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Author Topic: How many hives for a beginner?  (Read 26629 times)

Offline tennesseebeeman

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #20 on: July 19, 2007, 08:14:11 pm »
hello i had 120 hivies  in frist year in beekeeping 

Offline Mici

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #21 on: July 20, 2007, 08:09:19 am »
and the second year? how many survived?
not trying to discredit you but...120 hives sounds like a bad idea to start with

Offline bluegrass

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #22 on: July 21, 2007, 09:15:23 am »
IMO the best teacher/mentor is the bees them selves. I say get as many as you feel comfortable with and can afford to loose. Don't worry about what to do with the honey.....its real easy to give it away and also other keepers who sell at farmers markets will often buy some to suppliment what they produce. With more than just a few hives you are going to have to come up with some sort of plan to extract and dispose of it though. I am starting to make mead with some of mine and I give most away. You can keep what ever # of hives you want, as long as you stay away from swarm collection and cutouts.
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Offline topbarslo

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #23 on: July 21, 2007, 09:22:46 am »
I am already throwing my head to the wall because I started wit only one. But this time of year it is already late...
During winter I will make som 20 new hives and populate them in the spring...:D

Offline Misko

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #24 on: July 21, 2007, 12:05:55 pm »
Will all of the be TBH?
Sory for my bad english.

Offline topbarslo

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #25 on: July 21, 2007, 12:38:55 pm »
Will all of the be TBH?

Yes I will go with all TBH's
I think it is the best way and seeing how bees work in TBH I just cannot see myself in LG or AŽ hive ;)


Hey you live nearby and when I come back home you can come and check my tbh and vice-versa :D


Offline Misko

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #26 on: July 21, 2007, 01:39:23 pm »
Bach home where are you the? Thank's for the invatation i realy want to see a TBH  ;)
Sory for my bad english.

Offline topbarslo

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #27 on: July 21, 2007, 01:48:59 pm »
Bach home where are you the? Thank's for the invatation i realy want to see a TBH  ;)

I am in my home town now. I will be here for one or two weeks ... Love brought me to prlekija ;)
Sure I will contact you and we can get together when I come home :) It would be cool !

Offline tennesseebeeman

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #28 on: July 21, 2007, 10:48:07 pm »
i get 250 now or more   

Offline rdy-b

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #29 on: July 22, 2007, 05:49:18 pm »
the old bee bug - yes indedey- the old bee bug  :-D

Offline mgmoore7

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #30 on: August 06, 2007, 03:12:33 pm »
The the bee bug has stung.

I started with 2.  Both were thriving hives.  One is busting at the seems and the other is doing well.  After having hives for a few months I can really see the benefit of having 2 as a starting point.

I just bought a 3rd on Friday as I want to have 3 or 4 in my back yard.  I can't do anymore than that from a practicality standpoint but there are many orange groves near by and I am already thinking of working a deal with them to trade the use of the location for the pollination.  Of course I get to keep the honey. 

Offline LocustHoney

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #31 on: August 06, 2007, 08:11:44 pm »
I started with two and then I went outside one day and two became 10!!! I was feeling overwhelmed but now it is nothing but fun!!

Offline sean

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #32 on: August 11, 2007, 01:09:06 am »
I would say for those folks who have a mentor stick with him/her for a while until you know what you are doing then start with whatever amount you feel comfortable with. If you dont have a mentor then i'd say go with one, get comfortable with it then start your expansion.

Offline Legion©

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #33 on: September 18, 2007, 06:46:03 am »
Personally I would say two or three. There are definite advantages to having more than one. Being able to swap frames of young brood to a queenless hive for example. Having two also helps to show up problems that are only occuring in one hive, as the changes are only reflected in that one, and you can look to the others for confirmation of whether things are progressing normally.

Offline qa33010

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #34 on: September 23, 2007, 11:39:26 pm »
    I started just over two years ago with a feral hive and later ordered three packages of russians.  Fortunately another new beek lives real close to me so I had something to compare mine with.  The ferals are awesome as are last years russians.

    I used what I saw on the outside of the hive for a referance that first eight to nine months and it has become a habit in the morning with a cup of coffee.  Again around midday and afternoon/evening.

There is a book somewhere about watching the outside of the hive to get an idea what's going on inside.  Gotta find it for my Christmas present.  That may be an option for you...or not. 
Everyone said it couldn't be done. But he with a chuckle replied, "I won't be one to say it is so, until I give it a try."  So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin.  If he had a worry he hid it and he started to sing as he tackled that thing that couldn't be done, and he did it.  (unknown)

Offline 12th

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #35 on: September 30, 2007, 01:37:35 am »
This topic leads me to believe that it's not very smart to keep just one hive. Is this true?
+{Republican}+

Offline buzzbee

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #36 on: September 30, 2007, 07:33:51 am »
Keeping two hives makes it easier to see something wrong if one is doing real well and the other is doing poorly. It also helps if you can move brood from a strong hive to help a weaker one.

Offline 12th

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #37 on: September 30, 2007, 07:38:59 am »
I figured as much.. Looks like I may have to hold off another year until I can afford another hive. Ah well, more time to feed my brain. =D

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Offline buzzbee

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #38 on: September 30, 2007, 07:41:33 am »
If it's all you can afford,I would do just one hive. No rule against that .Many people do fine with one!
It is still a great learning opportunity and lots of fun.

Offline 12th

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Re: How many hives for a beginner?
« Reply #39 on: September 30, 2007, 07:50:32 am »
As long as I don't end up killing off thousands of bees.  :-P
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