# Self Taught



## GLOCK (Dec 29, 2009)

So who's self taught?
I mean the ones that had no mentor or class's a father or grandfather just books the internet magazines and BS and hands on.
Me I never saw a hive till I had one never know any one with bees . I just jumped in with both feet and started making mistakes . Now 5 years later I have a sustainable apiary and never have to buy bees again and if I do its for breeding only. I am honey independent witch is awesome and may sell a couple nucs this year. I have the nicest apiary around and am more bee smart then most . Plus I have 1000 plus pics just the best hobby ever.
Hands on best teacher I have found.
And books I bought all them you only need one good one and the MAGS. waste of money same old same old year after year. Your best info and help BS and the INTERNET make the internet you mentor it works for me.
And I mean this in the nicest way possible.


----------



## Michael B (Feb 6, 2010)

I am self taught. Always wanted to get into it but never really knew how. I read a bunch of books and asked a lot of questions. I have a agriculture and science background so I am used to doing things with hard work and smarts.

I started with a couple packages and it has grown from there. The first couple years I was flying by the seat of my pants. It was hard to realize what was right and what was wrong. The more and more experience I gained, the easier it became. In the beginning, it would take an hour to inspect one hive. Now I go through 25 hives in 1.5 hours and I rarely do full inspections.

Now beekeeping is part of my life and who I am. I have made so many new friend because of an insect.


----------



## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

I first kept bees while in high school and beginning college. I had practically no information resources at hand, just a local exterminator, who sold some bee equipment on the side. I would ask him questions whenever I showed up at his house to buy frames and foundation.

I built all my own equipment except for frames and foundation, including sewing my own bee suit. All my bees came from feral swarms I collected. I didn't know enough to split a hive, but all my neighbors knew to call me if they had a swarm. I built up to 12 hives over a few years. Then a flood hit the orange grove I kept my hives in, and everything washed away never to be seen again, including the table I had built to hold the hives. All that effort and time just gone in an instant. Discouraged and with other aspects of life demanding my attention, I walked away.

Roughly 3 decades later, I am back at it. This time, the internet has provided a HUGE amount of information for me. I know so much more than I did before, and still have alot to learn. I realize I am lucky to have had the experience of building up a hobby apiary from just wild swarms, no way could I do that today in my area where I have never seen a swarm except from my own hives.


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

That would also be me. 
No mentor, no family knowledge passed down.
I used Beesource, youtube and 35 years experience on a small home farm with gardens & livestock. An interest in genetics and science. I like to work and am perticularly stubbrorn about not quitting until I am successful., no matter what the task or challenge as long as it is worthy of my efforts.

I've learned to be a problem solver, to be observant and to use common sense. 


I have been told hundreds of times in my life 'You can't do it that way". I just smile and keep on doing what they say can't be done. I don't try to reinvent the wheel, but I strive to be efficient and innovative. I usually see improvement to be made in both products and methods, and I implement those improvements.












I model many of my methods after European beekeeping. They are more self sustaining than modern American ways and I admire their hand made equipment.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miller-Compound-HoneyBees-and-Agriculture/256954971040510


----------



## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

The only resource that I have ever used for beekeeping is right here Beesource. I have never read a book on the subject. The only other beekeeper that I have met face to face is the guy that I buy nucs from.


----------



## JClark (Apr 29, 2012)

Self taught here too. No class, mentor, or club that I belong to. I am an entomologist though so it is sort of like cheating, in a sense. Meaning I already have a large knowledge base to pull from when I observe my hives. This is my third winter and I don't plan to ever buy bees again minus for genetics. Been a brutal winter but my most successful so far. Also, the beesource search function is my most used resource.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>So who's self taught?
I mean the ones that had no mentor or class's a father or grandfather just books the internet magazines and BS and hands on.

