# Bee Keeping



## Smithfarms (Aug 26, 2013)

Ok I am pretty new to this so if I mess up please for give me. Ok, so my question is pretty simple, is it difficult to get started and continuing to raise bees? 

I am really interesting in making my own honey and have 30 acres to use in this effort. 

I look forward to hearing any advice or answers and thank you for taking the time to stop by


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

This question is hard to answer as there are lots of variables. You can make a hive yourself with scrap lumber, put a lure in it and hope for a swarm or you can buy all brand new equipment and go all out buying a nuke. One is very inexpensive and the other... not so much. You're in MO, so your weather is pretty temperate, not too cold nor too hot, so you should be OK with going either way with your startup. 

My advice would depend on how serious you are about being a beekeeper versus a bee-have-er. If you just want something to pollinate your vegies, I'd suggest finding a local beekeeper and asking him to place a hive or so on your property for a honey share. If you're serious about wanting to be a beekeeper and want to eventually have many hives, decide on what you want and stick to it. Ex: You want ease of swapability of parts, then go with all Illinois/Medium supers all from the same supplier. Some suppliers leave the 'bee space' at the top of the super and some at the bottom. These you can't mix and match as the bee space is messed up. Find a mentor and ask lots of questions, but only after reading a lot of books and watching Youtube so your questions don't come off poorly.

Hopes this helps. It in no way is meant to come off as derogatory. Just noticed that it hadn't been answered, so I thought I'd start the discussion.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

My dad got into beekeeping many years ago(approx 20) and had many questions. He turned to our local beekeepers association. They have meetings, seminars,personal mentors, and now most have recieved grants from the federal government for 1st time beekeepers to help them purchase their equipment.

If you search for your states beekeeper association, they usually have a pages link to your local beekeepers association who can help you tremendously. My dad has hives over 3 states and he can never keep enough product for the demand.He loves it.

Btw, some of the hives are in the bootheel of Missouri, so I know their is an association there.


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## thenance007 (Mar 18, 2013)

Actually, beekeeping IS very difficult these days. When I was a kid, my dad had a hive, harvested honey once a year and that was about it. It lasted for years. That hasn't worked since the 80's when everything changed.

Now with all the pesticides, varroa mites, small hive beetles, weakened genetics, etc. it is very challenging (and expensive) to get and keep a hive going.

Bees need forage from late winter to late fall so they need a succession of blooming plants. They usually forage a radius of 2 miles. Nothing you can plant on your 30 acres will provide forage for more than a month or two. Suburban beekeepers actually have better forage than the country these days unless you have a lot of "weedy" fence rows and roadsides. 

Your initial investment will most likely be in the range of $4-500 for equipment, hives, bees, etc.if you start with one hive, and an additional $200 - $300 per additional hive. A package of bees runs $70-90, a nuc (a mini starter hive) close to $140. To get a better idea of costs, you can go to www.kelleybees.com--they are one of the major bee supply companies. You only want to start a hive in the Spring, never this late as they won't have time to build up. Queens used to last 3 - 4 years, now they rarely last a year (new queen = $25, if you can get one when you need her). And you have to decide if you are willing to use chemicals in the hive in order to keep them alive (most beekeepers do, I don't.)

You would want to start with 2 or 3 hives so that if you have a problem with one hive, you can usually rescue it with resources from another hive. A single hive rarely lasts a year before dying out unless you keep giving it new resources. 

You won't get any surplus honey for yourself until your second year, as they use the first year to build up and store enough honey to get them through the winter.

I love my 4 hives. This is my 3rd year with them. But it has been a constant struggle to keep them alive and I've probably dumped another $300 into them each year after the first as I built from 1 to 4 hives. I enjoy the challenge and they are fascinating creatures. But if you just want honey, you can buy a LOT of honey for what you will spend on your bees. And a LOT of work.

My best advice is to join a local beekeeping club now and begin to learn. It is very cheap, you can talk with beekeepers, they usually have a beginning beekeeping class in January or February, in time to decide if you want bees. Just understand that "if you ask 10 beekeepers the same question, you'll get 12 different answers." 

