Beehive

[ReeferMac]

Well it took a few years (started looking into it when I still lived in NY!), but Saturday my package of bee's arrived, and they're starting to settle in.

It's my first hive. Daughter did the artwork.

 

 

- K

 

[Raoul]

Congrats. My grandfather was a devoted beekeeper. As a result I have very little fear of bees.

[kieefer]

 I would like to do this but i really swell up if stung. ill need a good stock of epi'pens to start this hobbie.

Your "package of bees"? Our local bees won't do? 

What has been you intial costs?

[Jeb48]

Do you have it setup to be bear proof?

[Mark A]

Ahhh... Bees... I'm very envious. I thought when we first bought our property in 2014 I would get 4-5 hives set up and producing. I was under the very incorrect impression that bees were kind of set it and forget it. The more I read the more I realized that we really needed to bee (hah!) living there full time. So, I wait and wait and wait... Eventually we will get started on our house and then we will bee (sorry) living there and get to start a hive.

I think once I can keep a hive alive for a year then we will see about adding more

I think meantime I will bee (I freakin couldn't resist) patient and live vicariously through you.

 

Bee well....

[analog_kidd]

I've been keeping bees for about three years now. They are fascinating creatures and I'm always learning something new about them.

I think you may have supered too early. Generally, you want to let the bees draw out comb one box at a time. The super goes on after the two deeps are fully drawn out. The bees have an interesting way of laying out their colony. Think of it like a bulls-eye. The queen will lay brood in the center, then the workers will put pollen around the brood, and then honey around the pollen. This bulls-eye usually spans between the two hive bodies. For some reason, the queen usually won't cross the honey boundary.  If you put a super on now, they will just span all three boxes and you'll end up with brood and pollen in the box that you want to collect honey in. If nothing else, get a queen excluder and put it on between the deep and the medium. That'll at least keep brood out of the medium. Usually the first year is spent building the colony, and you probably won't get to rob any honey.

I always say the first two deeps are their's, the rest belongs to me. But the whole point of them working so hard and making honey is to be able to eat though the winter, so you need to be sure that the two deeps are full up. Once they are squared away, you can start to think about your own honey.

I would recommend getting into a bee keepers association, you will learn so much from attending the meetings, and talking with people. I am in the Anderson County Bee Keepers Association, and we meet in Clinton. That's a bit of a haul for you, but I think there is a Roane / Morgan county one too.  I couldn't find any info for them other than an email address. Try to find an experienced "Bee-Buddy" that you can call on to help out and ask questions of. Our club is chock full of really experienced folk, and every meeting is spent telling everyone what they should be doing the coming month, and giving lessons on something bee related.

Good luck

[runco]

My father was a big bee keeper in the late 70s, 80s and into the 90s, until the blight took them out.  At his peak, I think he had over 100 stands, he was hooked up with a couple of restaurants in Pigeon Forge.  Though he was from Sevier County, he kept most of bees around Jamestown in Fentress county due to the concentration of sourwood trees (best honey every).  He was setup with the bigger equipment, extractor, hot knife, and his canning was absolutely beautiful.  All of his canning had the beautiful comb.  I was of course his second set of hands, and I learned a lot during that time frame.  Its been 30 years since I worked with bees, but where I live it begs for bees.  I have many sourwood trees on my property.  I actually have some interest to dabble in this as a hobby, that I once disliked.  When I helped my dad, it was always to help move heavy stands early early of the morning.  It was always hot, and somewhere in Egypt.  Then I helped to rob bees, he would do all of the hard work, but I would be just the second set of hands if needed.  BTW, my dad rarely used any veil, never a suit, but he did use gloves.  I have seen him stung many times, he never complained, just kept on working. 

OP not being critical, but when I was 10 or so, I wanted to paint some of my Dad's hives some color other than white.  I remember him saying, no son, it must be white to keep the heat down in the hive.  White reflects the solar heating.  Example, ever felt of a white car in the summer, the temperature will be cool actually ambient temperature, however a dark color car, will be hot to the touch, same principal.  In the summer, those boxes can get really hot.  Though the bees will hang on the outside to stay cool, and they use their wings to cool the queen, it can lead to poor hive performance.  So you might want to re-consider.  They are cute though, your daughter did a good job.

[Sidecarist]

Nice! I lost all my bees this winter and things have kept me from re-starting yet....

As to bear proof I can help you with the right set up for an electric fence that will work on bears. I learned the hard way... it's setup different than for livestock.

 

[peejman]

10 hours ago, kieefer said:

 I would like to do this but i really swell up if stung. ill need a good stock of epi'pens to start this hobbie.

Your "package of bees"? Our local bees won't do? 

What has been you intial costs?

Generally you have to mail order a colony of bees to get a hive started.  

 

I'm also fascinated by bees and would like to have a hive or 3 myself.  But as mentioned, it's seems like a fair amount of work and I don't think I'd have the time necessary to care for them.  

 

[Ronald_55]

My Papaw was a bee keeper. He usually had 5-10 hives. I remember walking through clouds of bees and I think I only ever got stung twice. Both were really my own fault. I don't mind honey bees at all, but yellow-jackets are my bane.

I actually did a project in school with a 1 rack view hive. One of my Papaw's woodworking bee keeper buddies built it. It was all cedar and beautiful. I think my sister has it now. She cleaned it up and used it to display my Papaw's army uniform.

This is what it was like, but only one rack high.

                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I remember correct he kept his hives on a piece of tin larger than the hive bottom by a few inches each way to limit ants crawling in. Ants and other bugs will wear down a hive if they keep at it.

 

So what kind of trees and flowers do you have around for them?

[ReeferMac]

16 hours ago, kieefer said:

Your "package of bees"? Our local bees won't do? 

What has been you intial costs?

 

Have was around $500 w/ veil and other assorted sundries. "Packaged" bee's is how hives are typically started up. You can order the package (3lbs and a marked queen) for about $120, or join your local Beekeepers club and get it at a discount like I did ($100).

 

Not currently bear-proofed Jeb, but we'll have a fence-charger on the pasture nearby, and I'll use that if needed.

 

Thanks Analog, I may be interested. I joined the Cherokee Beek's b/c a friend of mine is in that group, he's been helping mentor me, but I'm always interested in learning more! @Sidecarist offered to help w/ questions, too (Damned Yankee's stick together!)

 

- K
 

[runco]

Remember everyone, swarms are free!  Look for swarms.  I think my dad only purchased just a couple of times the queen and workers from the local coop.  He built his empire by swarms he recovered.  

Edited April 3, 2017 by runco

[JAB]

My step grandfather (well, actually my late, ex step grandfather but even after he and my grandmother divorced I was closer to him than to my biological grandfathers) used to keep bees.  He had land (inherited from his parents) in Heiskell, close to Norris.  When he and my grandmother were still married they lived in East Knoxville but he kept his bees on his other property.  My memory could be faulty but I seem to remember him having somewhere around four to six hives, maybe a couple more.  I never got the impression that his required all that much work.  He'd usually go out to that property every couple of weeks or so, I think.  He got rid of them when he was tending them one day and for some, unknown reason he got stung multiple times.  He had never had any kind of reaction, before, but said he had to quickly drive himself to the hospital that day and was worried he would pass out before he got there (this was long before cell phones and he was there by himself.)  I do remember asking him one time how to get a hive of bees started.  I remember him saying that he would just order a queen and put her in a hive and the bees would come to her.  I am not sure if he was talking about starting from scratch, though, or if he was talking about starting a new hive and having the new queen draw some bees from his already existing hive(s).  I'm sure someone here could explain better.

I remember the honey he got being really good.  He would put the comb in at least some of it and that was my mom's favorite part - she liked to take out a piece and chew it like gum.  I have thought about getting started in bee keeping, myself, but honestly I don't use much honey so it is much more economical and practical for me to just buy it.  I agree with runco that sourwood is the best honey.  Some of my favorite came from some folks who sell (or used to sell, not sure if they still set up there or not) honey at the Saturday flea market in Crossville - although there is a place called Seven Sisters in Coker Creek that had some sourwood and other varieties which are/were really good, too (I am not really sure if they are still operating or not - has been a few years since I had their honey.)