I have alwasy considered myself an autodidactic in most everything. There was no internet. Certainly no BS. I didn't get to know any beekeepers until after I was keeping bees and that was pretty sparse until I got on BS. I started out doing cutouts when I knew nothing. I got stung a lot until I bought a coverall with a zip on veil from Walter T. Kelley. Eventually I got better at it... I was on my own the first two and half decades of my beekeeping...


----------



## Stanisr (Aug 25, 2010)

Me too. I have always been interested in beekeeping, so I read everything I could and then I made the greatest discovery, Michael Bush. I read his website and have had bees soon to be five years.


----------



## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

Lauri,
What's in the basket?


----------



## gone2seed (Sep 18, 2011)

Self taught from "The Hive and the Honeybee" and ABC's of Bee Culture". I also leaned heavily on both magazines.Then had to re-learn everything after the mites came in.I lost a lot of hives in that process.


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

westernbeekeeper said:


> Lauri,
> What's in the basket?


He old man in the photo is just waiting for Michael Palmer's 2000# sugar block. 

"Put suger in basket, Grasshoppa. Old man show you the way."


----------



## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

I'm not really self-taught--more "bee taught", if you know what I mean. I tried everything I read about and the bees said "Yes, this works!" or "Nope! Try again, grasshopper!" But I have never been to a class or had a mentor or anything like that. I just read about beekeeping in Mother Earth News and thought it sounded interesting, bought some books, and kinda went from there. This is the only place I have ever "talked bees" and I didn't find it until around 2010.



Rusty


----------



## Stella (May 22, 2013)

>So who's self taught?


Self taught. Still learning.
When I started I knew nothing. 
When I failed I knew something. 
When I started again I knew that I knew something but still didnt know enough to think that I knew anything.

But, Wow!!!, have I given myself an education!


----------



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Self taught? Nope.
I researched via the internet on other beekeepers experiences with beesource as my mentor.
Self taught would be absolutely NO outside influence. Kind of like reading a self help book IMO. lol


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

The self taught aspect about using Beesource as a guide, is learning the _*skill *_of determining what is bad advice and what is good advise. It can easily screw a person up as well as help them. 
In my opinion, a person who uses the Internet is still self taught, but simply has easy access to information 'overload'. Beginners may read about what to do, but not understand the reasoning behind it, therefore miss the timing needed or the intended result. 

Beginner:
Why feed bees? Because they are hungry, of course. 

Beesource info:
Three day argument about non -feeders vs feeders, then a week of arguing about what to feed them, then another week of debate over who's recipe is better.


----------



## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Lol at Micheal Bush with "autodidactic". I'm a type D (developer) personality. It is certain that M.Bush is too. Developers have a unique ability to learn how to do things without formal training. Several others posting above are similar.

I started serious beekeeping in 1972 when I was 13 years old and taught myself everything from the start. I managed to scrape together $6.25 to purchase a smoker from Tom Hood which should tell you how long ago that has been. I subscribed to Gleanings in 1977 and purchased a table saw to build my own equipment. For the two years prior, I had borrowed an uncle's saw. It is interesting thinking about those days, by the time I was 18 years old, I had been a beekeeper for several years.

Lauri, you left out the part about "praise and honors for the non-participants".


----------



## crofter (May 5, 2011)

I went into it without mentors but read mostly internet forums for a good part of a year before ever getting bees. My son started similarly but 300 miles away. Some people learn easily from the written word and others not well at all. I have to agree with Lauri about the skill of learning to sort the information good, bad, and not applicable to your conditions. I did get advice from a retired bee inspector about a supplier for bees that do well up here in the north.

4 years now with good results overall and only a few minor headscratchers. Undoubtedly there would be much to learn from someone who has done thousands of inspections and has tried and true, efficient ways. I am not interested in doing it fast though.


