# Too late in the year to start a hive?



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Order two nucs and combine into 1 hive. Make sure to remove one of the queens first. You may be able to sell her. 
Install one nuc (with queen) into a deep and add frames to fill deep. Do the same thing with the other (now queenless) nuc and do a newspaper combine.... you'll be good to go.


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## buzzsaw (Jul 2, 2011)

J - My advice would be to find a local bee club and start attending meetings. Then find someone you can shadow (i.e. mentor) and learn as much as possible. You may even be able to talk your mentor into a summer split that he or she can coach you along with (offer to pay and adjust your schedule to theirs when working hives). The problem in our area with starting a hive this late is the primary nectar flow is about done - unless you have an agriculture crop that is a reliable nectar producer to help a new hive along. It will be tough to encourage a new hive to build enough new comb and you will need to feed, feed, feed. Then there is the threat of robbing from other honey bees and yellow jackets. I am not saying it can't be done, but better done with the guidance of someone helping you. Beekeeping is a wonderful hobby - but I always try to help (give advice) others to achieve some level of success that way the failures are easier to swallow.


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## Jon B (Apr 24, 2013)

I would recommend visiting some bee yards with local beekeepers. Ask if you can come help them move hives, super and extract honey. Once you have gained some experience then you can start acquiring all the equipment you will need so that next spring you can start your first hive(s). I would recommend starting with two or three hives.

If you are pushing to start this season then I would suggest purchasing a nuc. I normally install package hives and make all my nucs in the months of April and May. One year I did make some nucs in the middle of June and they still made me one medium super of honey by the end of the summer.


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## butterprint (May 29, 2013)

I say go for it! 

Exactly one year ago this week, my husband and I hived a swarm that had landed right in our own yard. We felt we were getting a late start, but so far so good with our bees. They haven't been as productive as my sister's hive (she started with a nuc a couple months before us last year and her colony took off like crazy), but we re-queened this spring and are hopeful. Plus, they survived our Colorado winter, so that was a huge accomplishment for small colony trusted to novice beekeepers. 

I'd also say, keep an eye on Craigslist. In Denver last year, I noticed a few listings for established colonies that were up for sale, and I met a neighborhood beekeeper who was looking for people to adopt some hives because all the swarms we had last year meant the beekeepers had too many new colonies to deal with! I'm just saying, you never know, keep an eye out for swarms, for Craigslist ads, or yes--go ahead and order two nucs and combine them. Call around your local apiaries and beekeeper supplies, see if anyone can help. We had no idea what we were doing the day we found our swarm, but we successfully captured them and have had great luck ever since with out little colony. All beginners make mistakes, but I don't think you should hold off if you're very passionate about beekeeping. We all have to start somewhere. 

If you're passionate for beekeeping, why not? It's hard to wait an entire year, you have a lot to learn fast, but it's do-able. In the mean time, keep doing that research. Learn as much as you can, I'm finding the world of beekeeping is HUGELY vast, I don't think I'll ever learn it all. Good luck!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Starting a hive now is a great idea, if you can find the bees...


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

If I were in Colorado or Nebraska…I wouldn’t hesitate. But here?
Our nectar flow will soon or has already come to an end. Getting a new colony of bees to build and provision a nest will be challenging, at best. Rather than setting the stage for failure, I would recommend spending the next 8 to 10 months getting prepared to ‘do it right’ next year.
Good luck


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## Kizanne (May 16, 2013)

I"m new but my philosophy for most of life is nature and God know more than me.

I say this because I'm in North Florida and we just caught a swarm Sunday and my hive is trying to swarm. The bees seem to think there is still time for everything to work. If you are really wanting to start I'd say try to find a Nuc. I know on craigslist here there is someone with many Nucs available right now, so you can probably find the bees.


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

I ditto what has been said only I'd try to put all of the info together. Find a local club, attend the meetings, find a mentor to shadow, get your bees sooner than later, feed, feed, feed. (don't use a boardman or entrance feeder. Get one that's inside and DON'T get or use "honey b healthy" as that WILL definitely encourage robbing!!! The one area that I've been unable to find in my area is the mentor. There are very few beekeepers that I'd say know much about bees that I'd like to shadow. I am also a father of 3 under 6 with #4 on the way in August so my time is VERY limited. If you haven't yet I'd encourage you to go to Michael Bush's site and read everything. There are some great ideas and thoughts. Realize that there are many specifics that are relative to given areas, but there are also standards. The biggest is timing. This time of year for me the flow is in good force now, for you it's about over if it's not already. Your local guys can tell you better than I. I also like MB's quote "everything works if you let it" and I see that being VERY true with bees. 

