Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: GLOCK on January 11, 2014, 07:00:16 pm
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Are you a hobbyist or sideliner or a commercial beekeeper .
And why we are at it how many years have you been at it?
Me going into my 5 th year I have 25 hives and plan on being a sideliner buy next year.
Around 50 hives buy winter I am hoping.
Thank you.
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well... I guess I have actually been helping take care of bees for a LONG time... with about a 20 year break.. helped a grand fellow with a twisted sense of humor when I was a kid.. left for the Navy (SeaBees).. When I got out, I moved away and married a gal from Maine.. ended up in Maine until I got tired of the crowding.. Moved back here in time to start helping with that fellows bees again for about 5 years before he passed away... Ordered some of my own bees a couple years ago.. found out some of the hives I had been caring for were not destroyed, and added those to my collection... and hope to have 40 ish hives by fall...
I guess you could say I am a commercial hobbyist... I like working with the bees so its a Hobby, but I do it for the wax (Wife has a candle business) and Honey, and eventually hope to sell Nucs, queens and established hives.
The gentleman I helped reminds me a lot of Iddee.. Just as nice as you could ever hope for, but just as ornery as a badger with its foot in a #2.. Not knowing much about bees at a ripe old age of about 12.. he handed me a prybar and had me pry a board off a shed that had bees in it.. To SEE if thats where they were building their hive.. Yeah, I did it, and he giggled for near 40 years...
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well... I guess I have actually been helping take care of bees for a LONG time... with about a 20 year break.. helped a grand fellow with a twisted sense of humor when I was a kid.. left for the Navy (SeaBees).. When I got out, I moved away and married a gal from Maine.. ended up in Maine until I got tired of the crowding.. Moved back here in time to start helping with that fellows bees again for about 5 years before he passed away... Ordered some of my own bees a couple years ago.. found out some of the hives I had been caring for were not destroyed, and added those to my collection... and hope to have 40 ish hives by fall...
I guess you could say I am a commercial hobbyist... I like working with the bees so its a Hobby, but I do it for the wax (Wife has a candle business) and Honey, and eventually hope to sell Nucs, queens and established hives.
The gentleman I helped reminds me a lot of Iddee.. Just as nice as you could ever hope for, but just as ornery as a badger with its foot in a #2.. Not knowing much about bees at a ripe old age of about 12.. he handed me a prybar and had me pry a board off a shed that had bees in it.. To SEE if thats where they were building their hive.. Yeah, I did it, and he giggled for near 40 years...
That's great memories made from beekeeping I know I have many already and many more to come .
My wife I think is going to help me out this year and I know she will take to it .
She has already hived a swarm and put a wet sheet over some nucs that where getting robed out when I was at work and she is scared of bees . I know she's warming over to the bees. after 5 years she has no choice.
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after 5 years she has no choice.
LOL!!! Mine TRIES.. if I am sitting, watching, relaxing, she comes and sits with me.. until a be lands on her... then shes OFF and running, making an EEEEEEEE sound with her arms flapping while I giggle.... I bought an Ultra Breeze for her, we will see if that helps her with the EEEEEEE thing :)
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I'm just a newcomer with a few hives. I started about 1976 by driving a semi, hauling 5 trips of 500 hives each from Appleton, Wi. to Orlando, Fl. Then back in the fall. Not my bees.
Since then, I have made a profitable hobby of removing bees from where they are not wanted. I wintered 5 out of 6 last winter, gave away 15 to 20, and sold 25 or 30 last summer. Went into this winter with 4, and still have them and one I'm caretaking for a lady. Expect to get, and get rid of, another 30 to 50 this year. At 68 years old, I am ready to slow down a bit.
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after 5 years she has no choice.
LOL!!! Mine TRIES.. if I am sitting, watching, relaxing, she comes and sits with me.. until a be lands on her... then shes OFF and running, making an EEEEEEEE sound with her arms flapping while I giggle.... I bought an Ultra Breeze for her, we will see if that helps her with the EEEEEEE thing :)
That's funny my wife acts the same way but yet she hived a swarm warring my Ultra Breeze suit and the same with the nucs but if one buzz's by she's on alert and ready to run.
She bought me a Ultra Breeze jacket for Christmas so now she can ware the suit and I know she learn to love it just like me :laugh:
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Just a hobby. 8 hives here at home. My son has about 30 hives. His wife sells at farmers market; my wife gives it away! She hates shopping if you can believe that and the honey makes good presents. We have been at it for 4 years.
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Been at it for around 15 years I guess with a 4 year break in the middle (when my son was born).
Hobbyist up until a couple years ago when I made the jump to the 20's, and this year I'm at 50+.
I have most everything in place, slowly acquiring gear when I could afford it, and now should be able to run 50 easy, and have the ability to extract honey from 100.
I would call myself a sideliner perhaps, actually trying to derive a bit of an income from it the last year or so.