----------



## Wolfer (Jul 15, 2012)

I would fit more into self teaching as opposed to self taught. Never had a mentor but read a lot of books from the library. I didn't have Internet. Once I had Internet and discovered michael Bushs sight I started learning a lot faster. 
I liked MBs way of thinking from the start and decided to go that route. I haven't regretted it yet. Woody


----------



## imthegrumpyone (Jun 29, 2013)

"The Basket" is weighted down with "Knowledge" that in turn gives him balance and he does not fall.


----------



## GLOCK (Dec 29, 2009)

The practical Beekeeper is a all around good beekeeping book mines beat up pretty good from the hours of reading by my bee yard's Mikes book helped get me off to a good start great for the beginner . It's definitely a great book to have in your beekeeping library. Thanks MIKE for taking the time.:thumbsup:


----------



## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

imthegrumpyone said:


> "The Basket" is weighted down with "Knowledge" that in turn gives him balance and he does not fall.


Shazammmm Now dat's heavy right there:}

I hope to soon be self taughted.....Uh is taughted a word? If not I may not bee:}


----------



## Yukon-Gold (Nov 13, 2013)

I am in the process of being self taught. Will start this spring. Have put countless hours into reading books and beesource. Have also started making my own equipment as well. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Can't wait till my bees come.


----------



## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

westernbeekeeper said:


> Lauri,
> What's in the basket?


Come on Ben, Get your "thunking" glasses on. If you look in the corner opposite of mr "wax on" sits one of Lauri's queens! Over laden with eggs the thing is so plump it could hold up a whole apiary on its own!!! Good thing Mr. "Wax off" wasn't a queen picker in his younger years. A tempting young lady like the one in the basket would have sent him head over hills before he made it past the 30 degree mark.


----------



## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

I well have to say self taught also, with some painful help from the bee"s.


----------



## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

How to perform a individual task /skill is fairly easily learned.
It's the if and when that skill/task needs to be performed that is the tricky part.
I think anyone that is the sole management decision maker for any number of hives is self taught in that regard.


----------



## Dunkel (Jun 12, 2009)

Analyzing a situation and making a decision is the challenging part I like. Check 30 hives and I guarantee something will be screwed in a couple. If not you are probably still doing adjustments from the last time in which something else was screwed up. If that's still not the case you are probably trying hard to detect the screw ups that are in progress for the next time and trying to be proactive.


----------



## noljohn (Jan 9, 2013)

Started out with two packages after reading everything I could get my hands on. I spent every night for 3 months about an hour a night mostly on bee source. I agree with some other post, you really have to be careful who you take advice from. But there's no way I could still have all 3 of my hives in good shape if it wasn't for you all.


----------



## Yvesrow1 (Jan 27, 2013)

*Beside two books & the internet I'm self taught, not really more like self teaching... I think I've got about a snow flake figured out in the whole snow storm of beekeeping knowledge.*


----------



## Hoot Owl Lane Bees (Feb 24, 2012)

I was self taught back in 1980. The farmer I worked for in Pa. had a hive setting in the corner of the pasture that someone had placed there and never came back. It had not been touched for 5 years. I bought First Lessons in Beekeeping and another Hive, Package and other recommended equipment from Tractor Supply. After a lot of work cleaning up the old hive they both made it through a blizzard. Then about halfway through the summer the farmers nephew sprayed too close to the hives and killed them all. 
Then I started Dating.
This time around I did take a class and joined a club and BS.
It's a lot different now.


----------



## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

Mr.Beeman said:


> Self taught? Nope.
> I researched via the internet on other beekeepers experiences with beesource as my mentor.
> Self taught would be absolutely NO outside influence. Kind of like reading a self help book IMO. lol


Agree totally; besides Beesource YOUTUBE has been a very valuable education source. There are at least 2 or 3 guys on Youtube who are:
1. Competent Beekeepers, 
2. Excellent communicators, and 
3. Good to very good film makers.


