2014 Starter Kits for Sale

I am going to be selling hives again this year.  We have a limited number of hives this year, so let me know early so we can make sure we have what you need and get you set up right.  I only sell what is called a medium box.  These boxes are 6 5/8 inches tall.  I have deep boxes (9 5/8 inches) in my operation, but for hobbyist it is best to have all the same size boxes. I am actually moving away from my deep boxes and try to avoid using them.  I prefer mediums compared to deeps for a number of reason.  The biggest reason is working with the weight.  A full deep can be around 100 lbs.  A medium typically is about 50-60 lbs.  This is pretty heavy considering the bees will use propolis to glue them together.  In my experience the bees expand into a medium more readily than a deep box.  I have also found the frames tend to last longer because they aren't holding the weight that the deep frames do.  The kits I am sell will include 5 medium boxes assembled with water resistant glue and 16 gauge staples. These boxes are built to last.  The corners are box jointed and the top joint is modified to be 1 5/8 inches vs 3/4 inches.  The top joint is the weakest joint because of the rabbit cut for the frame rest.  By making it 1 5/8 inches it now has added strength and shouldn't blow out as easy.  This is an unique box that only one company makes as far as I know.  It is made in the USA out of ponderosa pine.      

The frames are made in the USA as well and so is the foundation.  The foundation is black plastic and coated with real bees wax.  This is the best combination of frame and foundation that I have found.  The bees seem to adopt it better than anything else I have used.

The tops this year are a telescopic cover with an inner cover.  I went away from them for a year, but the migratory covers just don't hold up as well.  They end up warping and then you have more entrances or exits than you ever imagined.  I also think cosmetically the telescopic covers are better too.  They do add a little more expense to the hives, but I think it is worth the extra expense.    

The bottoms are a solid reversable bottom.  One side leaves a bee opening of 3/4 inch and the other side is 3/8 inch.  The 3/8 inch is a good size for the winter and the 3/4 works good in the summer.  These also come with an entrance reducer. 

The kit also comes with a division feeder.  This is a plastic feeder that replaces two frames and has a cap and ladder cover so you don't have as many bees drown.  These feeders work really well and you can use them over and over. 

Finally the kit comes with a 3lb package of bees.  This is approximately 9,000 bees and one queen. You can choose from either a Carniolan queen or Cordovan Italian queen. Both breeds work really well in Utah.  Here is a link to a prior post that explains the different breeds.  These packages come from Koehnen & Sons in California and are good quality packages. 

All of this for only $325.  We will give you an introductory class when you pick up the bees and be a coach and a mentor along the way.  If you want two or more, we will offer a discount.  The equipment comes unpainted.

If you want hive components or bees here are the following prices:

Medium hive boxes (assembled with frames and foundation) - $40/box
Heavy Duty Telescopic Top and Heavy Duty Inner Cover - $30
Reversible bottom w/ entrance reducer - $15
Division feeder for 6 5/8 box - $10
3lb package of bees $90 (includes a $5 dollar deposit on the cage) 

Let me know if you have any questions.  I would love to help you get started. 801-796-2114

Happy Beekeeping 

The Bees Have Arrived

The bees have made it. Sorry everyone they are a week late, but hope the queens are good and it was worth the wait.  The bees look to be in good shape.  It always makes me nervous after they have traveled a couple days from CA.  You will see a few dead bees at the bottom of the package, but it is nice to see them clustered up.  This indicates they aren't too warm and they are getting to know each other really good.  This also is a good sign because the queen is in the middle of the cluster.   

These bees were put into the package on Monday or Tuesday and we will want to make sure they have been together at least 48 hours before installing them.  We will install most of our hives tonight.  Most everyone will come and pick them up on Saturday, but I have a few that have asked to come sooner.  Saturday will probably be about perfect.  they will have been together about 4 days and ready to get out and start a new hive.  Here are a few other pictures of the 70 packages we have.

  Let the fun begin!  Happy Beekeeping.

The Bees Are Coming! The Bees Are Coming!

We are just over a week away from getting all the bees.  They should be here next Friday.  We have 70 3lb packages coming.  It is going to be a lot of bees.  I can't wait.  We will keep 14 packages for my own yards and the rest will be for people either starting beekeeping or there are a few that are having to recover from their winter losses like I am.

Should be a fun day next Saturday April 20th.  Those that just want to pick up the bees can do so between 9-10 a.m.  and those wanting to attend a beginner beekeeping class can come at 10 a.m. and it will go probably until 12.  We will show you how to install the bees.  Walk you through your first few months of beekeeping and give you a handout to help you remember everything.

It will be so nice to have bees again.  Right now the fruit trees are starting to bloom and I don't have any bees.  Its killing me.