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I guess I'm still in the hobby phase. Just getting ready to start my 3rd year with bees. Started with two, got a couple swarms, and a couple more and decided that was great fun. I went into winter with 19 colonies in langstroth boxes and 2 still needing to get cut out of tree trunks. Found one of the trees dead and one of the langs dead today. Hoping to have 15+ come spring so I can raise some queens this spring/summer and sell some nucs next spring.
I'm probably on my way to becoming a sideliner, I would like to come out of this ahead and make a little side income off it. Hoping to have 20 production hives and 30 nucs going into next winter.
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still a hobbyist. I'm just finishing up my second year keeping. 9 hives (might be 8 I'll probably find out tomorrow) Hoping to expand a bit again this year. Mostly though I want to work on making the hives I have the strongest that they can be.
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Hobbyist, three years. The first two season's were filled with casualties. Starvation, AFB, Robbing, Mites. By the end of last fall I finally have a strong healthy hive. I doubt I'll go more than two or three hives. Hands Down it's the most fascinating hobby I have ever had ~
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Only a hobbyist, never more than 5 hives, still trying to get there with only two good ones now, going to get a couple more this spring and see if I can keep them alive to make it, lost two hives last year to robbing and a queen die in one and didn't notice it.
Ken
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Going into my 4th year. I average about 9 or 10 hives. Went into it as a hobby but have sold honey along the way. Each year it basically paid for my equipment but this year I actually made about a grand for my efforts.
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Started with bees in 1972. Most of the time I've had about 10-20 hives. One year I went up to 50 but quickly moved back down to my lower number. I've always considered myself as a hobbyist since I had a full time + job and never reallly made much money selling my excess honey. Most was usually given away to family and friends. Since my retirement from teaching I've reduced my hive holdings to about 3-5, and don't sell any honey, just produce for the family and friends.
My luck had it and three years ago my oldest grandson got interested in bees. He wants to be in it full-time/commercial and most of my equipment has been passed on to him. Today he already has over 100 hives. Sometimes we work the hives together.
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My luck had it and three years ago my oldest grandson got interested in bees.
I'm green with envy Ef... I can only dream of a grandson at this point, much less one that might be interested in bees. Kids are 25 and neither want kids of their own... I feel I have somehow failed... Enjoy EVERY moment you can with him!
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Lazy- re: failure............. NOT! and NOT again!
look for my pm
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My luck had it and three years ago my oldest grandson got interested in bees.
I'm green with envy Ef... I can only dream of a grandson at this point,...... Enjoy EVERY moment you can with him!
Sometimes, when I think of how blessed I am, I become envious of myself. :)
I won't tell you how many children and grands I have, but my first great grandson (born to my oldest grand daughter) just passed his one-month-old day last week. He's a real cutie. I thank God every day for my multitude of blessings and I try to be worthy of the pleasure I get from all of my offspring, being with them, seeing them grow and participating in their developing into fine individuals.
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Awe Geez ef, that was just sweetness !!
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The words of a wise man!
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Hobby but make some cash with them.
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Going into my third year, I'm a hobbyist. I have dreams of something bigger, but I'm restricted by space right now. My bee yard is on "borrowed" land, and I don't want to take advantage of the generous situation by loading the whole place up with hives. Also would put me in a pinch if the owner ever needed the land for something and I had to move.
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I don't know how to classify my operation? i had 92 hives last summer and with 3 robbed out and combining several last fall i haven't given them another count? Kind of like my cattle at the end of the year, after selling some and keeping replacement heifers i don't know how many i have, but i know if one is missing? I just love working with my bees and teaching new beekeepers. I sell alot of honey at the farmers market and out the door here at home (still have 6 five gal. buckets of honey to bottle and sell) I've never sold hives, nuc's or queens, but may give it a try, i have customers and club members begging me every year to sell those items. My wife says it's not like i'm selling our childern, easy for her to say. :laugh: Jack
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I don't know how to classify my operation?
Call it a pleasure cruise. O:-)
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I am registered with two bee organizations as a sideliner.
I typically maintain about 200 hives from myself and another 50 or so for the Texas A&M bee lab. I began keeping bees in about 1962 as a 4H project.
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I am registered with two bee organizations as a sideliner.
I typically maintain about 200 hives from myself and another 50 or so for the Texas A&M bee lab. I began keeping bees in about 1962 as a 4H project.
If you had a dollar for every bee you had seen in your lifetime............
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If you had a dollar for every bee you had seen in your lifetime............
The tax man would be happy!
I'm a hobbyist and like it that way. :)
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a slowmo snip...
If you had a dollar for every bee you had seen in your lifetime............
tecumseh..
I would be well satisfied if I had a penny for everyone I have killed.
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2 more months and it will be 1 year for me. It's a hobby for me right now. I got up to 5 hives by the fall and all still doing relatively well. Most of the time, I would like it to be more, then there are a few times that I don't think I could handle anymore. I made it my goal to not purchase any and just see what I could get from swarms. It's more of an adventure that way.
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tb- catching swarms are so much fun. Get's my adrenaline going. Last year my husband and I saw a huge swarm lift up and leave my hive it headed over the fence and into the next street over from us. We grabbed the truck keys and went in search of it, but alas it was gone. But it was great fun trying to find them in the neighboring trees.
