Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[AverageJoe]

I'm not looking to make a bunch of money on the honey. Just supply our sugar needs. We've used raw honey as our primary sugar for the last 15 years. We go through 5 gallons a year. When I started honey was $8/gal, it is now $33/gallon. I've read that a typical hive produces 4 gallons per year.

I could do it, and I hope to. The wife is eager to do it. But I have to look at the entire processing of honey too. If we do one hive, we should probably do 2 to ensure a full supply even in bad years for honey.

You can start with two and probably by the end of the season you will have 2-3 nucs going easily. I started a hive in October and it has already swarmed once and will probably do it again before the end of the summer. You'll be dealing with swarms so much that soon you'll have more nucs than you know what to do with. Just make sure you have enough spare equipment ready (adn space) to collect them when they do swarm.

As for harvesting amounts, my brother harvested his hives late last year for the first time and got 75 lbs worth from about 5 hives. My father got about 45lbs from his four hives.

Good luck with yours! They are amazing creatures.

[C-Mag]

I'm not looking to make a bunch of money on the honey. Just supply our sugar needs. We've used raw honey as our primary sugar for the last 15 years. We go through 5 gallons a year. When I started honey was $8/gal, it is now $33/gallon. I've read that a typical hive produces 4 gallons per year.

I could do it, and I hope to. The wife is eager to do it. But I have to look at the entire processing of honey too. If we do one hive, we should probably do 2 to ensure a full supply even in bad years for honey.

You can start with two and probably by the end of the season you will have 2-3 nucs going easily. I started a hive in October and it has already swarmed once and will probably do it again before the end of the summer. You'll be dealing with swarms so much that soon you'll have more nucs than you know what to do with. Just make sure you have enough spare equipment ready (adn space) to collect them when they do swarm.

As for harvesting amounts, my brother harvested his hives late last year for the first time and got 75 lbs worth from about 5 hives. My father got about 45lbs from his four hives.

Good luck with yours! They are amazing creatures.

THANKS !
I'm sure I'll be reaching out to you in the future. I'm not ready to dive into this, and I won't until I do all my research, set up my infrasture, maintenance and processing. Here's a question that will display my ignorance on bees currently. What is a nuc ?

[Speaker to Animals]

Nucleus colony. It's just a small box with about five shallow frames in it, with a queen and bees that have accepted her.

[C-Mag]

Nucleus colony. It's just a small box with about five shallow frames in it, with a queen and bees that have accepted her.

I'm smarter now than I was a few minutes ago, thanks.

[Speaker to Animals]

Nucleus colony. It's just a small box with about five shallow frames in it, with a queen and bees that have accepted her.

I'm smarter now than I was a few minutes ago, thanks.

When you start, you need to build the colonies yourself from unassembled boxes (easy and much cheaper). Paint them, put the frames together, and then buy two nucs. Start with at least two colonies.

You have to decide if you want ten or eight frame boxes. Stick with the same pattern. Ten frame boxes are best for production, but get very heavy for women and elderly. You can build a base on your own from cinderblocks and boards, or buy fancy ones. Most likely, you will just want for each nest at first two deep boxes. It will be a year before you want to put supers on there to produce honey.

AverageJoe lives in Florida where they can forage all the time. They have to hunker down in the winter where you live, and you don't want to leave them with too little honey. Spend a year just growing them and learning how to control the mites.

There are a lot of little decisions, like whether you want to use a queen excluder to keep her out of your supers, what kind of mite control you are going to use, etc. Actually mite control is the big one. You have to control the varroa destructor mites each year or they will kill your colonies. This is the main reason the bee colonies are collapsing everywhere since the early 2000s.

[AverageJoe]

A good tip as well is nearly every bee book out there was written for folks in Northern climates that include winterizing boxes. Whereas here, we have to kind of wing it and adapt some Northern techniques and develop our own. The University of Florida has a Bee College that studies bees and teaches beekeepers (mostly commercial) on good beekeeping practices.

As for hive boxes, shop around before you buy. We use a local beekeeper who sells preassembled boxes for a lot less than most commercial companies. We don't assemble, or paint, our own. It's just not worth the time to us. We usually start with a 10 frame brood box and 10 frame super with a queen excluder. As the hive grows we add additional boxes as needed, never going above 3 supers (the honey boxes). As StA stated varroa are the main baddies to look out for but make sure to read up on hive beetles, African Foul Brood, and other pest/diseases.

Check your local area for a beekeeping association to get info, training and possibly a mentor to learn from. Also a great resource for local bee products (boxes, nucs, swarms, etc). Be sure to check you state and local laws/ordinances for beekeeping codes.

Your initial investment is going to be the biggest, then it should get cheaper after that.

[heydaralon]

I'm not looking to make a bunch of money on the honey. Just supply our sugar needs. We've used raw honey as our primary sugar for the last 15 years. We go through 5 gallons a year. When I started honey was $8/gal, it is now $33/gallon. I've read that a typical hive produces 4 gallons per year.

I could do it, and I hope to. The wife is eager to do it. But I have to look at the entire processing of honey too. If we do one hive, we should probably do 2 to ensure a full supply even in bad years for honey.

You can start with two and probably by the end of the season you will have 2-3 nucs going easily. I started a hive in October and it has already swarmed once and will probably do it again before the end of the summer. You'll be dealing with swarms so much that soon you'll have more nucs than you know what to do with. Just make sure you have enough spare equipment ready (adn space) to collect them when they do swarm.

As for harvesting amounts, my brother harvested his hives late last year for the first time and got 75 lbs worth from about 5 hives. My father got about 45lbs from his four hives.

Good luck with yours! They are amazing creatures.

THANKS !
I'm sure I'll be reaching out to you in the future. I'm not ready to dive into this, and I won't until I do all my research, set up my infrasture, maintenance and processing. Here's a question that will display my ignorance on bees currently. What is a nuc ?

Make sure that you lift up the hive with your hands and shake it every few hours. This will force the bees out of their complacency and cause them to make even more honey. It is very important that when you shake the hive, you do not wear a beekeeper suit, as the suit causes the bees not to trust you.

[Speaker to Animals]

Suits are for pussies. Just wear a hat that covers your face and neck and you will be fine. Also, you won't get the anti-arthritis benefits unless you get stung every now and again.

I think where the suits shine is if you want to take out a colony of yellow jackets.

[AverageJoe]

Suits are for pussies. Just wear a hat that covers your face and neck and you will be fine. Also, you won't get the anti-arthritis benefits unless you get stung every now and again.

I think where the suits shine is if you want to take out a colony of yellow jackets.

I wear a jacket/veil/gloves and long pants. Its suggested wearing light/bright colors vs dark. Rumor has it bees equate dark colors to predators attacking and get more upset. Plus in the summer wearing all dark is a sure way to collapse from heat exhaustion.

I'm allergic to bee stings so that is the lightest set up for me. My brother just wears a veil. Ask 10 beekeepers what they wear and you will get 12 different answers.

[Speaker to Animals]

Suits are for pussies. Just wear a hat that covers your face and neck and you will be fine. Also, you won't get the anti-arthritis benefits unless you get stung every now and again.

I think where the suits shine is if you want to take out a colony of yellow jackets.

I wear a jacket/veil/gloves and long pants. Its suggested wearing light/bright colors vs dark. Rumor has it bees equate dark colors to predators attacking and get more upset. Plus in the summer wearing all dark is a sure way to collapse from heat exhaustion.

I'm allergic to bee stings so that is the lightest set up for me. My brother just wears a veil. Ask 10 beekeepers what they wear and you will get 12 different answers.

Dark colors are like bears. Bears are the big predators.