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Beginner's class

Barrel Char Wood Products

wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
0
0
Hi,

We are starting a beginners class on beekeeping
on Weds 2/14/07.

They told us they they are reserving 2 packages of
bees for each of the students.

Also not to buy hives til after the 3 class.

Wish us luck ::)

Any insights about what to look out
for from the experts would be appreciated ???

Wolf
 

beeboy

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 29, 2004
350
1
0
70
Port Orange, Florida, USA
A few "rules to live by" if you're planning on keeping bees.
Don't wear black cloths, even a white t-shirt will get you stung less than a black long sleeve shirt.
Same with dark glasses, the bees will go for your eyes
Don't swat at the bees, you'll just p1ss them off
If you are comfortable wearing the gear do it, I still don't like getting stung and wear gloves and a veil.
If your veil and hat are seperate get a needle and thread and stitch them together, nothing is worse than having your veil fall off your hat with a bunch of mad bees buzzing you.
A little smoke works better than a lot of smoke.
Don't go overboard with a lot of hives, start with three or four and learn from them.
Stick with one equipment supplier for woodware, mixing different manufacturers will cause a lot of burr comb and problems.
Use 9 frames instead of 10
Beekeeping is fun, enjoy it, after 10 years as a hobby beekeeper I'm still learning and having fun with it.
Taking a class is the right way to learn the basics, make sure you keep in touch with the instructor and the other members of the class, you might be able to get some used equipment down the road. Not everybody has what it takes to keep bees. Two packages of bees will be plenty to get started with cause you will need to purchase two complete hive setups and you can compare the two hives as they build up. Luck with it and please let us all know how it works out ;D
 

wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
0
0
Thanks for the comments BeeBoy.

A couple of the things you said, the bee club ppl
talked about in the pre call intro talk this weekend.

First was not to mix woodwork ... they gave us a list of
about 9 vendors and they all had different sizes for their
hives ... that was why they told us not to buy a hive
til after the third class ... there will be 8 altogher
I believe.

the other was why they reserved to bee packages and that
was since we are newbees we could compare how the hives
were doint ... we would be able to see if one was lagging
the other ...

Since we live in a townhouse, next to a day care center
we dont think we would have the hives at home...
The club says the can put us in contact with some ppl that
would let us keep the bees there ...

One person did make the comment that if we did that they
place should be no more then 15 minute drive from the house
or we would not take care of the bees on a regular basis

That kind of makes sense.

The first class is Wed 2/14 ... we will keep you all
advised as we work our way through it

:cheers:
Wolf and Cat
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

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