# Newbee from Massachusetts



## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

Taking my third class of Bee School tonight with the Norfolk County Beekeepers Association..... My kids and I have 2 hives ready to assemble and bees on order for the spring.... Class is incredible and there is such a wealth of information and experience.... This is going to "bee" awesome!

Have been making mead since 2004 and my son thought it about time we had our own hives..... LOL!


----------



## MaydayMalone (Jan 19, 2012)

Bob....I started 4 hives last Spring. I did the same thing as you by signing up for some bee webinars online. Recommend a few books to you; Beekeeping for Dummies, Backyard Beekeeper, and The Queen Must Die....all on Amazon. Dummies and Backyard are great instructional books and Queen is a great observational book on the life and traits of honeybees. Do you have a local bee association near you? If so, go to a meeting. The biggest piece of advice to you is to make sure you feed your new colonies sugar water all summer long. I made the mistake of stopping the feeding and couldn't figure out why they wouldn't make wax. Walmart sells 25 lb bags of sugar for about $14. This is a good website, but do a search for other blogs and instructional sites. Brushy Mountain (www.brushymountainbeefarm.com) has great instructional videos that cover every topic. Also, on YouTube.com there is a great series called "Honey Bees and Beekeeping". There are seven episodes that are split into 3 or 4 parts. Will you be installing your bee packages into the hives? 

You'll find that this is a very addicting hobby and you'll always be praying for a nice day to take a peek into your hives. I think it's great that you are involving your kids in this. 

Good Luck.


----------



## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

MaydayMalone said:


> Bob....I started 4 hives last Spring. I did the same thing as you by signing up for some bee webinars online. Recommend a few books to you; Beekeeping for Dummies, Backyard Beekeeper, and The Queen Must Die....all on Amazon. Dummies and Backyard are great instructional books and Queen is a great observational book on the life and traits of honeybees. Do you have a local bee association near you? If so, go to a meeting. The biggest piece of advice to you is to make sure you feed your new colonies sugar water all summer long. I made the mistake of stopping the feeding and couldn't figure out why they wouldn't make wax. Walmart sells 25 lb bags of sugar for about $14. This is a good website, but do a search for other blogs and instructional sites. Brushy Mountain (www.brushymountainbeefarm.com) has great instructional videos that cover every topic. Also, on YouTube.com there is a great series called "Honey Bees and Beekeeping". There are seven episodes that are split into 3 or 4 parts. Will you be installing your bee packages into the hives?
> 
> You'll find that this is a very addicting hobby and you'll always be praying for a nice day to take a peek into your hives. I think it's great that you are involving your kids in this.
> 
> Good Luck.


Thanks! Awesome stuff!

We joined the Norfolk County Beekeepers Association and they have been great! They are currently running a bee school (which we are attending) that will run through April which is when we expect our bees to arrive.... We will be installing our own packages...... Currently have 2 hives that still need to be assembled but that is part of which will be covered in the class tonight.... We will be setting up a build party to take care of that in the next couple of weekends...;- )

I hear you on the wealth of information that is on you tube.... How did we ever get along before the internet! 

Thanks again and have a great day!

Bob


----------



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Bob!


----------



## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

A few years ago we were a dying breed - beekeepers and bees - Glad to have you join us in the assylum! It's the best addiction you'll ever have.


----------



## Lazer128 (Dec 15, 2012)

Welcome to the site! Sounds you and I are on the same path. lol I'm busy getting ready for my delivery on March 30th.


----------



## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

Thanks everyone! 

Got some hands on experience putting supers and frames together at last nights bee school..... Lots of fun and great group of folks!


----------



## Michael B (Feb 6, 2010)

Welcome Bob. You are in for a wonderful experience with keeping bees. Work of caution is it can get addictive. I started out with two hives a number of years ago and this past season i managed 35 hives at its peak before winter combines and such.

Welcome aboad!


----------



## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Welcome Bob it's good to have you aboard.


----------

