Yet another “not this year, probly not next year, maybe the year after” project.
Suggestions, advice, links, other resources on small time honey bee-keeping?
I don’t know that I WANT to have a hive to manage. For one thing I have a dog (Arty) who thinks that all small buzzy critters are his to pounce on, I don’t want to picture his reaction to a whole hive. For another, we get quite a bit of wildlife in the yard as its, do I really want to pull them in with the chance at honey? And where would I put it? We have two acres, but I can’t picture a good spot, thats not right next to the house, but that isn’t also practically in the woods….
But there seems to be such a lack of bees…..this year we’ve added baskets of annual flowers to the garden in an attempt to attract in the pollinators, but I’m not sure its working. Course, this incredibly wet weather can’t be helping, but still…..Having my own source of local honey would be really cool too…..
I have several friends around here who do beekeeping, but all I can suggest to you across the country is to look for a local club.
Yah, and it looks like there’s one in Syracuse, so thats something I’ll have to look at too.
My son’s been bee keeping for over three years now. He’s got hives in the backyards of many friends in the Portland, Oregon area.
You could enclose a hive or two in a small dog run to keep your furry critters (domestic and feral) from upsetting it.
One nearby (relatively speaking) source of information and supplies is Draper’s Super Bees in northernmost PA. ( http://www.draperbee.com/ ) A family run business, they supplied honey to the White House for years and years.
Thanks!
I always say I wish that one of our neighbors kept bees.
I did find a local bee keeper who said he could put hives on our property and that he would maintain them… I like the idea, but Hubba does not… yet. 😉
I was debating seeing if I could find someone local who’d do that. I’d even be willing to split the costs involved!