I’m a hobbyist, and like most of us during 2020 and 2021 we were looking for things to do around the house. I tended gardens in the past, but wanted to do something new. Something that did not require pulling weeds. So I decide to make an attempt at keeping bees. At this time, I had no clue on how to get started. Before going down this path, I did a little research. Jotted down some notes on the hierarchy of bees, their roles, how much care is needed to tend a hive, types of housing for bees, etc. I also read up the benefits of bees and honey. After researching the process I decided to seek out some bees to get started!
I am not an expert. I am a new bee (newbie) keeper that has a lot to learn and continues to have a appreciation for the bee colony and the community they keep.
Despite the amount of research there was still so much to learn. Locally, we have tried all different brands of honey. When I was trying to locate bees, I thought it was the type of bees that produced the “flavor” of honey. So I tracked down the producer my favorite flavor of honey that I would pick up at the local market and asked him what type of bees he has in his hives. What a silly question… Even though there are different types of honeybees (i.e. Carniolan, Russian, Italian, etc.). the flavor comes from what they pollinate. I’ll explain in a later post.
The first year of beekeeping created more questions!
How much should you check on the colony? How do you check on them? When is the best time to check on the colony, morning, night, hot or cold days? How do the get their food & do they store it? What happens when it snows or is freezing outside? Where is the queen & does she look different than the others? And many more questions.
Fortunately, I found a mentor that helped me set-up the colony and troubleshoot questions. My mentor has went above and beyond helping us strengthen our colony during its first summer and over the winter.
In general, the beekeeping community a great resource to help in answering questions you have while taking care of your colony. Local beekeepers can help you with local happenings and trends affecting your area. Social media is a good start for finding local beekeepers. Or visit your local bee supply shop or farmers market and chat with the vendor that is selling honey.
Here are some considerations for your first year of beekeeping. 1- Find a local beekeeping organization or group and locate a mentor. 2- Find out who your local bee inspector? Your state or local department of agriculture can help 3- Social media and YouTube tutorials can be helpful for keeping bees. 4- Have patience with the bees in building and strengthening their colony 5- A strong hive has a better chance to ward off pests and other factors that could negatively impact your colony 6- It is important to leave enough food (honey) for your bees over the winter. Its likely you will not harvest honey during your first year. If the colony is strong and healthy, it is very likely that you will have honey to harvest! 7- The beekeeping community has a lot of advice to give new beekeepers. You will come across differing opinions, and that is okay because there is not an absolute answer to many beekeeping practices. For example, some beekeepers like to use sugar water in the winder, where others prefer to keep extra honey supers on during the winter. When and how to split a bee colony. 8- Keep a journal to keep track bee growth stages, when adding supers, or changes that could be an emerging problem. I like to take pictures so I can get a closer look at progress.
The colony survives the winter and I can add a couple of honey supers to the bottom box. Supers can be a different size than bottom/brood box. I use honey supers that are about half the size of the main box. This makes it easier to lift the supers and add additional supers as needed. The bottom box is mainly used for the four states of bees, egg, larva, pupa, & adult. When a hive is inspected the bottom/brood box should have all four stages.