Swarm season is right around the corner.  If you see a swarm, please don't call a pest control company.  Call a beekeeper and let them come and relocate the honey bees.  You can call me if you are in Utah County (801) 796-2114 and I will come and get them (no charge).  Please make sure they are honey bees.  If you let a beekeeper know as soon as you see them in a cluster, it is a lot easier to relocate them at that point.  If they get established somewhere it is a lot harder and most people will charge you to come and remove them.

Spring is a great time a year!  Everything starts coming to life.

Happy Beekeeping.

Keeping Bees in Utah

Over the weekend, Utah Beekeepers Association had their annual meeting.  I was not able to attend, but I am hearing rumblings that many of the large commercial beekeepers and the state want to make it more difficult to keep bees in Utah.  This is a travesty.  We need more beekeepers not less. We do need people who are interested in learning and improving beekeeping methods though.

Here is my take:

First I am not very politically active.  I should be, but it hasn't made my priority list yet.  I don't like government managing everything. This includes managing beekeeping.  I do recommend everyone abide by the current regulations.  Each person in Utah that keeps bees needs to have a license.  Currently they are pretty cheap.  For a hobbyist with less than 20 hives it is $10/year.  This is mainly to register your hives. Here is a link to the Utah Beekeeping License Application. The next thing I recommend is that beekeepers try to educate themselves as much as possible.  As a hobbyist we are able to do more for our bees naturally to help them over come some of the current issues than large commercial beekeepers.  Both types of beekeepers are crucial to making sure we have healthy honey bees.

Commercial beekeepers are in a tough spot.  Their lively hood depends on their bees.  They typically transport their bees from state to state for pollination.  This brings back to Utah all kinds of things.  One example is we currently don't have too many problems with the hive beetle, but it wont be long.  These Commercial beekeepers typically don't have time to try natural methods, so they treat their hives both for problems and as a precaution.  In my opinion this isn't the best thing for bees, but I understand why they do it.  With out this type of beekeeper, the hobbyist would have a difficult time having access to bees and supplies.

Hobbyist beekeepers are generally able to try different techniques to help the bees without over medicating them.  Many proven methods are out there.  They take more time and probably are not economical for commercial beekeepers. As hobbyist though I feel we do need to take responsibility to learn the different deceases and pest that affect our bees.  This is obviously something you have to progress at, but I do think we need to be proactive with it.

I really hope the landscape of beekeeping in Utah doesn't change for the worse.  I realize I need to do a better job of getting involved with the different beekeeping associations and supporting them as well as educating myself.  It does take time and is hard to justify sometimes, but I need to try harder to get involved. I love beekeeping.  It helps my gardens, it gives me fresh pure honey, and the bees are fascinating.  I also enjoy helping others get started.  Its important to me to do my part to help keep the barriers to entry low for beekeepers.

Here are a couple of links to the local and state beekeeping associations.  Check them out, some have some really good information:

Utah County Beekeepers Association
Wasatch Beekeepers Association
Utah Beekeepers Association

Happy Beekeeping!

Yesterday's Success

I went over and helped my neighbor check his hives.  He bought two hives from me last year and is still learning the ropes.  He had one hive that struggle getting going and I think the original queen wasn't mated very well.  We found two queens in the hive and I think the hive created a new queen because they weren't happy with the original queen.  We split the hive up and watched to see which queen was the most prodcutive.  We found out which one it was and combined the hive back together again. It was interesting because the original queen didn't really lay eggs once we split the queens up.  She started well, but then I think she just stopped.  My theory is she wasn't mated well and decided to stop laying.    Once we combined the hives, it was still pretty far behind and really didn't get a chance to build up much before winter.  I didn't have much hope for this hive.  His other hive has been strong from day one.  He called me and said I think both hives made it through the winter, can you come and see what you think.  I went over and sure enough both hives were flying and active as could be.  They loved the sunny day yesterday.  We opened up the week hive and it had a few frames with bees.  The hive was pretty light so we put a pollen patty on it and he was going to start feeding it.  The strong hive is very strong.  The whole top box had bees and it was very active. The hive is very heavy with honey and so we put pollen patties on it and closed it up.  It was so good to see a little success.

These two hives were on the South side of his house and received the reflection of the sun off the siding.  I think it helped keep it warmer.  These hives also had really good ventilation.  I am convinced that one of the main problems with my hives this year was a lack of ventilation and a lack of sun exposure.  I wish I would have taken pictures.  It was so nice to see active hives again.

