# New beekeeper..



## skngslfsuff (Mar 5, 2016)

Hi, we've been thinking about adding bees to the homestead but I feel really nervous about it. I have never been much of a bee fan and I feel like everything I read says how hard it is to start a hive. Anyone have any advice on starting a hive and feeling confident about it? I live in central michigan so our winters get pretty cold.



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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Getting started isn't all that hard if you have the money for equipment and the bees them self. 
Read all the above stuff in the sticky.
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/beekeeping/53438-advice-new-beekeeper.html

What is hard is keeping them alive with all the pestsides in use today and all the other things like the vorra mites and Nosema.
With treatments for the mites and nosema and not robbing to much honey they will do OK.

Join a club!!!!!!!! search Michigan bee keepers clubs to find one near you.

 Al


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## txsteele (Nov 19, 2014)

Nothing to be nervous about. Bees that are healthy are very peaceful. 

YouTube is great instructional tool. Look up JPTheBeeman and 629DirtRooster to see what I mean.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

had bees for ten years ,,, grand kids helped with the hives from 2 years old and on ,, we did not have suits for the first 4 or 5 years ,, and I have more fingers then the times I have put a suit on , and I am not gentle at all when I work them ,,, get stung 8 to 18 times a summer ,, most summers 10 or 12 ,,,,, the place the grand kids loved to play was 3 to 5 feet from the front of the hives


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Bees are actually pretty reasonable: If you make a mistake they will usually fix it for you, and if they cannot fix it then they will leave. That happened to me once, when I had put a queen In a weak and queenless hive but I did not feed them long enough. Instead of settling down they sucked up all of their honey and she led them away!

Bees are not as helpless as some domestic critters, and they can generally fix any mistakes that you make. Seriously. 

As a new beekeeper it would be wise to open each hive once a week, to check and make sure there is young brood and enough food stored. If the flowers are not blooming within 3 miles then they eat honey until the flowers are blooming again, and at that time the beekeeper needs to keep an eye on the amount of honey they have stored.

I have been told that an experienced beekeeper can tell how the bees are flying if they are bringing in nectar or not but I never could. I always had to smoke the bees and lift the lid to see what they were up to.

I think I averaged getting stung once a year, but then I never had more than a few hives.


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