Monday, April 4, 2011

Bee prepared

As many of you are aware, we are planning on creating the 'land of milk and honey' on our new property. It will take time, years in fact, but there is no time like the present to get started. We ordered our bees earlier this year and they are scheduled to come the end of April. Just like rambunctious children, bees need a home. For help we turned to one of our wise beekeeping neighbors pictured here. Appropriately many of the beekeepers around here call him Brother B.

He has been the president of the Utah County Beekeepers Association in the past and he also has many hives around the valley. He sat us down like Yoda sat down young and naive Luke Skywalker and taught us the mysterious ways of beekeeping. Then he provided us with much of the equipment we will need if we ever expect to have a golden harvest. We chose to have him build our hives (since we wanted it done right) but we will paint them which made them a little cheaper.

If you live in Utah and want to buy equipment or beehives from him, you can. Email him at s_briles@hotmail.com. He doesn't have a web address but he sent me a nice price list and was able to give us great advice on what we needed. I really liked that he didn't try to up-sell us. He just told us the pros and cons of the equipment he sells and let us make a decision on what we wanted.

The only thing we didn't buy from him were the main boxes (blue and yellow boxes) in the picture. We received the main boxes from a kind neighbor. Marisa and the kids are going to paint everything a nice, calming, clean white color.

We are excited but nervous to get started on our bees. Let us know if you all have any advice for a beginning beekeeping family.

~Michael

11 comments:

  1. I don't have any advice for you but wanted to say that I can't wait to see all your posts about this. I'm really interested in having bees someday and I'm looking forward to reading about your process of starting up. Good Luck!

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  2. We used to keep bees, it was fun to drive around town and check them all! Stay calm, DON"T wear perfume or super smelly deodorant, and just enjoy! They are really fascinating little creatures. We used to like to watch them come in and out. You can actually watch the little "soldiers" at the entrance checking the incoming bees to see if they belong to that hive or not. Amazing.

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  3. Bees are awesome! I enjoy mine everyday. Have fun!

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  4. I don't have any advice for you! But am excited to see how it goes. We too want bees but am just a little hesitant...but are hoping you two will encourage us to take the plunge as we watch your bee path unfold. :)
    Caroline

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  5. WHat an incredible journey you are on! Good Luck!!

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  6. How exciting! I do not have bees...YET. My husband is still on the fence about them...not to mention, we are suburban farmers, living in the city limits. But...mark my words, when we are finally blessed with country property...I am SO getting bees!

    I look forward to following along on this journey!

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  7. That is so exciting! I have had my eye on the BeeHaus from Omlet but we need more property first. I imagine this has to be a good distance from the house? Happy bee keeping!

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  8. Thank you for the kind words. Several have posted that they need a bigger yard or that they live in the city. A city yard works very well. You do need to know if your city allows them but many cities are changing the laws to allow bees like they are allowing chickens. I fact they raise bees in New York city with the hives on the tops of the highrises. The Paris Opera house has hives on the roof. There are appartment dwellers that have bee hives. It can be done especially in the city.
    Brother B

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  9. Very Excited for your bee adventure. I am not sure if our city allows them but have always found the idea just facinating!! Good luck i know you will keep us posted :) Miss you guys!!

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  10. Beekeeping is one of the things on my homesteading list when we move. Prayers are with ya, brother. How exciting!

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  11. I'll be anxious to hear how it goes! I want to keep bees but don't know where to start and don't have a Brother B to sit down with to guide me :) Thanks in advance for sharing your journey!

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