30 Hives

[Irwin]

Hey..why the boot for the little lady comment???

My lady IS little...but she can pack a wicked punch!
Sorry if I offended you..really..

My wife is 5 foot tall and has a great punch. And she is the only person I know that can throw a curve ball with a coffee cup.

[Irwin]

:-D First the good News I'm getting the bees if he sign's the contract with the honey trade thing. I talked to a guy that I work for and he said he would help with the money for stuff I need just pay him back when I get thing's going. And I got a place for extrackting the honey all it will cost is a fifth of CROWN ROYAL and when I'm done I'll have to have a drink with him. And I talked to this lady that will help get me set up in our local farmers market to sell the honey. Now the bad News found out why the wife has been in a bad mood she has osteoporoses a herniated disk in her neck and upper back and her doc said she is not to lift over 8 pounds.

My doctor says my lifting limit is 5 lbs but when you have livestock you still have to wrestle those 80 lb hay bales and 50 lb feed sacks.  But that may be why my back has only gotten worse over the last 30 years.
I have an appointment tomorrow to get a shot of cortizone in my lower back so I can tolerate walking and lifting a bit more that the 50 lb sack of rabbit food I did today.  Can't say enough about the cortizone shots, they're what keeps me going.  I also take a regimine of Anti-inflamitories and Muscle relaxants along with Oxycontin. 
Your wife might want to look into some of those options as the osteoporosis is long term and the herniated disc can be.

Brian they got her on all that stuff and surgery is out of it soon as they said she might get paralyzed when they do it she said no surgery for me.

[Irwin]

I want to thank you all for the support. And the wife Say's thank's too. It's just a little more work for me no big deal. Did you guy's know that vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. They got her on that to.

[Irwin]

Cool using that spot maybe good for a bit to extract.  That way you'll get the chance to decide what you actually need in a honey house.   Sorry to hear about the wife and her back problems.  I don't have any advice there that's not my specialty for sure.  Mine kind of married into beekeeping so she can't complain now.  Wondering now what else you are getting than just the 30 hives. 

Every thing suites extractors and all :-D

[mathispollenators]

Cool I thought you said everything he had.  How big is the extractor, did you get a wax melter, uncapping machine of some sort, how many supers and how many of them are ready and don't need repair.  I'm a nosey joker and some of these people have stuff you may not think they have.  Eighter way sounds like you have some work gathering things up and getting ready for the spring.  See if you can get the book The Queen and I by Edward A. Weiss it's an older beekeeping book the wife may enjoy.  Kind of a story of a first year beekeeper and his mentor.  The information is older but given in a format non beekeepers will read more.
 
Now you have it seems storage and extraction taken care of. My next problem is tranporting supers this spring and summer from you outyards.  Do you have a pickup truck and trailer of some sort?  I'm not trying to discourage you rather point out things before they become issues in the future.  A pick up works great and I assume you have one, but a trailer works better because you won't have to unload a pick up all the time before you go to work.  Depending on the extraction spot you may can back a trailer in unhook and go.

Have fun and keep us posted I'm enjoying reading these post.  I hope you do well and it seems you are on the right track.  There are times I would love to have a smaller operation like you are getting it would be so much fun again.  And I remember when we were making the same steps you are making now.   

[Irwin]

Cool I thought you said everything he had.  How big is the extractor, did you get a wax melter, uncapping machine of some sort, how many supers and how many of them are ready and don't need repair.  I'm a nosey joker and some of these people have stuff you may not think they have.  Eighter way sounds like you have some work gathering things up and getting ready for the spring.  See if you can get the book The Queen and I by Edward A. Weiss it's an older beekeeping book the wife may enjoy.  Kind of a story of a first year beekeeper and his mentor.  The information is older but given in a format non beekeepers will read more.
 
Now you have it seems storage and extraction taken care of. My next problem is tranporting supers this spring and summer from you outyards.  Do you have a pickup truck and trailer of some sort?  I'm not trying to discourage you rather point out things before they become issues in the future.  A pick up works great and I assume you have one, but a trailer works better because you won't have to unload a pick up all the time before you go to work.  Depending on the extraction spot you may can back a trailer in unhook and go.

Have fun and keep us posted I'm enjoying reading these post.  I hope you do well and it seems you are on the right track.  There are times I would love to have a smaller operation like you are getting it would be so much fun again.  And I remember when we were making the same steps you are making now.   

I got access to a one ton flat bed truck and trailer. And people that want me to put bee's at there place. But I'm looking for people that will pay for it.

[jsmob]

I got access to a one ton flat bed truck and trailer. And people that want me to put bee's at there place. But I'm looking for people that will pay for it.

Talk to your local bee supplie store. They may know of a broker who can find you places for pollination.
I noticed you live in OR. If anything knock on doors of apple growers.

[mathispollenators]

To get started pollination you may can try at the farm supply too.  The farmer buys his seeds, fertilizers, and sees your pollination service cards are there or little flyer on a board there.  A good few pollination spots can make some reliable income maybe use your increases for that would be a good idea there as you are to share the honey of 30 hives.  Lots of farmers don't want to pay because they think you are making honey off them too. After you fine the ones that do pay you can nearly depend on them each year very reliable. And the ones we have don't like to shop around they depend on you too. I like the pollination business because it's less of a gamble than the honey business. But if I took the same bees and put them in honey areas I could make more but also lose more if the crops fail.  What I try and do is use part of our bees for making honey and others to pollinate.  I have my bees in place now to make honey this spring.  As hives are called to pollinate I'll rob the honey and place half filled supers on other hives to be filled.  When the season is over I'll rob the hives left on honey yards and extract my bonus cash. My pollination pays the business bills and our income, while my honey pays for itself and the extra income we want.   I'm a pollinator so I think a honey operation would be opposite of mine.  I can't pull hives off pollination because I'm under a contract and those are needed in the pollination business now days too.