Only YOU can decide if you want to start now or not. It will take time for sure. At least 2-4 hours a week (assuming you start w/ 2 which I'd strongly recommend) or more in the hives as you are learning. Second is $. There are MANY things to waste money on, but depending what you want to do and what your goals are that again is only something you can decide.


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## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

I captured a swarm last fall in august. with some feeding they built up fine and over wintered just great! Now that on hive has turned into eight!

You should be fine starting now, but you may have to watch it and feed a little this summer.


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

The difficult thing for a new beek is when to feed and how much and what ratio. Does anyone have "general" rule of thumb for how much honey / nectar / sugar ought to be in a hive for it to keep going? I know I like to have capped stores all around every brood frame, but it's often only about 1/4 of each frame. Making sure there's extra space still in the hive for more brood and for incomming nectar, but that's my gist.


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## Connor (Jul 1, 2010)

I went for three years with every hive having a full brood box and a medium full going into Winter and never suffered a loss. 2011 I had a late swarm I caught in August that had only 8 frames in a large box and survived the Winter. This last winter every hive I had that went into Winter with less than two full large boxes died out in March or early April. I was feeding like crazy but the drought kept them from building up numbers and they starved when they couldn't get to the stores or the feed I had on them due to the cold. Needless to say I have adjusted for what I think sufficient stores are now for my girls. For now on I am shooting for two large brood boxes minimum and may leave a partial medium on as well.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

Nope, not too late. Finding equipment and bees maybe a little difficult but join a local club and hang out with some beekeepers. 

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

Connor, I wonder if you had the same issue that I did this past summer due to the draught. My hives were in bad shape due to lack of pollen, not because of lack of stores. I had hives die out that were in stores. I think the reason they died was because they didn't get the pollen to build up their fat reserves before winter.


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## honeybeebee (Jan 27, 2013)

Go for it....get your woodenware going, enough for two hives...good luck finding bees...nucs would be best....packages tougher....you might catch a swarm  .....you have a bunch of 'step-mentors' on this site...might as well start learning now, you'll be doing that forever.....and when you get the girls,...FEED, FEED, FEED...probably until winter.....ask me about my time saving syrup making technique...simple and sweet...


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## maynard27 (Jun 2, 2013)

I am wondering this same thing as well. I had 2 nucs on order earlier this year, but they have been delayed and delayed. Last the supplier said was that they would be available the middle of June. Now I am wondering if it is too late for me to start out. Especially since this will be my first year. Should I still be paying normal prices for a nuc this late in the year? I have had a swarm trap up for a while, but have had no luck. I would love to get a swarm. People in my bee club tell me they should be fine and I will have to feed. I am curious if trying to keep them in a nuc box would be better?


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

honeybeebee said:


> ask me about my time saving syrup making technique...simple and sweet...


We're asking........


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

snl said:


> We're asking........


Dunno about his, but I'll tell you mine.
Fill a jar with sugar. Pour in just enough water to come up even with the top of the sugar. Shake well, then ignore it for a few hours. Shake again, ignore a few hours, done. Should end up with a totally clear syrup about the consistency of pancake syrup.

I use an entrance feeder, so I just mix it up in the mason jars I use with the feeder and swap them out as needed.


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## pargyle (Jun 3, 2013)

J.Bailey said:


> I got very interested in beekeeping about a week ago and have been reading about it and learning nonstop. But at one point it occurred to me it might be too late to even start a hive this year because spring is mostly over. On top of that, most places I've seen are no longer selling bees.
> 
> Suppose I do find a place I can still order bees, is it okay to start a hive still or should I wait? I can't remember where but I saw but I read something about June 15th being the latest but I'm not sure how "official" that is. Also, I'm not really concerned about if I can harvest the honey this year, I'm most concerned with if I start the hive will the bees be able to get through the winter.


