Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
MEMBER BULLETIN BOARD => GREETINGS/TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF => Topic started by: budhanes on November 24, 2005, 09:01:41 am
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Hello. I live in central Ohio (Westerville, a suburb of Columbus) and am gathering knowledge and equipment getting ready for my first hive come this spring. I'm kinda anxious. I was actually turned on to beekeeping by the show "Dirty Jobs", beleive it or not. Actually, I seldom eat honey, just interested in several aspects of beekeeping, such as their social structures, survival skills, hive construction (by me and the bees), and most of all, I just enjoy learning about things. If any central ohio beekeeper would be interested in allowing me to observe there hives with them, I would be greatfull.
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Do a search for "beginner" "starting out" etc. and you'll find a lot of good advice. Personally I think one of the decisions that you will have to live with the longest is what kind of boxes to get. They last a very long time, I have some 31 years old with bees still in them, and you have to lift them.
A ten frame deep full of honey weighs 90 pounds.
A ten-frame medium full of honey weighs 60 pounds.
An eight-frame medium full of honey weighs 45 pounds.
A deep is usually used on the bottom for brood, so usually (if there's a lot of brood) it doesn't weight that much, but often they fill the top deep or the bottom deep full of honey. Then, in my opinion, they are painful to lift.
I've converted from deeps and shallows (as all the beginners kits have and all the books seem to recommend) to all eight-frame mediums. I cut down all the deeps to mediums and then I cut all the 10-frame equipment down to eight frames. But it's MUCH easier to buy what you want in the first place instead of reworking it later.
Also I've gone to all small cell to control the Varroa. You can either buy small cell foundation or do some variation of letting the bees build their own comb.
These two (all mediums and small cell) are things that require retooling if you start off with the normal (all deeps and "normal" large cell foundation) setup. Other things aren't quite so critical and difficult to redo.
Personally, though, on other things, I would buy a large smoker. They are easier to keep lit (more room for air). I'd buy an Italian hive tool from Brushy Mt (the only ones carrying it now as far as I know). It has a well-designed lifter (better than the one from Maxant) and it's longer and lighter. The Thorne with the lifter from www.beeworks.com would be my second choice and the Maxant with the lifter my third.
I'd buy a jacket with a zip on veil to start off. Later when you're more comfortable you can get just a veil for the hot days, but even then I prefer a bug baffler jacket and pants. The bug baffler isn't sting proof, but it's nice and cool. If you have both the jacket and pants you can wear it over shorts and stay pretty cool on a hot day.
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I'm kinda anxious
Yeah man, we know how you feel :)
Actually, I seldom eat honey
That's one of the upsides to beekeeping,
you can sell the honey to help pay for your
newest obsession :lol:
WELCOME, PLEASE WIPE YOUR FEET
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Hey Bud :)
Join the many of us who keep bee for the observation of the hobby, more so the netting of honey. I'm always happy to see my hives live year after year, rather than worrying how many pounds of honey I netted from season to season.
Best wishes and happy beekeeping. And since your joining, I see we have reached our next milestone of 900 members - next we aim for 4 digits :)
I'm happy though that as we are doing as well as we have 21 months as a forum, in the grand scheme of things, I think 900 members in 21 months AINT too bad...
Best wishes, thanks for joining our family and soon, expect the masses of posts to again flood the forum, we are in a little bit of a lull as some active members are migrating elsewhere or away from forums and a growth of new members who enjoy the forum greatly. Me.... I do my best to keep the forum running, family friendly and of course FUN for everyone here. Hope I'm doing a good job!!!
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Hi Bud,
Welcome aboard. I just got my first hive this past spring, and it's been an interesting year. Lots of helpful people on here with an incredible amount of experience.
And, any question you ask is never stupid here.
Good luck!
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Bud,
Welcome. Comming up on my first true anniversary of beekeeping. I love it. I was not aware of the many challenges to the honeybee. I joined a very good beekeepers club and I have benefited greatly. I also depent of forums like this to exchange ideas with fellow beekeepers. We are very fortunate to have a medium for exchange of diverse ideas and beekeeping methods.
Best of luck to you.
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Hi, Bud. Sorry I just saw your post.
Please look up our organization at www.centralohiobeekeepers.com
You'll find info on our upcoming beginners class starting in March.
You can e-mail me anytime.
John
Oh, and Merry Christmas! :-)