Beginner beekeeper: How to buy honey bees
Since we went to the Valley Bees Open Day, we were really keen to get some bees ourselves. Pete and I read lots of books and listened to podcasts and went our local beekeeping group until we were confident that we were ready to get some bees.
A lot of the beekeeping information out there says to wait until Spring to get bees, but that's not really necessary in our climate (sub-tropical). Actually we have several gum trees flowering at the moment which are providing plenty of nectar and pollen for the bees. Although we do get frost, its not too cold during the day for bees to forage, so there's no reason not to get bees. If you're anywhere north of Brisbane, you are probably in the same situation, I don't know about further south, but have a look at your local climate and what's in flower. Chances are, you could get bees any time if you want to.
A lot of the beekeeping information out there says to wait until Spring to get bees, but that's not really necessary in our climate (sub-tropical). Actually we have several gum trees flowering at the moment which are providing plenty of nectar and pollen for the bees. Although we do get frost, its not too cold during the day for bees to forage, so there's no reason not to get bees. If you're anywhere north of Brisbane, you are probably in the same situation, I don't know about further south, but have a look at your local climate and what's in flower. Chances are, you could get bees any time if you want to.
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| checking on our nuc |
It seems that in US its common to buy a package of bees, but that's not a widely available option here (although maybe some produces are staring to sell them). In Australia, you usually have to buy either an entire hive or a nuc (or nucleus hive). A nuc is just a small hive, with only 4 or 5 frames instead of 10. Another beekeeper will have split one of their hives and put a small amount of bees into the nuc to start a new colony. Eventually the bees will fill up the frames in the nuc and we will move all the frames into a full-sized 10-frame hive box. And when they will that, we can starting putting more boxes on top (these are called "supers"). When the colony is strong enough we can then harvest some honey. I'm sure the bees prefer this method to being shaken into a paper bag and shipped around the country anyway!
The other way to get mores bees is to catch a swarm. Bees typically swarm in spring when there is more nectar and pollen available so the colony has been able to breed quickly and filled up its hive. We have made up extra bee hives just in case we get an opportunity to try to catch a swarm. Otherwise, we will be hoping to split this colony and as well as buying more nucs. We are ready either way!
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| our little bee nuc |
We've checked on the nuc a few times since we bought it. So far it hasn't quite filled up all the frames, so the bees aren't ready to move to a bigger box yet, but they are making lots of honey. Lucky for us the bees are very calm and let us check on them without getting aggressive. This is a perfect colony for learners!
There is so much to learn about bee keeping, including which trees are flowering, which nails to use for frames and which bee is the queen!
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| one of the gums that's flowering on our property |
Other posts about bees on Eight Acres:
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