Honeybees in 1966, hives for sale $35.00, will deliver.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

The date 1966 is not a typo.  I rode my stingray bike complete with banana seat with butterfly handlebars to the Chuck Wagon to meet the beekeeper that was bringing me my first hive.  Ya know the Chuck Wagon, hamburgers for $0.35 coke was a nickel.  Remember?  My Dad gave me $35.00, a ton of money to buy a complete 10 frame Lang hive full of bees and laying queen painted silver, not white.  Soon I would add 3 supers and extract the top 2 for honey only a few months later.

As a kid, I would sit and watch the bees everyday.  The bees quickly knew me and a trust developed.  I would even touch that is pet the bees on the entry way.  For fun I would catch drones in mid flight as they approached the hive entrance.  My quick hand catching a flying drone right in front of the entrance did not alarm the guard bees.  Like I said, a trust developed.

One day just after a rain, I decided to show dad how tame my bees were and I petted a guard bee as I had done many times before only this time I got stung on the finger.  My first valuable lesson, rain can make bees moody.

There were no video games, no iPhones, not even internet or computers.  Equally, no Varroa, no small hive beetles, no worries except for wax moth and this very, very rare foul brood.  Keeping bees was easy, anybody could do it.  Heck, it was hard to kill a hive almost impossible by mismanagement.

Fast forward to today, 2017.  My bees still develope a trust with me.  I can walk up to any hive, squat down and watch the bees only inches away.  The difference today is my ding dang iPhone rings and I have to manage for beetles and mites that are part of the cause for colony collapse disorder.  Just looking at the bees, just the bees, I see no difference today as I did in the 1960's.

Just a note so as not to mislead, I have NOT raised theses beautiful creatures continually since the 60's. 
Blessings

[MikeyN.C.]

How did ya get a ten frame lang. full of bees , back home on a bike ?

[iddee]

Inflation......................

My dad bought 2 hives with a super on each, full of bees, in about 1955. 10.00 each. After about 50 stings harvesting the first super of honey, he left them in the weeds for about 10 years until they finally rotted away. I got my first hive body in 1976. Did a removal to fill it with bees. Had bees since then, except in the nineties when the mites were at their worst.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

I drove my bike to meet the bee keeper and he delivered the hives to my dads house.  Sorry I did not make that clear.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

iddee, I believe you are the most experienced  beek on Beemaster, the 1950's.  I always read your post, you are my mentor on Beemaster.  The basic knowledge, all the little tricks you learned, all the events you have witnessed,,,,,,, you should write a book ol wise one. 
Blessings

[iddee]

Naw, I just run my mouth more than the others.

I do hope I help some folks now and then. That's my desire, anyway.

[little john]

Good story.  I opened my first hive in late 1959 - dunno how much they cost back then, as they were the school's hives.  I remember never wearing the veils that were provided, as we were kids and thought ourselves totally immune from harm.

As luck would have it, the teacher who ran the Beekeeping Club was also the Maths Master, and we quickly learned that asking a bee-related question at the beginning of each Maths period was a sure-fired way of avoiding any Maths lessons for that day - for when he got started on 'bees' - he just couldn't stop talking about them.  And so I got to love bees ... mainly for that reason.  But then I left school and the bees - and we were to be parted for a very long time.

Upon (early) retirement I found myself in a kind of limbo: it was such an abrupt change from total work-related commitment to kicking my heels with no particular purpose for getting up in the morning, no ambitions of any kind.  Not a good situation.  I found myself inventing work and stuff to do, just to keep some kind of momentum going. Raising chickens, sheep, growing trees - but no real passion for any of them.  Then, one day a swarm arrived and setup home in a plum tree.  Memories of childhood beekeeping came flooding back.  "That's IT - that's the one".

Taking up Beekeeping had never even crossed my mind before that moment.  Should have done that 30/40 years ago ...  but, as the saying goes: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
LJ

[BeeMaster2]

Good story LJ.

[little john]

Good story LJ.

Thanks Jim.

Just to clarify: when I started my post with the words "good story" - I was of course referring to Van's original post, and not the stuff I was about to write.  With hindsight I can now see that those words could be taken either way ...
LJ

[tjc1]

Nonetheless, it's a great story. As a teacher myself, I can imagine that somewhere your old maths teacher is basking in the knowledge that the missed math lessons were more than made up for in a very meaningful way for you!

[BeeMaster2]

Good story LJ.

Thanks Jim.

Just to clarify: when I started my post with the words "good story" - I was of course referring to Van's original post, and not the stuff I was about to write.  With hindsight I can now see that those words could be taken either way ...
LJ

LJ,
I read your post just as you meant it. I thought you post was also a good story.
Jim