Beekeeping isn't for everyone, but a lot of us get "hooked" on it. Don't expect to make money from it, expect it to be a "black hole" financially.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Getting into beekeeping is easy. It's quitting that is hard! :grin:

As others have said, look up your local beekeeping club. There is almost always beekeepers there that are happy to get a beginner started. We like to share our addiction. You might offer to exchange a bit of physical labor helping someone with their bees in exchange for knowledge and a bit of honey. At least that way you could see if you like it before you make a big investment.


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## dieseldoctor (Aug 27, 2013)

I got started this year in may,which is actually late. The suppliers in Ga. were having a cold spring and couldn't work their bees til then. I started with a class from our local association and a lot of internet searching. My initial investment was around 900 with 3 hives, feeders and 3 packages. After installing the 3 packages in the hives, within 3 days 1 absconded. Have no idea what happened to the queen, but most of the workers went into the other 2 hives. I fed them sugar syrup (stimulates them to make wax for comb on bare wax foundation), and those 2 hives responded by growing very quickly. I added hive bodies as necessary and in july they had a huge population. So having on hand equipment from the absconded hive I made a split, took frames of brood, workers and honey from the 2 hives and made a new hive (bought a queen from my local supplier). as of right now all 3 are going gangbusters, as a matter of fact at least once a week a new batch of workers hatches and I see them doing orientation flights, what an awesome sight. These are amazing creatures, no slackers here. Originally I got into it because of the plight of the pollinators, but now I'm just hooked. This first year I will not take any honey, I want them to have enough of their own "proper food" for the winter. If all goes well I'll split these hives next spring, hopefully BEFORE they swarm, which is a normal reproductive habit of bees. IF these hives survive the winter IF I can split in the spring and IF all goes well I would like to go into winter next year with 6-8 hives, then maybe get a crop of honey next year, remembering not to be greedy and leave them plenty for survival. This will a come at a cost, I'll be building my own wooden ware, but will buy frames and foundation. I'm not looking to make a living from honey or hive products, but if there is enough maybe offset the costs of keeping them. PLEASE, be aware I am VERY new to this and these are MY goals, you will need to research for yourself and determine if it is right for you. As one of the posters said, "you can buy a lot of honey for what it will cost to get into this". As of this post I have between 1300 and 1500 dollars tied up. Be careful if you decide to go for it, it can be addictive....

Walt:tmi: sorry


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## elbowbeach (Nov 14, 2008)

I appreciate all of the advice. I hope to take a class in Feb,as well as attend a monthly meeting over the fall/winter. The goal is to be ready by spring.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

My dad intially got started in the bees to enhance the garden production, next thing I know he's planting just because of the bees. He was addicted. What better time for it that when he was contemplating retirement. So three little hives turned into hives all over southern Missouri, Western Tennessee and Northern Arkansas. I'm just glad he has something that makes him happy and there are worse things he could be addicted to or spending his money on:grin:.He's at the point now where he's making a supplemental income with his retirement money and enjoying "older" age.


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

IIRC there is a Beekeepers association in Clinton Mo. Not too far, and they will probably have a beginners class late winter sometime. Contact the Extension off in Clinton, they'll know.


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## dieseldoctor (Aug 27, 2013)

Update: 

Our state ag bee inspector came on the day I had to go into the hive anyways, how often will that happen? In 3 hives we found only 6 mites and a very healthy population. I got a clean bill of health. Yesterday I took my last feeder out on the sidewalk between the house and garage to clean out the burr comb and sugar honey off it and save the wax. I was interrupted by someone, when I went to bring the dogs out there was a swarm of bees cleaning out the comb and feeder. It's about 150 yards from the hives, amazing how fast they found it and they cleaned up what would have taken me a half hour in about ten minutes lol. It was pretty impressive. I guess the flow is finally over. Just an interesting story (to me anyhow).

Walt


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