If you use 100 pounds of honey per year, then you're probably reaching the point where it makes more sense to own your hives rather than buy honey (or convince a family member to own them). Here are some thoughts from an upstate NY perspective.
-- Don't expect a honey crop the first year. It's an agricultural endeavor. If the weather is bad, the honey harvest is poor. Even in a good year, don't expect a honey crop. You will start with pristine equipment and the bees will need to build up comb first; wax is estimated to cost about 6 pounds of honey for 1 pound of wax.
-- It's an agricultural endeavor. No guarantees about your harvest from year to year. Theoretically, you should get about 70-80 pounds of honey per hive on average. I might be approaching that after five-ish years of doing this. I have taken honey from the second year on.
-- Plan for a 50% wintering loss. You can't loose half a hive, so you might be better off with two or more hives to start with.
-- Package bees this year are about $110. Nucs (not nukes) run about the same. Buying a nuc will give you a three-week head start, buying a package will force you to pay attention to your bees right away - you'll probably learn more about beekeeping in the first year with a package than a nuc, but nucs are probably easier to get up and running.
-- My first year with three hives plus equipment (smoker, suit, hive tool, feeders) cost about $600. That didn't include bees. That was four or five years ago.
-- You will need to feed your bees. Almost certainly the first month+ of owning them, and probably here-and-there after. Bee feed can be as simple as sugar water, but probably should be more complex. Sugar water with nutrients, if possible.
-- It can be just as addictive as mead making. I started a "hobby" with three hives, now I have eight hives and a baby business making mead kits. Go figure!
-- Making the honey is one thing. Extracting it is another, with another set of equipment. If you can borrow equipment from someone, great, otherwise you're looking at coming up with something that will work as an extractor, uncapping knife, bottling bucket, uncapping tank -- for the most efficient method of honey extraction. (There's something called the "crush and strain" method which you can do for small volumes, but there's more collateral damage to the honeycomb and more honey loss.)
I'm not throwing this at you to dissuade you from the hobby. These are just some data points that not knowing can be frustrating when you discover it. I love keeping bees. I lose hours in the bee yard, and I'm nudging my kids to beekeeping. I want more toys, I want more hives, I like the independence and challenge. In an apocalypse I can make sweetener and booze -- top of the heap, I'm tellin' ya! (Okay, that was the writer in me taking over. Ahem.)
Your best course is to connect with a local bee club, take a bee class, or take a summer and offer to volunteer with a local beekeeper so you can learn in a hands-on environment. They might even throw some honey at you as a thanks. My club (the Finger Lakes Beekeepers Club) has the fortune of running club hives, where we meet in the summer. If you can find a situation like that, then you'll have the chance to get a lot of tutoring under experienced guidance. The more hands-on you can get before you buy your own hives and bees, the better experience you'll have.
There are also online courses (Penn State extension offers one), books a-plenty, and lots of forums. While I dove into the hobby headfirst with all naiveté, I do recommend folks take time to get in some hands-on experience first. I hate seeing someone start out the first year, have their hives all die, and then give up!
Shelley
