| Getting ready for your new bees. Obtaining a Hive - You can buy a new hive from a supplier like: Brushy Mountain, Dadant, Mann Lake Ltd. Or you can get a used hive from fellow beekeeper. Either way is fine. Just make sure that if you get a used hive from a local beekeeper, that it is in good condition and disease free. When I say disease free, ask if he/she has had problems with foul brood, etc... Dana Stahlman has some good information on honeybee diseases, if you would like to get an idea what they are and how they can affect honey bees. The link is below. The going price for a hive is around $60.00 and about $8.50 for the foundation. This should get you started. Hopefully, you will need some honey supers. A medium super goes for about $20.00 plus a couple of dollars for foundation. To start with you may want to get 2 supers. The hive should come with instructions on how to put it together. Use a good wood glue and glue all joints before nailing them together for a long lasting hive. Paint all of the exposed hive parts with a good latex exterior paint. Most people use white. Don't paint the inside of the hive. You can paint the whole bottom board if you like. This won't hurt anything. |
| GETTING THINGS READY |
| Placement of the Hive. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when determining where to put your hives. >Don't put the hive anywhere near people or the path of people. If you live near people you may want to try to conceal the hive as much as possible. Some people have a foabia about bees. No matter what kind they are. >Try to put the hive in a place where it can get the morning sun and afternoon shade. >Face the front of the hive south to southeast if possible. >Set the hive up on something, like cinder blocks. |