----------



## JBJ (Jan 27, 2005)

I was initially self taught, for the first 7 years. Making the transition from hobby(maybe 100 hives) to commercial(semi loads)it is inevitable one will eventually rub elbows with established & many decades seasoned beekeepers. When this happens it is amazing how much and how fast one can learn. For those looking for a career I would recommend getting a few seasons in with a successful commercial beekeeper and bring as much science to bare on the subject as possible. 

My first book was a 1976 copy of Starting Right With Bees. Boy were there some painful lessons in there. Unfortunately since I discovered bees I can not bring myself to read anything but about bees. So much to learn still. It could take lifetimes and one could probably still say the same. The value of a seasoned mentor is not to be underestimated.


----------



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

I am self started but must say I feel I get a lot distance mentor ship from this list.
It would be great to actually see and be directly mentored when attempting my first splits and attempt at rearing a Queen!
It makes sense when I read about it but the thought of ruining a hive in my ignorance is more than a little daunting.


----------



## Margot1d (Jun 23, 2012)

Lets face it. Every beekeeper feels self taught when you are on your own doing things for the first time. If you are reading books, using Beesource, you are being taught by a lot of other folks, as it should be. If you are on this forum you part of a group of people teaching each other. A group which I am very grateful for.


----------



## TheBuzz (Feb 8, 2012)

Self taught


----------



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Ohh, self-taught was hard....for me the bee lessons learned. Thanks to beesource to put everything together for me.
It was hard when nobody to ask questions when things are not doing well with my hives. Keep on learning until I cannot
learn anymore.


----------



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

dup


----------



## wareagle1776 (Feb 10, 2012)

Self Taught.....Not really as I bought bees for a couple of years and lost them, learned NOTHING!!! I thought all I needed to do was put them in the yard and forget about them.
I decided to study about bees through this site and sites like Michael bush's website and have been constantly learning new methods. Seems to me the best mentor is the internet.

I'm sure I would not be keeping bees w/o sites like these, Thank You!


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

That's my problem wareagle. Whenever I have tried being self taught, self learning doesn't always follow. Though actually one usually learns something, just not necessarily what one started out to try to learn.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

westernbeekeeper said:


> Lauri,
> What's in the basket?


Empty basket, empty mind. If there is nothing in the mind what is in the basket doesn't matter. What is in ones mind will keep one from doing.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I knew nothing when I started, and the old men like Fred Lake taught me what I know.

Fred's greatest advice..."Wait 'till they swarm, and slap the supers to 'em". Oh boy!

And then there were beekeepers like Buster Smith who really did have something to say..."Bees never put honey in supers that were left in the barn".


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Now that there is some history.

Buster also never had much use for someone who had walked thru the doors of a College. If you'd been to College you weren't fit for working.


----------



## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

What is there to lean? The bees do it all...
Thanks for the help Mike, Mike, Mark, OT, Barry, David, Lauri, Rader, and a host of people I have forgotten or don't know. No one can make you learn, you have to do it yourself. The amount of resources you have may affect the rate at which you learn though.



> Buster also never had much use for someone who had walked thru the doors of a College.


Ooh, a bit ungrateful with a huge chip on his shoulder.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> Ooh, a bit ungrateful with a huge chip on his shoulder.


Some times you have to know someone to fully understand what they mean by what they said. I don't know if he ever met anyone w/ higher learning who could work as hard as people who didn't. But, sometimes things were said for their effect as much as for them actually being believed.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

What is the most profound thing y'all who are self taught have learned or realized? Any axioms?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Bees make better beekeepers than beekeepers make bees.


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

sqkcrk said:


> What is the most profound thing y'all who are self taught have learned or realized? Any axioms?


I'm not self taught but I like this one. "Good honeyflows make good beekeepers."


----------



## Ddawg (Feb 17, 2012)

I am self taught also. I have read several books and the forums have been very helpful. My big moment was when I figured out to start trusting my instincts. To handle situations the best I can based on the knowledge I have and accept the fact that mistakes will be made. And when mistakes are made, learn from them.


----------



## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

sqkcrk said:


> What is the most profound thing y'all who are self taught have learned or realized? Any axioms?


Meh what is a AXIOMS ?


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

jim lyon said:


> I'm not self taught but I like this one. "Good honeyflows make good beekeepers."


Good honeyflows cure almost anything, don't they Jim?


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Snookie said:


> Meh what is a AXIOMS ?


Hmmm, maybe I meant maxim?


----------



## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Never accept failure as the final answer.


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

sqkcrk said:


> Good honeyflows cure almost anything, don't they Jim?


Everything except a shortage of supers.  There may be an axiom there somewhere.


----------



## Colleen O. (Jun 5, 2012)

*Re: Self Teaching*

I'm a work in progress. I would say self teaching but also I am being mentored by the bees, books, and sites like this on the internet. If I can get my bees to make it through the winter I will feel like I have at least learned something despite having a lot more to learn.

I thought about joining a bee club but I was afraid of being pressured into more conventional beekeeping. It was probably a baseless fear, and I am certain I would have learned faster but it just wasn't the right journey for me at the time.


----------



## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

*Re: Self Teaching*

Some mentors have taught me all they Know and I still know nothing
Johno


----------



## McCoslin (Dec 4, 2013)

Lauri said:


> The self taught aspect about using Beesource as a guide, is learning the _*skill *_of determining what is bad advice and what is good advise. It can easily screw a person up as well as help them.
> 
> 
> 
> Three day argument about non -feeders vs feeders, then a week of arguing about what to feed them, then another week of debate over who's recipe is better.


Well said Lauri!


----------



## jrhoto (Mar 2, 2009)

Sometimes the best lessons learned are the hard ones,they have a way of sticking with you.


www.poorvalleybeefarm.com


----------



## DanielD (Jul 21, 2012)

jrhoto said:


> Sometimes the best lessons learned are the hard ones,they have a way of sticking with you.
> 
> 
> www.poorvalleybeefarm.com


I think I would only change the sometimes with all the time, but yeah, hard lessons are the most impacting lessons if you are willing to continue in it. You can either learn much when it's hard, or give up. 

I am still in the process of being self taught, except for all the Beesource lessons and a little bit of youtube. I haven't read any books, except for a lot of Micheal Bush's site info. I always learn new things by diving in and figuring it out along the way after doing the needed research on the subject. I always enjoy figuring out something new to build or do.


----------



## Ben Lomond beek (Nov 30, 2013)

I consider myself self-taught. I started by reading some of the older books like Beekeeping by Everett Franklin Phillips and Scientific Queen rearing by G.M.Doolittle. Then 4 years ago my brother gave me my first hive and told me learn how to raise quality queens. It is amazing that hive actually made through the winter considering all the meddling I did. I was in that colony 2 to 3 times a week learning to identify eggs, the difference between day old larva and older larva, caped brood, pollen and honey. I even cracked open the top one night with a headlight on to see what the girls were up to. Don’t do that! The guards hit me in the forehead so fast I fell over backwards. I learned more about identifying the colony structure by tormenting that hive than by any book I had read so far. Well education is not cheap and that hive did eventually die. It was a bit depressing but soon realized that they didn’t die I had killed them. I bought a package Installed it and fed it for a couple of weeks added a second box and did nothing to it for 9 months. I pulled the top first week of April and had 20 frames boiling with bees. A couple of days later while get a super ready I watched two thirds of my colony go straight up 60 feet into a redwood tree. That was the day I learned about swarming the hard way. My brother gave me 2 nucs and over the next couple of years built them up to 8 colonies. I gave one away and lost 4 weak ones this fall. I have three colonies now all doing well with lots of brood and caped drone. I learn something every day if I pay attention.
2 ½” of rain in Ben Lomond in the last 12 hours yeah!
Cheers,Tom


----------



## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

sqkcrk said:


> Hmmm, maybe I meant maxim?


