I accidentally posted this fun little entry for a couple hours last week; it was meant for today.
My wife and I grow vegetables, fruit, nuts, and berries. We’ve considered getting goats. And deep in my heart, I think it’d be fun to keep bees. (My dad kept bees for a time when I was a boy — I was awed by his white beekeeping outfit.)
The Make Blog points to several web resources on beekeeping basics.
- A 4-H Beekeeping Manual from the University of Florida.
- An article on basic beekeeping operations (again from 4-h).
- BeeSource, an “online sourcebook for beekeeping”, which has all sorts of information, including bees and equipment, plans for building hives, and a treatise called The Elements of Beekeeping. (Also check out this strange account of using bees as a weapon.)
This AskMetafilter question might also be of use: What do I need to know to become an amateur apiarist/beekeeper?
I’m curious about beekeeping costs. Most sites just call it a “low-cost hobby”. This page esitmates it takes about $300 to get started. A great PDF entitled Beekeeping in Kentucky: What’s the Buzz About? lists the startup costs at $266 and yearly maintenance costs at about $20. (The brochure also estimates that a typical hive can bring in $100-$150 a year if the honey is sold.)
Just for the fun of it, here’s a BBC story about an Irishman who tried (and failed) to set a new ‘bee record’ (for number of bees on his body simultaneously). He only managed 200,000 bees, which is just over half as many as he needed. He wasn’t stung during the stunt. Strange stuff.
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Why not makes homes for bumble bees instead? They’re native, unlike the honeys, and they pollinate better too. More info here:
http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/biology.htm#solitary
and here:
http://habitat.ms11.net/bee/beehome.htm#_Solitary_Bee_House
I’ve been “keeping” them for about seven years now, and it’s really a great hobby without risk of sting nor fancy equipment.
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Please note in some states, keeping bees, even has a hobby is considered agricultural activity and you will have to register them with the state. It’s why a friend of mine in VA keeps his bees in MD at another friend’s house where there is no registration.
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I met a man who has bees that he actually “rents” out to a local orange grove. He does this with another tree grove as well. He said the honey is an amazing orange honey that he makes and gives as gifts to friends… I see some bigger money in bees, if you want to go after it, don’t you?
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Alan, Kris used to keep a “humble bumble home” (which I believe may be a brand-name) at our old house, but never had much luck. We’ve put up a couple of mason bee nests, but I haven’t checked to see if they were used.
I think prlinkbiz has the right idea: maybe I should “rent” some bees to test them out.
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My husband and I considered bees, until we found out a neighbor two streets over has them. So, instead, I got chickens. (All hens, no roosters.) The initial investment isn’t expensive:
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We started keeping bees this year and have really enjoyed it. I plan on expanding our “operation” next year. You can’t beat the honey and the bees are a blast to be around. Our local botanical garden offered a 4 session class for $30 and it helped us tremendously. Especially on how to handle the bees and not get stung. Money well spent.
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I’m a former beekeeper myself.
Had two hives.
Used to handle them without protection.
Then got stung on the eyelid.
After that I wore the gear.
The hobby wasn’t that expensive
as long as you can get access to the extraction equipment (which IS costly).
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Sir,
I am intending to start bee keeping. It would be nice if nore on methods could be found. Thanks
Yours sincerely
Rokov
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I would like to know about the advantages to keeping bees for my other crops . We do hay and a large sAle garden . If we do need them for polonation how many bees do we need
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Thanks for the great information. I recently started a beekeeping hobby which I hope will develop into a full time business for me one day.
Beekeeping can be a bit of a challenge to get started with unless you have a lot of quality information to help you quickly learn everything that you need to know.
One great resource that I found for beginner beekeepers is http://www.thebeekeeper.info
You should check out this site as it has a ton of articles on beekeeping.
Thanks again!
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