Hello everyone,
Hopefully this satisfies the admins request to show I am not a bot!
I've been wanting to keep bees for a few years now, but never got around to it. Glad I didn't because I think we've moved 5 times in the past 4 years (it's bad when you can't remember a few of the places you've lived without having to think for a while!)
Anyway, my hand has been forced with a wild hive in one of our out-buildings, close to our neighbors backyard. They were complaining last year that they were getting stung all the time, even though the flight path is away from their yard and they have both (bees and neighbors) lived there for several years and last year wasp/hornet activity was bad because it was pretty dry and they were swarming in any area with water/food; i.e. their backyard picnic area where they left beer/soda cans laying around. I contacted a local bee-remover and he's gonna set us up with a hive and help us remove/transfer the bees/brood/honey stores to the frames. We have a good spot on the back of the property away from any neighbors, protected from the north, next to some large movable cement blocks on the west (for a good night-time heat sink), and a wide open southern exposure...and it's next to a bunch of black-cap raspberries and is also in town so they get plenty of flowers to find food.
It will be interesting to see what we find when we open the wall up. We will be prepared for the possibility of splitting the brood into a few different hives as well. The guy has a bee vac and does around 10 extractions per year, so it should go smoothly. We have several other properties around town and just outside of town where we can place a hive or two in the future, if all goes well.
I am currently searching around for supplies on the internet, but I am not sure what I absolutely need, what is good to have, and what is pretty useless to buy. So far, I am pretty sure I want to get screen bottoms, medium supers, and those fancy escape screen boards for all the hives. I am on the fence for a slatted rack and a queen excluder. Any suggestions on hive pieces would be great. I would also like to here suggestions for tools and protective gear.
Thanks in advance for the help!
MT