Depends on how quick you can learn and assimilate knowledge ... it's a pretty steep learning curve even when you've done the courses and read the books. It took me a year before I was even ready to get a hive and last year was such a dreadful year for beekeeping over here that it wasn't worth starting by the time 'summer' arrived, so I was 18 months or more from deciding to become a beekeeper to actually being one. My suggestion would be to spend the next 8 months reading everything you can find on bees and then decide what sort of a beekeeper you are going to be. It will give you time to get/build your equipment economically, space and time to learn and do a bit of networking to see if you can get some local (*and possibly free bees) and perhaps find a local beekeeper to shadow for the rest of this season which will give you confidence handling your own bees. You are not going to miss out on any honey as you've missed the major flow where you are so you might as well go for an early start next spring armed with the right knowledge, enough equipment and relaxed ... you will have plenty of time to panic once you get your bees. Good luck.


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

snl said:


> We're asking........


You can make 1 to 1 in this method of simply putting the ammt. of water and = ammt. of sugar in a container and shaking it, but I don't think you can go much more than that as easily. Personally I like Michael Bush's ratio of 3-5 which is 3 parts water to 5 parts sugar. It stays good much longer than 1-1 and is easy to "cook" on the stove. I think I figured out that 5# of sugar = 10 cups so if you put 6 cups of water in a pot with this 5# bag of sugar then you have a 3-5 ratio. But just knowing that you have 10 cups in a 5# bag is helpful. You can make just about whatever you'd like just realize that unless they're using it right away there will be a lot of water to get off of it and you will need to have good ventilation (upper ventilation is what I'd prefer) so that your boxes and lids etc. don't warp. I had my upper entrance lid on a good and warm day bow so much that I just about had an entrance on both sides of the top. Not what I wanted at all!!! 

Personally I've read and found more issues with entrance feeders than I can shake a stick at so I dont' use them. I put a enpty box on top and use a quart jar with holes in the upper rim so that the syrup fills the lip in the lid and they take it from there. Hopefully that makes sense. If not I'll try to post a picture of what I have and use if you'd like. Oh and DON'T use any HBH (honey b healthy) or anything like that. Other hives WILL smell it and come for the feast. I think that MB or someone else has said that if you feed one hive then you need to feed them all in the same yard. That way there's no robbing. (I honestly haven't done that yet, but I understand the thought and reasoning. I don't have the ammt. of hives that others do)


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## beemartin (Mar 13, 2013)

I'm not familiar with Henry County, but I just saw this morning on Craigslist someone selling established hives in Buford (NE ATL so a bit of a drive from you though.) I also see a guy in Hall County (just a little further north from Buford ) who has NUCs for $130. So, there's still some bees available here in GA.


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## honeybeebee (Jan 27, 2013)

Ok here's my easy syrup method....five lb bag of sugar in gallon milk jug....fill 1/2 full of hot tap water ...shake ...fill jug....shake some more...no measuring.....no muss no fuss.....told you it was easy..I use jugs with screw-on tops...don't ask why...I'm still cleaning up that mess


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## mcauth (May 21, 2013)

I picked up a nuc late last summer and they over wintered just fine. I fed them through mid December though - they built up nice and strong and exploded in the spring. In GA you should be able to get nucs off of splits through summer. Just be sure and feed them as much as they tell you they need...

Also, do yourself a favor and get two, not one. It *really* helps to have two hives, one serving as a control. This is a mistake (starting with one hive) that I made and it really set me back last year. Folks told me to do two, and for some reason I decided against it, which was a bad call.

Good luck feel free and PM me for some of my 1st year pain here in GA, hopefully it'll save you some cycles.
--Matt


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

Yeah, I'm out here in the middle of nowhere and spent a couple months with swarm bait trying to lure a swarm in, no luck. Nothing out here but carpenter bees, so there's really nothing to steal from my single hive out here, so I've had no problems with entrance feeders so far.

I mixed up another batch of shaken syrup last night and used a drinking glass to measure how much water I was using. Took note of how much was left in the glass when I was done, then poured the same amount into another mason jar. Just eyeballing everything, but it only filled about 65% of the jar (where I had it totally filled with sugar). So its definitely somewhere north of the 1.5:1 range just shaking at room temperature.


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## honeybeebee (Jan 27, 2013)

Edymnion....was that a shot glass ?