Happy Beekeeping 

Mentoring

I had a good experience yesterday.  I went and visited a beekeeper that supplies me with all of my packages that I include with my hives that I sell.  I had to pay him for the 65 packages that I ordered (wow! what a check).  I have worked with this guy for a couple of years and he is one of the nicest beekeepers I have met.  He has been keeping bees for over 40 years and currently runs about 700 hives.  He has so much knowledge and is so good about letting me ask questions.  One day I would really like to shadow him for a day and absorb everything I could.  We talked for about an hour about everything from what type of foundation he likes to use to how to get a strong spring build up.  He gave me some encouraging words to build up my confidence after such a horrific winter and sent me on my way excited and motivated to be a beekeeper.

I think I have mentioned on this blog before, that my experience is, a lot of beekeepers are very territorial and protective of their knowledge.  It was so refreshing to find someone that was willing to take the time to make you want to be involved in beekeeping.  Rex has always been good to help me and yesterday was no different.

We need more beekeepers.  It is good for the individual, community, and the progression of beekeeping and honey bees themselves.  My goal as a beekeepers is to get others excited about keeping bees.  I didn't get into bees to make money (thank goodness since I may never make any He He), but I did get into it because I love honey and I love my garden and bees help me with both.  The more I learn the more I understand just how important bees are to each of us. I have learned so much in my four years of beekeeping.  I cannot wait to share it and start another season her soon.

This weekend should be warming up a little for us on the Wasatch Front.  Take a few minutes and make sure you check on your hives.  If they are alive, make sure they have food and are in good shape to make it until there is natural pollen and nectar.  You may consider putting on a pollen patty to help them start rearing brood.  If you do, you have to put it almost right on the cluster.  I typically cover half the cluster with it and leave the other half so they can move around.  If they don't have honey, I would feed them sugar water if you do it by weight you will want to go 2 parts water 1 part sugar.  If you start to feed either syrup or pollen, you will need to continue until there is a natural supply available.  It is worth it to feed them to make sure they make it through (trust me).  FYI, it might give you a little something I like to call Bee Fever.  Once you get it, spring can't come fast enough.

Happy Beekeeping.     

How Many Hives Should I Start With?

I am getting this question a  lot lately and it is really up to the individual.  I started with one hive and if I did it over again I would have started with two.  The sad thing is we paid as much for our one hive as I am charging for two.  I was taken to the cleaners on that first hive. 

Our first hive was supposed to be a full working hive already established.  We expected honey that first year since it was suppose to be an established hive.  It turned out to be a split and we received the split without the queen.  I checked it after about 10 days like the beekeeper told me to.  It looked healthy with lots of bees, but I didn't know what I was looking for.  I had nothing to compare it to, so as I started to see a decrease in larva I was getting worried.  I didn't know what an egg looked like and that is because we never had any eggs.  I called the beekeeper that sold it to me and he told me to give it ten more days that the queen was probably a virgin queen and was mating and hadn't started to lay eggs.  I checked it again ten days later.  I didn't see any change other than now I had no larva and most of the brood had emerged.  I called him and he told me he would come over the next week.  7 days later he came over and told me he didn't think I had a queen.  We are now 5 weeks into this and no queen.  I went and bought a queen and introduced her.  Finally 6 weeks after purchasing the hive I had a laying queen.  The population in the hive had dwindle and it was very small.  I was frustrated to say the least. 

I learned that if I had a second hive I could have compared the two and seen right off that something was wrong.  I could have taken eggs from one hive and given it to the other to make a queen.  I could have taken brood from the other hive and given it to the weak hive to boost its population.  There were a number of things I could have done, but the biggest for me would have been having something to compare it too so that I could have identified a problem sooner. 

I would start with at least two hives.  It doesn't take a lot of extra time to care for one more hive.  In my opinion once you get to about five hives it might be a little much to start with.  You want to be able to enjoy it and not be overwhelmed your first year.  I do know people who have started with five and it worked out okay, but the individual had quite a bit of time to work the bees.  Here is a webinar that I thought was really good talking about having multiple hives  called "2 1/2 hives by Larry Connor". This website has other good webinars too.

If you are just getting started learn from my mistakes and be a little cautious buying a completely established hive.  We were late in the year so I went this route thinking I could trust this beekeeper.  He sold it to us for $600.  We decided to do it thinking we should get honey the first year from it.  He suggested that I do two hives as well but then I would have been into it $1,200.  Starting with a package or a nuc lets the beekeeper develop his knowledge at the same time the hive is building.  Another problem with an established hive is you inherit the problems of the former beekeeper.  I could never get that hive to build up to split or get honey.  It ended up absconding on me.  Anyway, if you choose to start with an established hive, don't pay as much as I did and make sure you trust the beekeeper if you are a beginner.  You have to take their word on a lot of things.

Beekeeping is a great hobby and if you get started right, it makes it a whole lot more fun.  We need more beekeepers and more people passionate about bees.

Happy Beekeeping.