New Venture

[John1982]

I'm a fan of bugs, I'm a fan of honey - getting a bee hive was only logical.

[BLM94]

That looks beautiful! How long generally is the wait from colony startup to harvesting honey?

[John1982]

I'm a complete newbie to this apiary stuff so I couldn't tell you with any certainty. I think it would depend on what time of year and your location as to how long until you take your first harvest. I picked up the hive in early May and it was pretty full then. I added another deep(big box for brood and food stores) that basically doubled the size of the hive since. They've already drawn out all the foundation on that one as well. I reckon the next step is to throw some supers(shallow boxes for the honey I'm going to take) on top and see what happens.

[Eric Alan]

Nice! I've always been curious about beekeeping. I'm just a bit jealous that you're getting to live my pipe dream. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to 1) bring up this topic to my wife, and 2) put this curiosity into an actual plan. I'd like to have something similar to one of these:

[bcr229]

Awesome! My mom had two hives in the back yard before she passed away. I don't know how much the hives produced, but I do know that she was always giving us honey.

[Mephibosheth1]

Im getting into apiculture as well….got a spot picked out in the backyard that will house 2 hives and everything. My uncle and Vet Tech teacher both have hives, and my uncle got over 150lbs of honey last year...

@Eric Allan–observation hives usually only hold 4 frames of bees, so if you keep them in one of them for too long they swarm away. You usually have to split them off fairly quickly.

@John1982–what kind of hive management are you using?? Treatment free?? Excluder or not?? And what strain you using?? I'm thinking of trying either Carniolans or Cordovans...

[John1982]

@John1982–what kind of hive management are you using?? Treatment free?? Excluder or not?? And what strain you using?? I'm thinking of trying either Carniolans or Cordovans...

I'm basically just adding boxes so the hive can grow. I'm hoping to split the hive eventually. I probably will use an excluder, plan on getting some advice from Dadant when I go later this week to pickup a couple supers. It just seems more convenient come harvest time to not have to deal with brood and stuff. I'm not a big fan of proactive treatment but it seems to be what most folks do with bees. They say you lose about 1/3 of your hives each year even with treatment so I just don't know. It's a learning process for me so I'll probably just let this hive go natural and keep an eye on things - pick up some useful info along the way. These are an Italian strain - pretty much what folks around here have the most success with I'm told.

[Mephibosheth1]

Very nice…you should get on Beesource.com…there's a very knowledgeable base of beekeepers on there (even some of the 'leaders' in the field post regularly). Look me up if you're on there…my username is the same as it is here

It'd be awesome to see inspection pics of your hive as it progresses…good luck to you and your little ladies

[DooLittle]

I'm super jealous! I have wanted a bee hive and honey for quite awhile. Unfortunately my yard isnt big enough and my neighbor's are all too close. Please make sure you post lots of pics and stuff! And if you ever get too much honey....

[Mephibosheth1]

Just give them lots of honey (or brew them some mead) and they'll probably forgive you….

You'd be surprised how many urban beekeepers there are

I'm fitting 2 hives in the backyard, in addition to the Falconry Mews and the swimming pool, so I'm sure you can do it too Doolittle