A Start at Beekeeping

The bees are already out.  I stepped on one a couple of weeks ago.  I felt really bad about this afterwards but it wasn’t until my foot was at the point of stomping that I even realized it was a bee.  My bug mentality has been to kill them all up to this point.  Let me say that again, all but the good guys anyway, and yes, the bees are most definitely good guys, I just didn’t expect them out yet.  The bee was on a dandelion and I realized those somewhat annoying flowers are some of the first things out this time of the year.  Maybe they aren’t so bad after all.  But I think I’ve told you all how I feel about some weeds in posts past.  (Weeds are pretty too and I like them for those of you who haven’t been around long enough.)

So, yes, the bees are coming out.  And I will have about 20,000 of my own soon enough.  The expected delivery date for our bees is sometime between the middle of April to the middle of May.  April will be here before I know it, so I took some time earlier this week to order my bee houses, aka brooding boxes.  I am an apiary novice in case you wondered.  However, I did know what apiary meant, so I’m at least on top with the scientific nomenclature.

I was starting to get worried about what to get, and I got a tiny bit panicked when one of the boxes I wanted was sold out.  What if they all sell out before I even know what I need?  We’ve been looking at catalogs and Stephen has been watching videos, but even still when it came time to actually select things, there was so much to choose from.  I think I did alright.  We took some suggestions from Stephen’s boss, who also is a beekeeper, and got what we thought would be good to start with.  I ended up ordering two different boxes from two different suppliers.  It worked out in my favor though because other sites ended up being a little cheaper, and I think it will be nice to compare and contrast suppliers.  If all goes well, we will be adding boxes to the hives as they grow.

I ordered our bees from Tractor Supply and the company providing the bees for them is Harvest Lane Honey.  Tractor Supply had bee starter kits from the bee supplier on their website, so I ordered one kit from there.  I didn’t need another set of starter accessories which came with the bee-ginner kit, so I tried to order another larger box kit from a different supplier.  Unfortunately almost everything was back ordered on that site, so my second box came from good old Amazon.

For now, I think I am set.  Just need marshmallows and to check that I have plenty of sugar for the sugar water.  We’ve already watched several videos on what to do once the bees arrive, and since Stephen is as excited as I am about it, I know I will have plenty of help.  It most likely will be that I am helping him.  Another something new for us, and I am very much looking forward to it.  More updates to come for sure.