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Got a question? Send us a note and we'll try to answer it!
It seems like most of the questions we get are about how to get started keeping bees. Here are the answers to the most common questions we get on this subject.
Here's one way to go about it:
If you are inexperienced enough with bees to ask this question, you definitely should not make your own bee hives. We understand that you're an acomplished finish carpenter or cabinetmaker, but that's not really the point. Bee hives are designed and built to exacting dimensions for very specific theoretical and practical reasons. You need to have a working understanding of those reasons before you decide to build your own.
The discovery of bee space was the inspiration for the modern bee hive, known as the Langstroth hive, after it's inventor. The Langstroth hive is designed so that each honey comb is set in a wooden frame, and all the frames are automatically spaced an optimal bee space apart from each other and from the sides and ends of the hive.
The result is that the parts remain relatively free and easy to remove and replace. Prior to the discovery of bee space, beekeepers had to destroy the honey comb and the bees to get honey. But with the Langstroth hive, it's easy to disassemble and reassemble a hive with relatively little disturbance to the bees. This allows you to easily exchange parts, removing honey and replacing it with empty comb, or to inspect the health of the brood nest.
If you're just plain stubborn and insist on building your own, we suggest that you buy your first couple of hives and use them for a year just to get a better working knowledge of what's really important in the design. Then, if you must build your own, you can at least make informed design decisions.
There are quite a few beekeeping suppliers around. Most have good beginner kits with everything you need to get started. Here are a few equipment suppliers we have used successfully:
Dadant & Sons
51 South 2nd St.
Hamilton IL 62341-1399
(217)847-3324
Dadant@dadant.com
http://www.dadant.com
Walter T. Kelly Co.
3107 Elizabethtown Rd.
P.O.Box 240
Clarkson KY 42726-0240
(502)242-2012
(800)233-2899
Brushy Mountain Bee Farm
610 Bethany Church Rd.
Moravia Falls, NC 28654
(800)233-7929
And some bee and queen suppliers:
B. Weaver Apiaries
Rt. 1
Navasota TX 77868
(409)825-7312
bweaver@mail.myriad.net
http://www.ipt.com/bweaver
Rossman Apiaries
PO Box 909
Moultrie GA 31776
(800)333-7677
Order 3 pound packages since they have 50% more bees and thus, build up faster than 2 pound packages. That more than compensates for the increased price.
If you have a good location for a hive, and the temperament to keep bees, the answer is an emphatic yes! This is especially true for vegetable gardeners and people who grow their own seeds. 1/3 of the food production in the world depends to some degree on honey bees and their relatives. Squashes, mellons, many kinds of berries, fruits, and nuts such as almonds are totally dependant on insect pollination to set their fruit. In recent years the wild bees have all but disappeared due to the introduction of deadly mites from Asia and Europe.
Before you head to the garden center to get a stronger fertilizer for that mediocre crop, check to see if your bloom is being pollinated. Your soil might not be what's infertile! In some cases you can keep bumblebees or Orchard Mason bees for pollination, but honey bees are more economical and productive, and they give you honey too.
This is a huge question! The answer is so important and alarming that we have given this question a page of its own.
