Any Beekeepers here?

[CyPlainsDrifter]

New Beek here and have 2 packages going into the hives later today. I have prepared with attending a class, reading everything in sight, watching dozens (maybe hundreds) of videos, but still scared to death I'll screw this up and kill them or lose them. Doing this primarily for pollination and secondarily for honey production. Any other Cyclone Beeks out there??

 

[nfrine]

It's a fascinating hobby (my wife has been doing bees for several years) but it will be the most expensive honey you have ever had!

Don't know if you are urban or country. If you are country, be sure to register your hives so that aerial applications in the area are carefully applied. http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/AgDiversification/apiary.asp

The Iowa Honey Producers Association is also a good resource. https://www.iowahoneyproducers.org/

 

[Cydewayz]

Thanks for sharing. I have been "lurking" at others who post their process as would like to try in the future as a hobby. Seems to be lots of great resources out there as you learn to manage what to do if you get a swarm, queen bee issues, etc. Best of luck to you!

 

[nfrine]

By the way, Drifter, that is one really huge beehive in the background! :twitcy:

 

[bos]

 

[nfrine]

 

[isukendall]

It's a fascinating hobby (my wife has been doing bees for several years) but it will be the most expensive honey you have ever had!

Curious why this is? Wife and I got a new house last summer, with tons of unique flowers/trees, and neighbor breeds day lilies. Was thinking about starting a small hive, also to help with pollination, but I homebrew so would use the honey in beer and mead. Didn't realize beekeeping was that expensive though, what's the deal?

 

[CRcyclone6]

Neighbors growing up had bees, was a cool operation. How do I keep ******* wasps away?

 

[nfrine]

Curious why this is? Wife and I got a new house last summer, with tons of unique flowers/trees, and neighbor breeds day lilies. Was thinking about starting a small hive, also to help with pollination, but I homebrew so would use the honey in beer and mead. Didn't realize beekeeping was that expensive though, what's the deal?

Set up of a hive (brood boxes, supers, queen excluders, bee suit, smoker, etc.) will set you back at least a couple hundred bucks.

Bees and queen (3 lbs. of bees and a queen) go north of $100. Maybe you will get lucky and find a swarm.

Hive mortality in Iowa has averaged over 40% the last 5 years. This is for the folks that really know what they are doing.

I am not saying don't do it...the benefit of pollinators and the learning are wonderful. If you are planning on "breaking even" in the bee business, you would be better off at the casino.


You can probably find a beekeeper that would place a hive on your property if you have a good area. This is a real opportunity to learning the "ins and outs".

 

[JP4CY]

New Beek here and have 2 packages going into the hives later today. I have prepared with attending a class, reading everything in sight, watching dozens (maybe hundreds) of videos, but still scared to death I'll screw this up and kill them or lose them. Doing this primarily for pollination and secondarily for honey production. Any other Cyclone Beeks out there??

Is that a deucing office?

 

[ISUcyclones11]

I'll take "Thread titles I'd never thought I'd see" for $400, please.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I wish I had the space for it. Another disadvantage of city living. :sad:

 

[CyOps]

Look into this company, Prestige Worldwide. I believe they've done some interesting research with bees.

 

[stateofmind]

Just keep an eye on your bees.

 

[asmosis]

This will be my third year of keeping bees. The first two years I did top-bar style hives, and this year I will be testing out Warre Hives. I have built my own hives to keep costs down (materials for building two warre hives was about $120). I'm not a very experienced wood-worker and building the hives was pretty simple and straightforward.

One thing I would recommend would be to purchase your bees as Nucs from someone local, instead of packaged bees from down south or out west. Nucs are essentially a mini-hive complete with an already established queen, built honeycomb, brood, etc... If you are doing the very highly common langstroth style hives, the nuc frames transfer directly into your hive. The bees are already familiar with their queen and have been working to build a strong hive where package bees are pretty much a couple thousand new recruits jammed into a box with a queen they have to get to know. You can have success with both, for sure... but the nucs are already established and ready to rock.

i live in MN and purchase nucs from a local beekeeper just across the river in WI. Buying local usually means the bees are accustomed to the climate of your area, and quite often come from a line of bees that have been in the area for a while. This can bring advantages in surviving winters and strength against pests. Plus, the beekeeper you buy from can be a good resource for knowledge.

The cost of initial infrastructure can be a bit steep, and if you have to keep buying packages or nucs every year that adds up. But you'll the know the honey is real and you can even influence it's taste by the plants, flowers and trees you grow. When you get a hive to survive the winter, actively plan to grow and split that hive the next year to increase your chances of keeping them going.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[asmosis]

New Beek here and have 2 packages going into the hives later today. I have prepared with attending a class, reading everything in sight, watching dozens (maybe hundreds) of videos, but still scared to death I'll screw this up and kill them or lose them. Doing this primarily for pollination and secondarily for honey production. Any other Cyclone Beeks out there??

My first year I had done tons of prep (videos, books, etc..) and I got one package of bees and put them in my hive. The next two weeks the temperature dropped into the low 40's and it rained almost every day. Plus the queen was very weak. I tried to feed them and sustain them, even tried to install a new queen but they were all dead within a month. I felt like such a failure of a bee keeper. Luckily I was able to purchase more bees once the weather improved. Since then I've had great success.

 

[Bret44]

 

[Tedcyclone]

Set up of a hive (brood boxes, supers, queen excluders, bee suit, smoker, etc.) will set you back at least a couple hundred bucks.

Bees and queen (3 lbs. of bees and a queen) go north of $100. Maybe you will get lucky and find a swarm.

Hive mortality in Iowa has averaged over 40% the last 5 years. This is for the folks that really know what they are doing.

I am not saying don't do it...the benefit of pollinators and the learning are wonderful. If you are planning on "breaking even" in the bee business, you would be better off at the casino.


You can probably find a beekeeper that would place a hive on your property if you have a good area. This is a real opportunity to learning the "ins and outs".

So $300-$400 bucks? That seems pretty light for starting a small business/hobby

 

[ISUAlum2002]

Co-worker of mine has been told by the city of Urbandale that bees are livestock and therefore not allowed to be kept in a residential area within city limits.

 

[cyhiphopp]