Any Bee Keepers out there?

[MaggieRae]

Does anyone know a good place to order bees/hives? I've been looking (even though the book I got says it's too late to get them this year), but was just curious if y'all had any favorite places.

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Quote:
At the recommendation from the guy we bought our bees from here is the company that we used and were very pleased with the their products and prices. I would check and see if you can get under the wire there still maybe some left out there. Also, the second link is the bee site that we used. They say temporarily out but may be they will get more and they ship.

http://www.dadant.com/

http://www.packagebeesforsale.com/store.php?crn=206&rn=539&action=show_detail

Hope that helps

Sandee

 

[heritagebirds]

Mine are coming from Georgia on Sunday!

 

[jettgirl24]

I would LOVE to keep a small hive to give my garden a boost and maybe get a little honey. When you're first starting out is it better to buy a pre-built hive or is it pretty easy to construct one? My BF is skilled at woodworking so if anyone knows of a good place to find plans I'd love to have him take a look at them

 

[greeneggsandham]

Quote:
Just a little advice. Keep an eye on the bees for about a week once you put them in the hive. I had gotten a package of bees last year to start another hive and after a week they swarmed. I was able to get them back without much trouble.
The guy I got them from said he had several people call him about that.
The only thing he could think of was that they were shipped from GA to RI and then had to be in the house a few days due to weather. They get in there head that there isn't enough room.

 

[SamG347]

would LOVE to keep a small hive to give my garden a boost and maybe get a little honey. When you're first starting out is it better to buy a pre-built hive or is it pretty easy to construct one? My BF is skilled at woodworking so if anyone knows of a good place to find plans I'd love to have him take a look at them

It would be best to buy the hive components un-assembled and put them together. There is a lot of fine detail/measurements in a hive body that allow for bee space. The problem most people have when they build their own hives is the bees using more propolis and connecting/building comb where they shouldn't. My buddy runs a be supply and we could get you hooked up with all the components you would need. Just PM me unless you have a local bee supply store.

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Quote:
Just a little advice. Keep an eye on the bees for about a week once you put them in the hive. I had gotten a package of bees last year to start another hive and after a week they swarmed. I was able to get them back without much trouble.
The guy I got them from said he had several people call him about that.
The only thing he could think of was that they were shipped from GA to RI and then had to be in the house a few days due to weather. They get in there head that there isn't enough room.

Thanks for the advise and I'll pass that along to my husband.

We finally got a break this afternoon in the weather and got the bees in the hives. My husband called to say only a few got loose in the house

My Question - How did they do that? - His reply Oh! they were the ones hitchhiking on my bee suit when I came in the house!! Gotta just love the guy.

Hopefully all the new bees will be happy in their more roomy hive and stay put. I'll keep everyone posted.

Sandee

 

[greeneggsandham]

Quote:
Just a little advice. Keep an eye on the bees for about a week once you put them in the hive. I had gotten a package of bees last year to start another hive and after a week they swarmed. I was able to get them back without much trouble.
The guy I got them from said he had several people call him about that.
The only thing he could think of was that they were shipped from GA to RI and then had to be in the house a few days due to weather. They get in there head that there isn't enough room.

Thanks for the advise and I'll pass that along to my husband.

We finally got a break this afternoon in the weather and got the bees in the hives. My husband called to say only a few got loose in the house

My Question - How did they do that? - His reply Oh! they were the ones hitchhiking on my bee suit when I came in the house!! Gotta just love the guy.

Hopefully all the new bees will be happy in their more roomy hive and stay put. I'll keep everyone posted.

Sandee

I always get a few hitchhikers when I check the hive

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Well, last night went well and the bees seem to be OK and eating well. Husband said getting the bees into the first hives was a bit hard since he was not sure of what he was doing. Second hive went really smooth. He did get stung once on the hand and was not sure what caused the little bee to be mad enough to do so, but we have confidence that we will learn how to be in harmony with them and hopefully little to no strings in the future. We are still under cloudy skies and it may rain again today.

But for now we are all happy and doing our thing.

Sandee

 

[devdally]

Is it just me or people usually look for bee removal and not the other way around. Interesting.