Meh I don't know what dat means either...:} :scratch:


----------



## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I was for the first year, bad advice from the gal I bought the hive from, then BeeSource, then found local group but mentors are by phone or email still.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Snookie said:


> Meh I don't know what dat means either...:} :scratch:


Maybe u need to pick up a Dictionary and teach yo self sumthin.


----------



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Don't let the books get too dusty. There are nuggets in the books that only make sense when you have been keeping bees for a while.


----------



## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

Adrian Quiney WI said:


> Don't let the books get too dusty. There are nuggets in the books that only make sense when you have been keeping bees for a while.


True.

I would like to see "Trained" added to this posting. It would be good to know, maybe give me some idea of what is available for training.


----------



## Hautions11 (Jun 20, 2013)

Self taught last year. REALLY wanted bees when I was 12. My brother rattled me out to my parents and they killed the idea. Always talked about getting some. Took a $100 birthday check from my mom and bought a nuc. I love coming home from work and watching them for 20 mins.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

julysun said:


> True.
> 
> I would like to see "Trained" added to this posting. It would be good to know, maybe give me some idea of what is available for training.


Okay. I was not self trained. I was really interested. A friend helped me get bees. I went to bee school for two years. Graduated. Took a dozen hives to NY. Got an Apiary Inspection job. That's when I really started learning. Bought some more hives. Worked w/ a cpl of different beekeepers. They told me what to do. Took their advice, usually somewhat different advice, decided what to do. Learned from that. Twenty eight years later here I am. 

Taught? Mentored for sure. Self taught? Still practicing. Haven't got it all figured out yet. Things keep on changing on me.

What have I learned? When you get knocked down, get up and get back to work. What else can you do, other than just lay there and give up. I don't know if I have been a failure yet because I hain't gave up yet.


----------



## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

my continuing self education includes listening to mark and a few others. next step is more reading like brother adam and a recently obtained copy of dadant's artificial insemination of bees.


----------



## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

I thought about this some more. the continuing self education has been helped a lot by the speakers at the empire state honey producers association, [ESHPA] for the last couple of years.


----------



## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

SQKCRK Knowing this about you will give me greater faith in what you have to say. Thanks.


----------



## REDWOOD (Feb 5, 2014)

I started beekeeping by doing a bit of research on the WWW and truthfully I got a bit lost so I bought a book by Ted Hooper which lead me in the right direction so I took a beekeeping course that gave me no guidance (practicable classes) so I took the plunge and bought a nuc of bees, quite funny looking back at my first inspection with my smoker in one hand and a copy of Ted Hoopers book in the other. Our association has changed quite dramatically over the last few years with the understanding that new beekeepers need practicable experience with bees and understand how to recognise disease and problems with a colony, the association members apiary has been transformed into a training apiary for all to enjoy. 
One thing that I think totally confused me on the WWW was so many beekeepers had their own interpretation on how to keep bees so find a style that suit you and strive for excellence.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

julysun said:


> SQKCRK Knowing this about you will give me greater faith in what you have to say. Thanks.


That's nice julysun. I try to be honest in what I say, based primarily on my experience. I don't read as much as many do. I have plenty of books that I have only read parts of and then I get bored and watch TV or "chat" on beesource. I believe that most of what I have learned has been from doing beekeeping and trying what I have heard from others.

I think the two Michaels are much better at observation and understanding what they see and I know Michael Palmer is good at putting what he learns into action. Michael Palmer keeps bees more like I do than Michael Bush. So I would tend to follow his advice and example more so than Michael Bush. Whose philosophy I respect, but haven't incorporated into my ways of doing things.


----------



## Levi's Bees (Feb 7, 2014)

Im self taught and still not allthe way there lots of you tube and books. internet is god right now lol . the bee is very fascinating little creature. building my first hive from scratch woow did i learn a lot and still not don . iv made all my jigs to


----------

