I am another newbie who does not yet have bees - well sort of dont and sort of do
We live on 10 acres in central New Zealand and have a hive on the property that belongs to the man we bought our land from. He had a lot of hives here before we bought , and we were happy for him to leave some as they were not in our way and were in a good position.
Unfortunately though, they have not been looked after, and all but one had died, and we had no end of trouble with swarms taking up residence in our parrots breeding boxes - right in the middle of nesting.
We have lost in the vicinity of $5000 worth of parrot chicks in 3 years because of the unattended hives.
I want to learn to keep my own bees, and how to look after the remaining one that is camping here, for production of honey for the kitchen, for feeding to my gecko collection, and for increasing pollination throughout our gardens. We have a large garden with lots of flowering trees to support NZ native birds throughout the seasons so should be able to provide for some happy bees. Our neighbouring property is a dairy run off, so has acres of clover for bees to forage in as well.
I am a huge fan of Honey mead and am lucky to be reasonably close to a store that sells a huge range of the best ever meads and liqueurs. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I have done a lot of reading at Beemaster.com and have learned so much there, and am keen to learn more.
Today I discovered that there is a 6 week course about to start at our local high school for newbee and wannabee beekeepers, so will be booking myself into that sometime tomorrow. It is to be run by the honey mead shop man, so will be entertaining as well as informative - he is a great and enthusiastic ambassador for his trade.
Thanks heaps for having me here