in my life 'You can't do it that way". I just smile and keep on doing what they say can't be done. I don't try to reinvent the wheel, but I strive to be efficient and innovative. I usually see improvement to be made in both products and methods, and I implement those improvements.

I model many of my methods after European beekeeping. They are more self sustaining than modern American ways and I admire their hand made equipment.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miller-Compound-HoneyBees-and-Agriculture/256954971040510

 

[Nabber86]

The only resource that I have ever used for beekeeping is right here Beesource. I have never read a book on the subject. The only other beekeeper that I have met face to face is the guy that I buy nucs from.

 

[JClark]

Self taught here too. No class, mentor, or club that I belong to. I am an entomologist though so it is sort of like cheating, in a sense. Meaning I already have a large knowledge base to pull from when I observe my hives. This is my third winter and I don't plan to ever buy bees again minus for genetics. Been a brutal winter but my most successful so far. Also, the beesource search function is my most used resource.

 

[Michael Bush]

>So who's self taught?
I mean the ones that had no mentor or class's a father or grandfather just books the internet magazines and BS and hands on.

I have alwasy considered myself an autodidactic in most everything. There was no internet. Certainly no BS. I didn't get to know any beekeepers until after I was keeping bees and that was pretty sparse until I got on BS. I started out doing cutouts when I knew nothing. I got stung a lot until I bought a coverall with a zip on veil from Walter T. Kelley. Eventually I got better at it... I was on my own the first two and half decades of my beekeeping...

 

[Stanisr]

Me too. I have always been interested in beekeeping, so I read everything I could and then I made the greatest discovery, Michael Bush. I read his website and have had bees soon to be five years.

 

[westernbeekeeper]

Lauri,
What's in the basket?

 

[gone2seed]

Self taught from "The Hive and the Honeybee" and ABC's of Bee Culture". I also leaned heavily on both magazines.Then had to re-learn everything after the mites came in.I lost a lot of hives in that process.

 

[Lauri]

Lauri,
What's in the basket?

He old man in the photo is just waiting for Michael Palmer's 2000# sugar block.

"Put suger in basket, Grasshoppa. Old man show you the way."

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I'm not really self-taught--more "bee taught", if you know what I mean. I tried everything I read about and the bees said "Yes, this works!" or "Nope! Try again, grasshopper!" But I have never been to a class or had a mentor or anything like that. I just read about beekeeping in Mother Earth News and thought it sounded interesting, bought some books, and kinda went from there. This is the only place I have ever "talked bees" and I didn't find it until around 2010.



Rusty

 

[Stella]

>So who's self taught?


Self taught. Still learning.
When I started I knew nothing.
When I failed I knew something.
When I started again I knew that I knew something but still didnt know enough to think that I knew anything.

But, Wow!!!, have I given myself an education!

 

[Mr.Beeman]

Self taught? Nope.
I researched via the internet on other beekeepers experiences with beesource as my mentor.
Self taught would be absolutely NO outside influence. Kind of like reading a self help book IMO. lol

 

[Lauri]

The self taught aspect about using Beesource as a guide, is learning the skill of determining what is bad advice and what is good advise. It can easily screw a person up as well as help them.
In my opinion, a person who uses the Internet is still self taught, but simply has easy access to information 'overload'. Beginners may read about what to do, but not understand the reasoning behind it, therefore miss the timing needed or the intended result.

Beginner:
Why feed bees? Because they are hungry, of course.

Beesource info:
Three day argument about non -feeders vs feeders, then a week of arguing about what to feed them, then another week of debate over who's recipe is better.

 

[Fusion_power]

Lol at Micheal Bush with "autodidactic". I'm a type D (developer) personality. It is certain that M.Bush is too. Developers have a unique ability to learn how to do things without formal training. Several others posting above are similar.

I started serious beekeeping in 1972 when I was 13 years old and taught myself everything from the start. I managed to scrape together $6.25 to purchase a smoker from Tom Hood which should tell you how long ago that has been. I subscribed to Gleanings in 1977 and purchased a table saw to build my own equipment. For the two years prior, I had borrowed an uncle's saw. It is interesting thinking about those days, by the time I was 18 years old, I had been a beekeeper for several years.

Lauri, you left out the part about "praise and honors for the non-participants".

 

[crofter]

I went into it without mentors but read mostly internet forums for a good part of a year before ever getting bees. My son started similarly but 300 miles away. Some people learn easily from the written word and others not well at all. I have to agree with Lauri about the skill of learning to sort the information good, bad, and not applicable to your conditions. I did get advice from a retired bee inspector about a supplier for bees that do well up here in the north.

4 years now with good results overall and only a few minor headscratchers. Undoubtedly there would be much to learn from someone who has done thousands of inspections and has tried and true, efficient ways. I am not interested in doing it fast though.

 

[Wolfer]

I would fit more into self teaching as opposed to self taught. Never had a mentor but read a lot of books from the library. I didn't have Internet. Once I had Internet and discovered michael Bushs sight I started learning a lot faster.
I liked MBs way of thinking from the start and decided to go that route. I haven't regretted it yet. Woody

 

[imthegrumpyone]

"The Basket" is weighted down with "Knowledge" that in turn gives him balance and he does not fall.

 

[GLOCK]

The practical Beekeeper is a all around good beekeeping book mines beat up pretty good from the hours of reading by my bee yard's Mikes book helped get me off to a good start great for the beginner . It's definitely a great book to have in your beekeeping library. Thanks MIKE for taking the time.:thumbsup: