Honeybees

Our next big adventure has been taking shape over the past year. I first became interested in beekeeping as a hobby when I watched a segment on our local news, Bill Green's The Green Outdoors, about beekeeping in Maine. I instantly started my research into beekeeping. I read articles online and acquired a copy of Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees. The more I read about it, the more obsessed I became with starting up as a hobbyist beekeeper (also known as an apiarist).

I started looking up local beekeeping courses and found Rick Cooper of Bees-N-ME.com. I talked with him numerous times via email in the fall of 2011 and signed up for his Spring 2012 course. After three full day Saturday sessions my course is over and my bees will be here on April 14! I can not say enough about the advice that Rick offers to his students during this course. His class teaches you the basics but it is intertwined with his personal experience spanning over 30 years. He speaks with a passion for the bees that reminds me of the Lorax!

Here are the hives that will house our Italian neighbors:

Finally found a use for the old horseshoe pit

I chose 10 frame deep hive bodies for the brood boxes. The hive bodies and accessories were purchased from Bees-N-ME.com directly.  I ordered two packages of bees and each package will weigh about 3lbs. The 3lbs equates to roughly 17,000 bees! That will make about 34,000 bees living in their high rise condos. By the end of the summer if everything goes according to plans there will be roughly 70,000 honey bees in each hive and hopefully a harvest of honey in the fall. We are not planning on the bees producing that much honey the first year because most of their energy will be directed into drawing out 20 frames of beeswax for their winter stores. The most important goal for the first year is to get them through the winter and have them come out strong in the spring the following year.

-Josh-