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[Seed Collector]

I have seen a hive in what looks like shoeboxes selling on the internet; IDK if those work well... I don't have any experience at all.

[Saros]

Haha, I had actually thought about planting poppies around and looked into whether or not it would affect the honey.  Here's the link to another forum where someone asked the same question... not a definitive yes or no, but it sounds like it would not contain any opium, but the bees do like the flowers... so if I got more sun in the area where my hive is located I'd probably plant a bunch of poppies for them as well:)

I'm pretty sure we got started with this beginner's kit ($275) or something very close to it. It took a good afternoon of assembly but none of it was very difficult.

[Seed Collector]

^ It would not let me edit/modify my previous post; I've just been told that "top bar bee hives are better for the bees than the ecobeebox type" and would be less likely to get infection.

[Mandrake]

[off-topic]

^ It would not let me edit/modify my previous post; I've just been told that "top bar bee hives are better for the bees than the ecobeebox type" and would be less likely to get infection.

You should be able to edit your own posts now, no matter how much time has passed since you wrote them. Sorry about that.

Thank you,

Mandrake

[SeedMaster]

Crop Pollination Exposes Honey Bees to Pesticides Which Alters Their Susceptibility to the Gut Pathogen

So according to this study from the University of Maryland, during their life the bees come into contact with several pesticides and fungicides. And those chemicals impair the bees’ ability to fight off a potentially lethal parasite.

[Korla Plankton]

It's not expensive... a couple hundred bucks will get you going. That's if you're buying everything pre-assembled and painted etc. The frugal human could do it for much less.

It is super rewarding. While I have no bees right now, I will again in the spring .

[Sunshine]

Is the return worth the initial investment?
If it costs 200-300$ to start up will you make it back in honey?

[Korla Plankton]

With the current situation with honeybees? Hard to say. A partner and I did it for 8 years on a little larger scale we peaked out at about 50 hives in 5 or 6 bee yards. We were breeding queens, selling hive products, and honey. We made a little bread, but it's hard work and one won't get rich doing it.

I would say to have a few hives in your backyard shouldn't be looked at as a money-maker per-se, but as an investment in your whole agricultural plan. Pollination... in my opinion... is worth A LOT.

I can say it's rewarding, having your own honey is fantastic especially if you try to avoid processed sweeteners like me and buy a lot of local honey anyway. Not to mention that its just plain fascinating learning about them and seeing how they work.

With the decline in world wild honeybee populations... anyone keeping bees is really doing a great service to humanity IMHO.

[happyconcacti]

Starting beekeeping is not that hard and does not need to be expensive. You don't have to buy all that professional equipment. Look for a "Top bar hive". It can be easily made from a few wooden boards and is therefore very cheap.

First off, I'm not a professional bee keeper. I've done some research because my family has a bee hive. We wanted bees for our orchard, various gardens, and for the bees themselves. Honey isn't really our primary concern.

If you're considering starting a bee hive, there's good reason to look into Top Bar bee hives.

 In our research we found that the standard type of hive, langstroth hives, are really for the manufacture of honey. They come with wax imprints of honeycomb cells on multiple frames to help the bees get started.

The problem with these hives is that the honeycomb is reused after collecting the honey. Yes, this is more efficient because it takes a colony approximately 20 lbs of honey to make a pound of wax. What can, happen is that these cells can be infected with various mites or bacterias. So when the infected frame is replaced into the hive, it can cause serious damage to the hive.

Top-bar hives, on the other hand, are designed to allow the bees to build hanging honey combs. The whole honey comb is removed from the individual top bars. The bees must rebuild the honeycomb completely through.



Happy hives,
Hcc

[PermieGing]

Beekeeping is definitely worth every penny!

Pollination
Healthy honey
A nice hobby
Beeswax
Propolis
Pollen

Awesome stuff!
Also, one could build, say a top bar hive for practically nothing. And possibly catch some wild bees, but thats iffy. All adding up to probably $10, or $0 if you got the wood

[PermieGing]

I beleive the decline in bee population is due to a combination of:

Large scale fertilizer/biocide use
GMO fields (eewwwwwiieee)
Refined sugar/high fructose corn syrup feeding (gross)
And last, but not least, babying bees so they depend completley on humans. Let them do their thing and adapt

[PermieGing]

Oh also, from one hive this season, we got i think like 3.5ish gallons of grade a local honey. And this was dissappointing for one hive, to my dad at least.

There are also such things as pollen traps that catch a percentage of pollen. Very high in plant based protein and a great allergy and immunity builder.

Also propolis is the main reason why bee hives are called the most sterile place in nature. Anti fungal, anti bacterial, etc etc

[TBM]

3.5 gallons of honey for one hive in a year and that's on the low end? That's still a lot more than I thought you could get per hive every year

[PermieGing]

Yep

And then a few weeks later we took them up high in the appalachians for the sourwood flow, and got slightly less than 3.5 again! Only one of the 2 produced enough to extract from

[PermieGing]

So yea

Id recommend everyone to get into organic beekeeping