So the wife and I have been bouncing around the idea of beekeeping. Anybody here do it? Any insight on getting started? Is it an expensive hobby?
As a child, my dad grew up raising bees and selling their honey in the 50's. I can remember us having some bees for several years but he doesn't have any now. I really don't see how expensive it could be. A few bee boxes, bees, a suit, and smoker and you're set. That probably wasn't much help. Good luck! Update: Here's the first link I read. They're saying one hive costs approximately $500. Seems like it could be done a lot cheaper. http://smallfarm.about.com/od/farmanimals/a/Should-You-Keep-Bees.htm
My wife and daughter took bee keeping classes from the county bee keepers. We likely would have started this year but we have too much other stuff going on animal-wise and didn't think it would be wise to take on another project of that nature. Although I didn't tkae the classes the main things I got from my wife and daughter were this: Classes were a must. There is just too much involved too just get some hives and go. Get involved with local bee keepers and hopefully get someone to mentor you. Can save you a lot of headaches. There are good books on this and one you may want to get to give you an idea of what is invovled is "bee keeping for dummies" Good luck with it. We like the idea a lot and will eventually get involved next spring. It is definitely a "family project" though.
