My wife and i are disagreeing...
She wants to not do anything until we take our bee class, and she wants one hive to start with and learn on.
Me, i want to get several nucs on order besides just the one. I want 3 or so hives to start on to be able to compare each and learn..
Starting out year one... firat bees ever... how many should you try to start with?
Get more than one hive and go ahead and get the bees. YOu will learn more by doing than by taking a class but still take the class.
Start with at least 2. I wish I had. I would be careful not to start out with too many though.
Never start with less than 2.
Never start with more than 5.
After the first year, you will agree.
We started with two. We didn't take a class but we have two good mentors.
Sniper, I take it by your name and caliber you not one to fool with, 338 is a beast. I really like the idea that this Bee adventure is a joint adventure with you and wife.
I have read all above responses, every response suggest at least 2 or more hives to start out with. That should tell you something, good advice. I started with only one hive due to expenses, $35.00 for a 10 frame full of bees in the 60's. For a twelve year old, back then that was a lot of money.
Take the bee classes and find a mentor.
35.00 for a beehive in the sixties?? You better believe that was a lot. I bought a house on 4 lots in 1963 and the payments were only 44.00 a month, and they were hard to make. 48 hours at work, with 8 hours being time and a half, netted me 31.00 per week. That's over a week's wages for a hive.
:shocked: :cheesy:
I started with 3. It worked for me. I would say 2-4 would be a good starting point.
Quote from: iddee on February 17, 2017, 04:13:44 PM
Never start with less than 2.
Never start with more than 5.
After the first year, you will agree.
Good advice. Three is the number. Take the class and find a mentor too.
Jump straight in and do the course when you get a chance.
I started with 1 nuc, picked up 2 more hives a week later, did a cut out 4 weeks after that and split 2 hives a fortnight ago. Less than 2 months after starting I had 6 hives, had swarm cell present on 3 hives when I inspected a week ago so may split again.
Hasn't cost me much for bees but equipment gets dear when you need more boxes and frames every week.
I would say 2 as a minimum, not only can you use resources from one to help the other if needed being able to compare hives makes it a lot easier to spot problems. You might not know what is wrong but you will see something isn't right and can start looking for what.
I still haven't done a course, local club meeting have all clashed with work so my education has been forums and just jumping in and doing it. I do know a few people that have been keeping 1 or 2 hives for 3 seasons and my experience in 2 months has been greater than theirs. They worry to much about things so aren't game to try them, they want to do splits, mark queens, swarm catch or cut outs but haven't been game to try it. Just jump in nothing like hands on experience as a teacher.
I say at least 2. If you only get one, it may be a gang buster hive or it might bee a dud. With 2 you have a better chance of getting at least one good hive to see what is normal.
Jim
I usually advise a minimum of two and a half hives - the 'half' being a nuc. The two hives can then support each other during the season (and enable the beekeeper to make comparisons). The nuc - as I see it - is the equivalent of a spare wheel - bl##dy useful in an emergency, like if one queen should be accidentally killed by the beekeeper out of season, or turns out to be a dud.
So - three's a good number.
LJ
Quote from: Sniper338 on February 17, 2017, 03:10:09 PM
My wife and i are disagreeing...
Happy wife is a happy life. You get blamed less for doing things wrong when you do what she wants.
My wife wanted bees so she bought a hive and some bees and two weeks after we got the bees she said OK they are yours now, you can take care of them. Initially I wanted nothing to do with bees and was totally ignorant of their value.
The primary difference between getting one hive or two hives in the beginning is that the initial investment is double or 1/2 depending on how you look at it. It costs just a little bit more to buy one hive the first year and get another one the second year than it does to get two from the start. What I am saying is finances can affect the decision. You might be able to afford one but not two. In my view it is better to get one now then to wait until you can afford two. Bees don't read books so even if you get two they can be completely different and starting out new you will not know which one is normal.
I agree that 3 hives are required to be sustainable if at lease one of them is full size or all of them are full size.
Maybe compromise. Buy one nuc. Spend the money budgeted for the other nuc (s) on more boxes, frames, tops and bottoms. Enough for three hives. Build the nuc thru the flow and split into three small colonies in June, then go into winter with three colonies.
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That is almost a workable plan if you had a lot of experience and you knew what you were doing. I don't see that working for someone new.
