Does anyone here have bees? Just bought my first Nuc

[RiverRat1]

For you guys with more than 1 hive, what do you do with all the honey? Someone mentioned 80-100 pounds out of one hive... and having 8-10 hives That's a lot of honey!

If you sell it how much do you get and how do you find a buyer?

[tdwinklr]

I believe you can get ag exemption for having honey bees on your property

5 out of 7 years use though, its not immediate.

[RascalArms]

I believe you can get ag exemption for having honey bees on your property

5 out of 7 years use though, its not immediate.

It’s only immediate if you can show proof of history of agricultural use on the land for 5 out of the preceding 7 years.

This is what I did. There are guidelines and the land we purchased had been under previous hay production agricultural exemption for several years so we were approved for the beekeeping ag exemption immediately....within weeks after applying.

[JonBoy]

For you guys with more than 1 hive, what do you do with all the honey? Someone mentioned 80-100 pounds out of one hive... and having 8-10 hives That's a lot of honey!

If you sell it how much do you get and how do you find a buyer?

I sell to family and friends...and believe me when people find out you're a beekeeper and have honey for sale you'll get all sorts of new friends. I haven't had to market...just word of mouth keeps me with more customers than I have supply for. I charge $10/lb but I sell mine in glass mason jars (a little more expensive but nicer packaging).



Also, for those who are thinking about selling their honey, look up the labeling requirements. There is specific verbiage that must be on the label if you're going to sell: http://counties.agrilife.org/jasper/...y-in-texas.pdf

Specifically:

Include on the label the name of the product, a net weight statement, the beekeeper’s name and address, and the statement: Bottled or packaged in a facility not inspected by the Texas Department of State Health Services

You can see that statement printed on the very bottom of my labels. This applies to anyone who produces less than 2500lbs/year (applies to most hobbyist beeks) with hives located in Texas.

[CentexRancher]

I assume most everyone who is making honey is using a queen excluder, am I right? Im not in it to make money from honey, however, I would like to produce a bit for family and friends.

[RiverRat1]

Can one of you guys who know a little about bees start a Everything Bee thread?

I plan to get started next spring. I'd start now but no one near me is selling bees this late.

[lovemylegacy]

I sell to family and friends...and believe me when people find out you're a beekeeper and have honey for sale you'll get all sorts of new friends. I haven't had to market...just word of mouth keeps me with more customers than I have supply for. I charge $10/lb but I sell mine in glass mason jars (a little more expensive but nicer packaging).

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Also, for those who are thinking about selling their honey, look up the labeling requirements. There is specific verbiage that must be on the label if you're going to sell: http://counties.agrilife.org/jasper/...y-in-texas.pdf

Specifically:


You can see that statement printed on the very bottom of my labels. This applies to anyone who produces less than 2500lbs/year (applies to most hobbyist beeks) with hives located in Texas.

That's good info

[DRT]

Our place north of Abilene is covered with them. Had to foam the eaves to keep them out. Still all over the place. Probably be a good place t set some up.

Gary

[tex4k]

Can one of you guys who know a little about bees start a Everything Bee thread?

I plan to get started next spring. I'd start now but no one near me is selling bees this late.

I couldn't tell you much only have a couple of hives (actually 4) and working on my 3rd year. YouTube is your friend, Barnyard bees, Don the fat beeman, are solid go to' sand there is a metric ****ton of other folks puttin' stuff on there.

[RiverRat1]

For those who have had bees for even a short time, what would you do different? Pitfalls?

What kind of frame hive is good to start with? I don't want to buy one only to find out I need to upgrade or something.

I'm just looking for the very basics to get started. Stuff that may be obvious to you guys but I'm probably totally ignorant about.

[rladner]

Another question. Maybe it was addressed earlier in the thread and I missed it, but is there an issue with the hogs messing with the hives? What about cows? Coons? Any critters that are an issue to watch out for?

[Tbar]

My first thought was “where is your gear!?!”

I don’t work my bees a lot so when I inspect they get frisky.

Dad had a friend that took off his shirt to help us rob the bees. I am in full gear and freaking out watching him work.

[JonBoy]

Another question. Maybe it was addressed earlier in the thread and I missed it, but is there an issue with the hogs messing with the hives? What about cows? Coons? Any critters that are an issue to watch out for?

I was worried about hogs messing with hives when I installed my first hives out on my property in the hill country. After asking some seasoned beeks they told me that hogs steer clear of bees...their noses are too sensitive and they don't want to risk the stings. Cant say the same for horses or cows though. Skunks on the other hand will stage up on a hive at night and pick off bees. We've seen an uptick in the number of skunks that visit our yard trying to get to our hives

[JonBoy]

For those who have had bees for even a short time, what would you do different? Pitfalls?

What kind of frame hive is good to start with? I don't want to buy one only to find out I need to upgrade or something.

I'm just looking for the very basics to get started. Stuff that may be obvious to you guys but I'm probably totally ignorant about.

Lots of options

The cookie cutter standard Langstroth setup is 10-frame boxes (wide enough to accommodate 10 frames) where the hive is 2-deeps for the brood chamber and medium honey supers on top of that.

Langstroth equipment is like Legos...it's whatever you want to make of it. 10-frame equipment is more common than 8-frame equipment. You can run all deeps (less boxes and more time between swapping/stacking supers) or all mediums (less weight and easier on your back) or a mix and match of both.

You can also get other types of hives like a Top Bar (my personal favorite). They are more natural to how bees live in nature and inspections are MUCH easier for guys like me with bad backs. Downside is you can't really harvest honey out of them without also destroying the wax comb...and it takes 10lbs of honey to make 1 lb of wax so if you're looking to maximize your honey yield you may want to stick with Langstroths.

[WyoBull]

I can't help you any but to say I have an aunt and uncle that have been major league bee farmers for 50 years and 4 of their boys took over the business. Years ago my uncle told me when he moved some of his bees out to the central valley of California to pollinate it took 18 semi loads to get them there. There is a real science to having bees.
Every time they come through I ask them to bring me a flat of quart jars of honey. There is nothing like the real deal when it comes to eating honey. Good luck to you!