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- catching swarms are so much fun.
It's hard to say which is more fun---catching a swarm or watching a swarm "catch" itself for you by moving into a bait hive you've set up.
There's no question as to which is easier!
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I was casually speaking to someone in a very population location who liked the idea of bees for her garden but she really didn't have any reasonable good place to set one. She did have bee in the vicinity and I suggest that she should hang a couple of swarm traps and see if she caught anything. I have casually come to think that swarm traps are a much unappreciated item for beekeepers... new and old.
I am thinkin' I should set out some myself and see if I catch anything of my own.
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swarm traps .......much unappreciated :o
I'll always appreciate free bees! ;D
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tec- scratching my head on that one, surely you mean 'much appreciated' ;)
I don't think mines going to swarm this year, but it's better to be ready if it happens. Ya Never Know!
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ef- ""catching a swarm or watching a swarm "catch" itself for you by moving into a bait hive you've set up.""
Or standing right in the middle of one, soo magical!
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Jen, I think he is saying people don't appreciate the true value of them. They do not take advantage of the opportunity swarm traps provide.
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That would make sense, Thanks Iddee
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Professor and beekeeper from Kansas State University is a guest speaker at our first area beekeepers club meeting Thursday night. He is an expert at building and placing swarm traps. Makes his own pheromones. He says he has a 40% catch rate each year. I'll share his info after our meeting.
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.....Or standing right in the middle of one, soo magical!
I hesitated to say that, but you are so right. It's also a great show for non-beekeepers to observe. They can't believe the sight of someone standing in the midst of a cloud of bees and not getting stung by those "ferocious" warriors.
I particularly love their music. I call it the swarm symphony.
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kind of interesting that you should compare it to a symphony Efmesh..... I sometimes compare it to 'how you should feel when you are in church'. the low hum and the bees drifting past almost give me a feeling of weightlessness.
of course no self respecting beekeeper allows his own bees to swarm!
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I'm a pure hobbyist, and have kept almost three years. Presently, I have four hives on our ranch, and two hives at my home in town. Hopefully, I can build up to 10 hives this year. That is about all that I want. I don't intend to ever sell any honey, as I will give it to friends and charity.
I have worked in the oil patch the last 48 years. As such, I have been painted with the broad brush as being a notorious polluter. Having bees is my way of giving something back. My goal is to help replenish honey bees in our agricultural world. I never intend to make a dime from my bees. So far, I have been very successful.
Like Ef, I surely love and enjoy my only two grandsons. Just two. My contribution to all of you is that I have raised two good men. My sons work and pay their bills, and they will greet you with a smile, and if they tell you they will do something, you can carve it in stone. They love their Lord and their parents, and the above is all that I ask from them.
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of course no self respecting beekeeper allows his own bees to swarm!
ROFL I allow my bees like I allow my wife! They both do as they please.
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efmesch- ""I particularly love their music. I call it the swarm symphony.""
You wax poetic
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Lazy- ""Having bees is my way of giving something back. My goal is to help replenish honey bees in our agricultural world. I never intend to make a dime from my bees. So far, I have been very successful.""
My thoughts exactly. Even working on planting a pollination garden in my yard and my long back alley. I know there are other bees not too far from me.
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Had an old girlfriend tell me that ‘never make my passion my employer; I will soon need a new passion’. I have trouble asking money for things that I enjoy. I give away all my woodwork, boxes, bees and honey. Last year a guy’s thought that was BS and gave me $10 for his. I got to say it was a totally different feeling. Got me thinking about it differently. I am at about 9 or 10 hives, a few nucs still alive (been a bad winter for my nucs). My neighbor has a detailing business and let me know that I was getting bee crap on his cars (he knew right away what it was and was looking for the beek responsible). I opened up a few yards for people with large gardens. I now know that the yards need some things to make them practical and not a pain.
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I never intend to make a dime from my bees. So far, I have been very successful.
LOL Shooter! I can fit in there somewhere!!!! A more perfect SIG would be hard to find!!
of course no self respecting beekeeper allows his own bees to swarm!
ROFL I allow my bees like I allow my wife! They both do as they please.
ROFL I can fit right in there too!!!!
My neighbor has a detailing business and let me know that I was getting bee crap on his cars (he knew right away what it was and was looking for the beek responsible).
Ttell him to cover it up. Bees are the least of his worries, and I doubt you had a lot to do with YOU getting it put there. If bee poo bothers him he must fall down and bawl when a bird passes over or the acid rain fades all of his hard work.. what does he do when it hails?? Stand over his car with a light saber? hmm, if he does have a light saber moving your bees may be a valid option.......
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That's one thing that ya have to deal with if ya got bees I know I'm on 12 acres and my bees are not around my cars but I have bee poop on all of them and it leaves little spots after you wash them and you have buff them out.
Can be a pain.
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Minz ""My neighbor has a detailing business and let me know that I was getting bee crap on his cars""
LOLOL I don't know why, but that just hit my funny bone! LOLOL