Hi All,
I kept bees as a hobby when I was in high school in southern California 30-odd years ago. I had no money and did everything myself from scratch. I worked up to a total of 12 hives by catching wild swarms, and I made the brood chambers, bottoms, lids, and supers myself. I also made my own bee suit and related accessories. I kept my hives in a friend's orange orchard. We had torrential rains one year which washed away everything. All that hard work gone. I was so discouraged that I never rebuilt.
Then I got busy with college and a career, etc., and never had time nor the space to keep bees. Now, life has settled down and the career has stabilized so that I have the time and space to start keeping bees again.
I will be getting my new bees in the Spring of 2012. In the mean time, I am reading books and forums, and will be ordering the necessary supplies in preparation for Spring 2012.
--shinbone
Hello Denver! Welcome to the forum. After this posting, we may not be able to tell where you are from unless you change your profile location.
My first year I tried to make my own boxes, the bees got together and bought me a carpentry for dummies book. :lau: :lau: :lau: :lau:
They really do know what they need. -Mike
Welcome to the forum. There has been quite a change in the 30 years with the bees but there is also a lot of learning here on the forum going on.
Looking forward to learning alongside you as I prepare for Spring of 2012 :)