Does anyone do Bee keeping for a hobby?
 

I have been looking into this as a side hobby that I could do at home and my kids wouldnt touch it (for sure).

honey and beeswax seem to be in just about every product i look lately..

yeah this has nothing to do with webmastering..who give a fuck :1orglaugh

If you and your family likes to get stung a million times :glugglug

Its pretty safe, your yard will do tons better, it is not hard to start, plus we always need more bees.

Plus on a side note depending on where ya live, orchards and such are always renting hives during certain times of the year, makes a lil extra cash.

bee keeping? hahaha

that would make for one hell of a shoot hahaha ouch

This pics say anough.. i also have a wildwilly & a on road calsonic
pics will come later of that cars : - )

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And i also keep some Bee's

swollen bee sting chicks :1orglaugh

Im in the pacific northwest (wa) and we have alot of orchards in our area and I have lots of flower beds and gardens going on in my yard.

Now to convince hubby (he is allergic to bee stings):1orglaugh

wtf does that have to do with bee keeping...

also my cousin used to have a few hives and the honey jars would make nice gifts, very tasty. :thumbsup

you shouldn't get stung that much or at all if you know what your doing.

Nothing just posting my hobby :D

My grandparents rent out a very small section of their farm to a bee keeper. The boxes have been there for as long as I can remember. Not sure how much money the guy makes, but every year my grandparents get plenty of fresh honey. :)

I looked at the startup costs and its pretty damn cheap (maybe $1000) for everything you need at first including the honey extractors. I also know how much honey at the store costs and its not cheap anymore, beeswax is used for so much too. Could be a bit profitable for only a few weeks labor a year (honey harvest):thumbsup

They really do not sting that often. It is not like they swarm or attack people for no reason at all.

I too am allergic to bee stings, yet I put a bunch of cedar all around the front of my yard and mailbox. Well needless to say it brought bees in less than a day. They are all over the cedar shreddings, I mean litterally shit loads of them. Which means they are everywhere around my mailbox.

I just wheel up to the mailbox everyday, ignore them and get the mail. They do not bother me in the least.

Plus my yard and garden just kick ass this year. :)

If your on an serious amount of land, acre or more then just put them away from the house and you will not even really notice them in any sizable number. Get some benadryl shots from your doctor to have on hand just in case and go for it.

the whole process is pretty cool of extracting the honey, does that 1000 include any kind of suit to protect from bee stings?

yes it does... the kits usually come with the suit.. they run from $300 to $400 (kit) and the extractor was running about $300 to $400.

Stinging is not that common really. I have helped set up a new hive before, as well as helped collect honey before. Yes we did wear the head gear and a paper jump suit but no gloves.

When your filling your hive for the first time, you set the queen in and lock it up kinda, then you pour bees on top of the queen and then along the sides inside the box. You then have to spread them out so when you put the rest of the trays in you do not squash them. We spread them out with our hands (no gloves) and I did not get stung once.

Collecting is done while you smoke the hives, makes the bees a lil lazy and they ignore you. You then lift out the shelves needed, give them a small shake to remove excess bees and that is about it. Off to the spinner to remove the honey. (rarely did he ever take any wax).

I have a yard that is about 1/2 an acre... maybe the kids will stay the fuck out of my yard now..lol. I am not worried about getting stung occasionally.. they say its good for the immune system.
if you have time, I would like to talk more about this on icq.. any help and info would be apprecated

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Before you spend any money, you'd better check with your local Zoning Board etc to make sure you are able to have hives. Some areas disallow that. Especially in an area that has X amount of people per acre etc. :winkwink: