If you sure are ready to start beekeeping as a hobby, business, or study, then you will have thought about the needed hives and the equipment, which means your next step is to get your bees, which to some people is confusing, because they are lots of ways to get them.
-Purchase a Colony-
You can purchase an entire colony either from a local beekeeper or beekeeping product suppliers. If you are a real beginner, this maybe the ideal way to getting your honey bees, but can be the most expensive way. The colony will contain a queen, workers, drones, and frames of honeycomb with brood. It will even contain some honey for the bees.
-Purchasing a Nucleus-
When purchasing a nucleus, you get a queen and a few frames of worker bees with a small foundation. This will consist of three to five frames, which is a good start for your hive, but is a bit slower than if you purchase the whole colony.
-The Package-
This can also be purchased from a local beekeeper or breeder. They consist of a queen bee and about three pounds of worker bees only. The bees need to be feed with some type of syrup until they feel comfortable to work for themselves.
-The Swarm-
This is probably the most economical way of getting your bees, but is very risky and hardest way of acquiring them. This is the method where you catch your own swarm. This is probably not the best option for beginners, because you are not used to the way bees react, or whether they have been Africanized, or not. Swarms can carry diseases, or even mites, and can course problems for a beginner.
-When Should You Acquire Your Bees?-
The best time to start your hives is around April or May. If you plan on buying them from a commercial supplier, order them in advice, to be delivered in the spring. When you buy bees later than June, then you risk them not having enough time to make enough honey for their winter and thus surviving. This means you will lose the bees and the money you invested.
-The Money You Spend-
Once you have an idea of how the bee keeping process works then you need to do your research as to the cost of bees. Knowing this can help you prepare a budget. Generally speaking starting up can be around $500.00 to over $1,000.00 depending on the bees you buy and the hives as well.
-What to Expect?-
You shouldn’t expect to make your money back on that first year’s investment. It is going to take a while for a colony to get big and to gain strength, and even then not every beekeeper is successful in a year. Sometimes it’s just bad luck, so you shouldn’t be afraid of starting over, if you lose the bees. You just have to chuck it up to a learning experience.
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