Backyard beekeeping

[T Bone]

It interests me.

Anyone here do it?

It looks to be low maintenance once the hive gets established.

Please share what you know.

 

[katqanna]

I started capturing a wild hive that swarmed to do the natural method of beekeeping. Researched the easier on you and less invasive on the bees method of top bar hives. Barefoot Beekeeper. While this guy is out of England, there are US sites doing the same. He offered a number of PDF's for free at the time which I downloaded and was using for the top bar hive directions. His book, the Barefoot Beekeeper, is my favorite. I like things low maintenance, efficient, and healthy. I still have the pdf's, including Beekeeping for free, if you would like them emailed pm me, otherwise you can purchase them online.

Just like everything else the commercial industry does to farm things, "bigger is better" mucked with the bees. They made wax cells larger so the larvae would grow larger under the belief that bigger bees would produce more honey. Decades there grew a move to go back to the natural, wild size because the smaller bees are not as susceptible to the mites that have been a problem.

 

[JDH]

I always thought it looked interesting but I've got too many hobbies the way it is.

 

[jryoung]

It's a super simple hobby, there is probably someone in your area that can sell you a hive and show you the ropes. We've divide our hive and are now running two, we plan to expand to 3 or 4 selling one or two each year to fund the hobby.

The honey is as good as it gets, especially if you have a good foundation of food. We have spring acacia and bottle brush that make for amazing honey. Then the oaks kick in later in the summer when they start to sweat.

our "bee guy" notice the lack of gloves

 

[cornfed]

I was just talking about this with a co-worker the other day. His son was considering it. I guess their is some issues latley with mites and disease and ariel crop spraying is starting to be a big thing the last few seasons and I assume that might be hard on the colonies. Some of the big fur trappers in the state do this for off season income. I like to try something new every year, this year maple syrup but in the future maybe honey or some chickens. Good luck and keep us posted if you give it a go.

 

[T Bone]

Cool stuff jryoung!

That's exactly the type of info I'm looking for.

Did you buy a hive with bees or did you have to introduce them to the new hive?