Good day all. My wife and I have been interested in starting beekeeping for a while and we are ready to take plunge although our timing is not quite right.
Our primary goal is to use the honey for our own use (we use about 1.5 gallons a month) and seconarily, the hobby of keeping the bees and teaching our children about them. As most of you would agree they are most facinating. I remember the first time I saw the video of the dance of a scout bee. It is engrained in my mind.... Enough of that.....
Since starting a new hive will have to wait until spring and then it is likely that we will not get any honey until the following year, it is a long wait and I am considering looking for an exhisting that might help speed that process at least a little bit.
I found this posting. What do you think. Is it worth $110? I don't have any pictures yet but assuming the hive is in decent shape....
"Vigorous hive w/ new queen, screened bottom board, brood box, queen excluder, med super, inner & out cover $110"
Thanks for looking and we look forward to becoming part of this community.
Matt
Florida
[edited for a typo]
It sounds like a fair deal to me. Actually it sounds a bit too fair to me. Ask him how long they've been in the box and try to make sure they have a least 5 frames drawn out with comb. Anything less and it sounds like he just did a split (which is very late in the year for) and is trying to get rid of some old equipment.
But otherwise it checks out fine to me. I'd recommend buying some sort of feeder to make sure they're stocked up for the winter.
Where in Florida are you?
You can update your profile.
The price is actually pretty good.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Quote from: Understudy on June 27, 2007, 09:03:45 PM
Where in Florida are you?
You can update your profile.
The price is actually pretty good.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Profile updated.
Land O Lakes, FL
just a few miles N or Tampa
Yeah, I know where your at. The butter factory. ;)
I have actually been there a few times in Land O Lakes for jobs.
You are closer to pdmattox. He is in Lake City.
Sincerley,
Brendhan
Welcome fellow floridaian. I think that is a good price for an established hive.
Oh I didn't realize you were from Florida. Do people that far south need to feed their hives?
pdmattox feeds his nucs. I do not unless there is an issue.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Thanks for the replies. I sent an email to find out if they are still available. I will post back.
after you get the bees you will swear its worth A MILLON BUCKS ;) RDY-B
Sounds like a fair deal to me!
Just the equipment alone is almost worth $110! Especially after you factor in shipping! But established?!?!?! Man, that's a sweet deal! Too bad I live 2000 miles away or I'd steal it from under you! lol J/K
Sean Kelly
Well here is the story.
He has 2 hive available for $110 each. One was from a swarm over a year ago and the other was from a split about 6 months ago.
They are 10 frame. Not sure how old the hives are but he has been beekeeping for about 6 years so they have to be less than that.
He is selling as he has 5 hives and only needs/wants 3.
Assuming yall don't throw any red flags from this info, we will be going tomorrow night to get them.
Any thoughts, ideas, comments.
Thanks.
Sounds good to me so far. When was his hives last inspected?
By the state inspector? I don't know. I know he is registered with the state.
He said he inspected them himself 2 weeks ago.
When I go there, what tips can you give me for what to look for to make sure all it well.
Any other tips. I am jumping into this a little faster than planned but when the opportunity arrises...
You want to look inside the hive. You want to see what the comb looks like. Does have nice shape and form to it are cells in good shape. Is there brood? What do the brood cells look like? Are there signs of wax moth or other pests? What do the bees on the frame look like? Are the wings in good shape? What's on the bottom of the hive? Is there a huge mass of dead bees? How about worm like things? You will see varroa and small hive beetles, but is it just a few or hundreds. Small amounts are a big deal infestation is.What is the attitude of the bees? Are they aggressive? Is the queen marked? If not where did the queen come from?
What kinda shape is the wood in? Is going to fall apart the first time you touch it? Have the termites set up a base of operation?
Well that is enoughto start with.
Sincerley,
Brendhan
Understudy, that eye, it keeps looking at me!!! :-D
Thanks, I will keep those things in mind. Now I have got to try to aquire at least a few of the basic items fairly quickly. He said I need to at least have a veil and I don't even have that.
I only know of one supplier in lakeland that our FL inspector told me about (there are none in Tampa) and I can go over there at lunch tomorrow since lakeland is only about 25 minutes from my office. But I don't know if he has a store that is open normal hours or what. I will have to call in the morning.
All of this is transpiring quickly. That makes me a bit nervous but it is also fun. My wife is so excited. She has wanted to have hive since she was a child.
Go to kmart and buy some mosquito netting and a baseball cap.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
That sounds like a great deal to me also.
Go by and see your local police/fire/water/electric departments. Introduce yourself as a local beekeeper that will remove swarms of bees from people's yards for free. We run an ad in the local paper every April for two weeks and usually get more calls than we can handle. Keep it simple....don't tear out anyone's walls to get bees, but just remove swarms from yards, water meters...........easy places where you can get to.
You'll get free bees, ..........get your name out as a local beekeeper,.........and have fun doing it.
Best of Luck :lol:
Steve
Hope this helps
Where in Tampa...my wife is there now. May have her stop in for a look see. Maybe a suit for her... and the kids..
How old is the queen? Otherwise sounds like it may be a decent deal if all else is well.
Quote from: qa33010 on June 29, 2007, 01:50:03 AM
Where in Tampa...my wife is there now. May have her stop in for a look see. Maybe a suit for her... and the kids..
How old is the queen? Otherwise sounds like it may be a decent deal if all else is well.
I sent you a PM.
Quote from: pdmattox on June 28, 2007, 07:49:34 PM
Sounds good to me so far. When was his hives last inspected?
I spoke to the inspector for the area that the seller is in (not my inpsectors area). He has not inspected them this year.
He said that in the past his bees were fine and he did not have any reason to raise any red flags.
My inspector is so very nice and helpful. I met him at the state fair in Feb and talked to him for a while. I called him earlier this week and talked to him about keeping bees in my area. He gave me his cell phone number and said to call anytime I have any questions as "that is what I am here for". Today he told me that he would be out for a week and would not be able to inspect and register them until August but to call him in 2 weeks just because he is interested to know if I bought them. He also gave me some similar tips that yall have.
It is real nice to have meet someone like this. He was the same way when I spoke to him at the fair.
Oh by the way, yall have been real nice and helpful too. THANKS!!!!
At this point in the season if you really want bees I would jump on them....or you may have to wait until next year. 220.00 is a darn for two hives is a darn good start. You should ask if you can have your pick of the five though.
Well, we jumped on the two hives. I did not get to pick. The reason he was getting rid of these two are that he is switching to all mediums and these two have deeps for the brood.
The queen excluder was on the top of the hive as he does not use them anymore so I will have to move it down under the super.
He was real nice and helpful.
The move was easy.
I will have pictures within a few days.
cool, today we have new beekeepers. :)
I would leave the excluders on top. If you put them in you will have to go through the hive to make sure the queen is in the bottom. Congrats on the new bees :lol:
Oh, let him move the excluder down. It's never too early to learn why they are called a swarm producer. The he can hang it the closet where it belongs until he needs it as an includer to keep a swarm from absconding.
Ok, guys and gals, i will do another post later with pictures but as far as the queen excluder or as some say, the honey excluder, I am just nieve.
I have done some research and it is obvious there are different opinions and experiences. So for the moment, I am not moving it until I read more and ask for some more help..
I will post later on a new post with more info about the hive and some questions that I have.
Thanks yall.
You could sell them to somebody else.....I don't even own one.....I don't think