Ok beeeeee keepers....where do we start?

[Hope Hughes]

I can buy the kits and what not to start our adventure but would like to hear from some veterans

Where would be the best place to start with our bee keeping adventures?.... I want obtaine as much information i can before embarking on the adventure.

We live in North Central Florida and we do have black bears, so we will be surround the hive(s) in eletric fencing.

 

[Hope Hughes]

Awesome thanks for all the information! We found out, a member of our congragation that lives up the road raises bees or the queens or so,thing like that lol he was telling my husband so only got part of what was said. So wi5h this information yall gave me and him hopeing to start next year!

 

[Medicine Woman]

Let me just mention that in the past few years I had been losing colonies.
The colonies in my yard I think I lost because of the mosquito truck. I call him Hexus. At first I didn’t know why I lost them.
In the orchard I lost a few. Before it was mine Daddy just wanted bees there to improve the crop. We would find hives knocked over and once I found a can of Raid in front of a hive that was knocked over. Once I found someone had shot a hive with a shotgun and I put it back up.
I set up a game camera but I never caught anyone. I watched a video and some old men showed various ways to catch bees but what stuck with me was they put the bees in green hives instead of white. So from now on I plan on doing the same. I have camouflaged a few hives. I plan on making several stands attached to trees just north of the orchard in the woods. I will try to get trees that are very close to saw palmetto to block the view.
The only reason I can see someone harming a hive is ignorance of the reason for the bees to be there. I assume the person who knocked over the hive, poisoned them and shot them felt we had put the bees there to harm our trespassers. If they did it for hatred of my family then they harmed some very hardworking creatures to hurt us. That’s just sad.

 

[Cecilia's-life]

We would find hives knocked over and once I found a can of Raid in front of a hive that was knocked over. Once I found someone had shot a hive with a shotgun and I put it back up.

That's horrible!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wish I had answers but I know absolutely ZERO about bees and beekeeping. I'll wish you luck though and wait for your stories!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Find a local mentor . There are huge differences in managing bees here vs Florida. Italians are the easiest bee to start with. Partially because they winter well. Yep, see, even that is regional lol. But they are likely the calmest best producers.

Read books, look on YouTube . If you have specific questions I can ask my husband. He kept bees in the past, we haven't since we've been together but we are planning on getting back into them.... In the next few years.

 

[Beekissed]

My best advice is to inquire with the experts...I LOVE Mike Bush's methods and you'll find him and other really great beeks at Beesource.com.

https://www.beesource.com/forums/

http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

 

[CrealCritter]

I can buy the kits and what not to start our adventure but would like to hear from some veterans

Where would be the best place to start with our bee keeping adventures?.... I want obtaine as much information i can before embarking on the adventure.

We live in North Central Florida and we do have black bears, so we will be surround the hive(s) in eletric fencing.
View attachment 8603

Cute Lil bear you got there

 

[flowerbug]

i'm going to put in a plug for being aware of your local native bee species and learning how to encourage them.

honey bees are not native to the USoA and they can cause issues with native populations of other bees (spreading diseases and outcompete for food and nesting sites, etc.).

i love all creatures on this planet (even the ugly ones like me) so please bee aware...

 

[flowerbug]

to put another perspective on it some things come to mind. neighbors who have bee allergies who are unaware of how gentle bees usually are. or perhaps they're just mad that someone put bees in without asking (something that has happened here on a large scale and it is very annoying to have it happen).

still i'm sorry that these things have happened, it would be great if people could try to get along better but sometimes the direct route is not taken (like it would have been nice for the bee keeper to talk to us before placing so many hives near our property).