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## tacomabees (May 2, 2013)

Generally, there are two formulas used for feeding....1:1 in spring and 2:1 in the fall.

a gallon of water weighs 8lbs....add 8lbs of sugar and you have 1:1 ratio. I bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and add the sugar. Boiling the water will sterilize anything in the sugar that may be there. With this recipe, I end up with just under 1.5 gallons of feed.

the reason, I think for the 2:1 ratio in the fall, is because of the cooler temps, the bee's have to work less to deal with the additional water inside the hive. this is important to us in the NW due to all the rain.

Since early May, I have been feeding my (new) hives about a gallon of water every three days and have hive top feeders. When it's cooler, like last week, (nights 45, days 58 degrees), they hardly took any sugar water at all, but when the sun comes out (mid 70's), they are working it hard...I have gone through about 60lbs of sugar so far.

I picked up two additional NUC's and installed them a week ago....will be checking them in the next day or so to see how they are doing, but they are taking about a gallon of the 1:1 at about the same rate....we'll see how they do!


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

honeybeebee said:


> Edymnion....was that a shot glass ?


Great, now all I see are bees with vodka shooters making sloppy passes at the petunias.


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## honeybeebee (Jan 27, 2013)

Here's my simple syrup technique.....five lbs sugar in gallon milk jug....use funnel cut off to make bigger opening..fill part way with HOT water from sink..shake,shake,shake..fill jug with more hot water...shake ....done..no measuring...no mess....feed feed feed


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

tacomabees said:


> Generally, there are two formulas used for feeding....1:1 in spring and 2:1 in the fall.
> 
> a gallon of water weighs 8lbs....add 8lbs of sugar and you have 1:1 ratio. I bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and add the sugar. Boiling the water will sterilize anything in the sugar that may be there. With this recipe, I end up with just under 1.5 gallons of feed.


my understanding was that the ratio was by volume not by weight. I honestly don't think it matters much as they will do with what they're given. I can only say to making it too thick. I made one batch too thick that it wouldn't make it out of the holes and fill up the rim of the lid that I was inverting and using. Once I added a little bit of water to it they took it right up. 

The reasoning for 2:1 and 1:1 is correct. In the early spring you'll see the bees bringing in water to use the capped stores. They need thinner syrup to "use" to feed larva etc, but to overwinter they need less water.


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## J.Bailey (May 28, 2013)

Goodness gracious, thanks everyone for all the great replies! I think the email subscription to this thread is messed up as I only got notification for the first response. I'm halfway done constructing the hive and will be ordering/obtaining the bees soon. Thanks again everyone!


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## ShawnL (Apr 21, 2012)

J.Bailey said:


> Goodness gracious, thanks everyone for all the great replies! I think the email subscription to this thread is messed up as I only got notification for the first response. I'm halfway done constructing the hive and will be ordering/obtaining the bees soon. Thanks again everyone!


I'm also here in Henry County. Is is definitely not too late to start a new hive or three... The main flow is definitely tapering off, though the rain we've had the past couple days may restart that. I would highly recommend feeding as much as the bees will take to build them up quickly.

I'm only a 2nd year Beek but if I can help you out in anyway please feel free to PM me.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

There are guys in my area selling "complete hives" on Craigslist anywhere from $250 to $300. Bottom board, single deep, inner and outer covers, full of brood and bees. 

Not a bad way to start if you have the cash.


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

Nabber86 said:


> There are guys in my area selling "complete hives" on Craigslist anywhere from $250 to $300. Bottom board, single deep, inner and outer covers, full of brood and bees.
> 
> Not a bad way to start if you have the cash.


Yup, even a single deep hive with top and bottom is going to run you about $150, plus another hundred for a package this time of year (if you can find them), so $250 for an established hive would be a bargain.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Yep, every time a see a price like that I say yikes! 

But then add up the cost of the wooden ware and a nuc and the price really gets up there. 


Annnnd with that, que the guys with pitchforks that say they build everything for free and catch swarms.


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

J.Bailey said:


> Goodness gracious, thanks everyone for all the great replies! I think the email subscription to this thread is messed up as I only got notification for the first response. I'm halfway done constructing the hive and will be ordering/obtaining the bees soon. Thanks again everyone!


For the e-mail to work you have to revisit the post and be logged in. If you're not logged in you won't receive a new e-mail. The link in the e-mail will take you to the post, but if you're not automatically logged in or if you have signed out then you'll need to relog in.


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