I started with three packages. The reason was because I bought three used hive boxes, complete with all of the frames from a woman who had recently been widowed. The reason for purchasing the hives was to help the widow out. I paid six hundred bucks for the hives, and at the time had not made up my mind to keep bees. My wife decided we should keep some bees, so I ordered three packages.
The packages arrived via the US Post Office and we installed them after "googling" (How to install package honey bees). All three packages made it through the winter. That was six or seven years back, and since then I have kept six or seven hives per year. I have never been to a beekeeping seminar. I have a good friend that on occasion, comes to help me with the bees. He is an excellent beekeeper, and I have learned from him and from forums such as this one.
You can do it, don't fear ordering more bees.
PS I think many beekeepers spend too much time meddling in their bee hives. The bees know how to do it.
As an add-on to the above post, I want all of you posters to keep in mind that it seldom freezes in San Antonio. I lived 10 miles west of San Antone for five years, and some years there was not a freeze. I had pepper plants that lived through the winter a couple of times. This is an easy environment for beekeeping. His honey bees will have forage in February.
Quote from: Acebird on February 18, 2017, 09:23:05 AM
That is almost a workable plan if you had a lot of experience and you knew what you were doing. I don't see that working for someone new.
I agree, sort of. I don't remember where I read the recommendation to make a split your first year. But I agree with it. I also think it's difficult to mess up a walkaway split. And the person who sells the nuc will probably recommend to keep them on feed all summer, so the feeding question has to be addressed anyway.
I'm in my second year so obviously I don't know much. But I remember my bee school spent a disproportionate amount of time talking about bee diseases, and prob could have taught more management technique.
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Quote from: iddee on February 17, 2017, 04:13:44 PM
Never start with less than 2.
Never start with more than 5.
After the first year, you will agree.
Yep
Quote from: yes2matt on February 18, 2017, 09:18:45 AM
Maybe compromise. Buy one nuc. Spend the money budgeted for the other nuc (s) on more boxes, frames, tops and bottoms. Enough for three hives. Build the nuc thru the flow and split into three small colonies in June, then go into winter with three colonies.
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I disagree, you will be sending 3 weak hives into winter. Do splits before the flow.
Yeah winters here arent cold. Only see 30 degree temps for a week or so... right now, february, everythings blooming. Its spring here already.
Fyi to those in other parts of the world..
yep at least two..... plenty corrections you can make with two that you can't physically do with one. classes first, there are pros and cons. it is nice to have a mentor or at least a few yard visits. you can jump n head first but the information flow/ learning curve can be overwhelming for some. just the shear amount of differing opinions can be bumfuzzling :wink:
Ive been studying beekeeping for a bit now pretty hard... im comfortable with it, but my wife is not near as comfortable as i am. Which is ok. Its the difference in a man and a woman kind of thing... she wants to do it right and take classes/ "read the instructions".... Im a man and jump in and learn and throw the instruction book aside..
Sounds like your ready to jump in :cool:
I was pretty much in your position when I started, had read everything I could but was still a little nervous. The gentleman I purchased my nuc off said 2 things that set me at ease.
"If you can raise sheep and cattle you wont have any problems looking after bees" In his experience those that struggle starting out are usually people that have never owned and looked after anything besides a goldfish. Even if you have only had cats or dogs you will have noticed differences in their behaviour when something isn't quite right. You are used to treating for flees, worms etc either by a schedule or when symptoms present, the diseases and parasites in bees are different but the same basic principles apply.
"Bees can take care of most situations on their own" They don't need you to do everything for them just a helping hand.
My only regret jumping in like I did is I should have done it earlier, I think starting in spring would have been better than starting early summer, I missed all the early season build up and our main spring flow.
Quote from: JackM on February 18, 2017, 10:30:07 AM
Quote from: yes2matt on February 18, 2017, 09:18:45 AM
Maybe compromise. Buy one nuc. Spend the money budgeted for the other nuc (s) on more boxes, frames, tops and bottoms. Enough for three hives. Build the nuc thru the flow and split into three small colonies in June, then go into winter with three colonies.
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I disagree, you will be sending 3 weak hives into winter. Do splits before the flow.
Ok, ok, buy two. I still think you should make increase part of your first year plan.
And I echo the above about starting early in the season.
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I would advise between 2 and 4. Anymore than four when you don't know what you are doing is a bit too much. Any less than 2 is too little.