Back Beekeeping Made Easy
Bees
When asked "What should I do to start beekeeping?" My thoughts fall into a mess of things that could be answers but the very first thing, I would ask is, "Do you know what you are getting into?" Investigate this hobby before rushing out and buying any bees. Many things must be taken into consideration including:
You can be a beekeeper without bees! I can remember a story told to me about a beekeeper who always stuck his nose in other peoples business. It seems:
That this particular beekeeper had been watching his neighbor working his bee hives and knew the guy had not registered his bee hives. So he called the Department of Agriculture and reported his neighbor. Sure enough, the bees were not registered as required by law.
The Department of Agriculture sent out an apiary inspector -- one who is charged with the job of enforcing laws regarding bees. The inspector knocked on the neighbors door and inquired about the bee hives on his property. Immediately the neighbor began to laugh. He knew who had turned him in to the authorities. He invited the inspector out to look at his hives. He explained:
I know my neighbor turned me in. He is in the habit of sticking his nose in everyone's business. He is a beekeeper and is offended when anyone seems to know or do things that he does. So I bought a few hive boxes, lids, and set them up in my yard. Every now and then when he was out in his yard working, I would light my smoker, put on my bee veil and go out to my boxes. I would smoke them, remove the lid, and pull out a few frames. After fooling around for a few minutes, I would put everything back together. However, my hives have no bees! The apiary inspector had a good laugh as well and kept the secret to himself.
As a former bee inspector (Ohio law requires all bee hives be registered and inspected each year), I found a hive or two used for decoration which had no frames, or bees but they looked authentic enough to fool almost anyone from a distance. Each state has regulations concerning honey bees. You may check with your Department of Agriculture to see what the regulations concerning bee are. A few but not many communities also regulate honey bees by what is called a city ordinance. It is your duty to know what local laws are regarding what you can or can not do with your property.
So you want some bees to go into your hive equipment?
In a time not so many years ago, one could find swarms in almost any community. Many beekeepers got their start that way. Often for these beekeepers, the bees came first and then the need to find something to put them into. Since the introduction of mites into the United States, bees have died out in record numbers and the bee population that existed in the wild has been wiped out. That doesn't mean that one can not get swarms, but they are not plentiful as they once were and a person can not count on getting one. If you are still interested in finding a swarm of bees, I would suggest that you contact your local police and fire department. They often receive calls from people who are concerned about a swarm in a public place and want something done about it. If you have your name on file, the police or fire department will most likely give you a call.
The following pictures are links to pages describing each of the standard ways to get bees. There are other ways (removing them from the walls of a house that someone wants to get rid of for example).
Each of these will be discussed.
