First steps

I kept bees some 35 years ago but got away from it due to career changes, etc.  When I heard that a new beekeeping group was starting up in Bourbon, Missouri I went to the first meeting and the old fascination with bees was rekindled.  I now have more space (4.5 acres) and more time (retired).  So I determined to go back into beekeeping.

From the first I realized that a lot had happened in the past 35 years.  Mostly, we now have the Internet and Youtube and other such communication media.  Ideas new to me made the prospect even more enticing.  In particular, the idea that one could (and should?) grow ones own bees by splitting existing hives into two or more, even sell off any extra hives thus derived piqued my imagination.

Back in the day, we ordered package bees and a queen in a separate little cage ("bug in a box").  I guess that is still possible but I discovered it was possible to buy "mini-hives" in 5-frame boxes (called "nucs" - short for nucleus) from local suppliers.  The advantages seem to be great - you know the hive is thriving when it is delivered or picked up, the bees are local and more likely adapted to local conditions, etc.  So I took the plunge and ordered two nucs for delivery in Spring 2014.

Meanwhile I had no equipment.  I had purchased a used table saw at a farm sale in the Summer of 2013 thinking that maybe I could use it for "something" someday.  The idea of building my own hive bodies and accessories sounded like fun (I don't do anything that isn't fun - at least not for long), plus it should be more economical.  At the beekeeper meetings there were examples of home made equipment that inspired me.

Discussion at the meetings made me reconsider my old ideas that a hive consisted of two 10-frame deep bodies (9 1/2" deep) for the brood and honey supers could be added on top as needed.  Instead, the idea of  three 8-frame medium bodies (6 5/8" deep) made a lot of sense as any given box would be much easier to handle.  Using medium depth boxes for honey also makes sense as it would seem to be better to keep all the boxes the same for manipulation of frames as needed.  Since then I have also become intrigued with the use of 5-frame boxes for some purposes (more later).

I found nice plans for Langstroth hives on www.beesource.com, bought a dado blade (wobble blade) for my saw and set about making up six medium bodies in the 8-frame width for my two planned hives.  I also made bottom boards, top boards and covers from the plans.  Everything was painted with a good quality exterior latex paint (white - but I plan to use different colors on further expansions).  Along the way I re-purposed some lumber pieces I had been hoarding and made up three 5-frame nuc boxes for future use.

I ordered a beekeepers hooded jacket, a hive tool, some nice goatskin gloves and a smoker from Glory Bee and 60 molded plastic frames (wax covered), 10 pounds of pollen substitute patties and some smoker fuel from Mann Lake to have the basics for working the bees.  I'm basically ready for my bees (but I still have to make a couple of top feeders for them - I have the materials and it shouldn't take long).