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It is very possible that bears will be attracted to your hives. The only way I know of to keep bears away from hives is to surround the hives with an electric fence.

This is a good one. I have heard Ross Conrad speak and he is very interesting. http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Beekeeping-Organic-Approaches-Apiculture/dp/1603583629/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413639301&sr=1-1&keywords=natural+beekeeping

If you are feeding sugar ~ make sure it is white cane sugar. Do not feed brown sugar as it contains molasses and will give bees dysentery and may kill your hive. Actually studies have shown that pure white refined cane sugar is better for bees than organic sugar which contains more solids...

Here in Pennsylvania almost of the drones have been kicked out. I'm not sure how it works in Florida.

I highly recommend practicing marking on drones before marking queens. You need a soft hand when pushing them in the marking tube so you don't squish them. My first year marking I had a few marked drones wandering around. You can get a pack of the Elmers pens on Amazon for around $11. It...

We get inspected twice a year now as we are licensed to sell nucs and queens. Before we only were inspected about every 2 years. The green dot on the queen is from a paint pen. I use Elmers Painters in neon colors. I follow the International marking system for colors. This enables me to...

You can start feeding liquid syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water) in your area around the Beginning of Sept. after all of your honey supers have been removed. I am in Pennsylvania and don't feed liquid after mid-Oct as it is too difficult for the bees to get the moisture out and cap it before...

It can occur in about 20% of hives. It is often the result of a supercedure of the older queen which might be failing. The daughter queen will allow her mother to remain in the hive for a while before finally killing her . Sometimes in a very large hive they may co-exist for a longer time...

Today the State Apiary Inspector came to do an inspection on our hives. We were surprised to discover that our nuc (which we plan to overwinter) has 2 queens right now. They seem to be co-existing right now and we have decided to let nature take it's course and let them both in the nuc as it is...

Cappings are the best wax ~ fresh, clean and light.

One of my girls enjoying the sedum.

When building a different type of hive, make sure to check the laws where you live. I think that all States in the US require that a hive have movable frames for inspection. This is due to American Foul Brood.

Start up costs ~ using a standard Langstroth hive and typical protective clothing and tools ~ is roughly $350. plus bees which are about $100. http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/category/page3.html The price can go up or down depending in what you choose. After the initial...

Welcome! Sounds like your bees are doing well. We always advise new beekeepers not to expect to harvest any honey the first year. The bees need that time and honey to build up and get ready for winter. Actually bees do not need nearly as much attention as chickens do.

Odds are that "bees" nesting in the ground are not bees but hornets which are a member of the wasp family. They can be aggressive and each one can sting multiple times unlike honey bees which die after stinging. You can kill them by spraying into the nest entrance with wasp/hornet spray. Do...

Yep ~ early spring is the best time to get a new hive going. Try to order your bees early ~ Most places take orders in Dec & Jan and sell out fast.

We order a lot of our supplies from Mann Lake. They have free shipping with $100. purchase. We also have a small local supplier that we can get woodware from. Our first bees, eight years ago, were a nuc from a local breeder. Since then most of our hives were splits or swarms. Several...

We put the girls to work cleaning up the equipment and cappings.

It can crystallize in the buckets, but I find it easier to store the buckets than a lot of jars. Also our customers bring back the glass jars for recycling. We sanitize them and replace the lids if needed. I don't have to keep as many jars on hand then. We actually get most of our jars free...

We have a shed we call the honey house, but we just store our equipment there. We extract in our garage. A good cleaning before hand and a sink with hot & cold water for cleanup. It is important to have a space that is secure from bees when you extract or you will attract a lot of attention &...