peapod
gardener
Zone 4, acidic soil, and sandy loam that I have worked on for 4 years. Fixing the bad stuff.
Posts: 175
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Post by peapod on Dec 28, 2008 22:03:59 GMT -5
Here is what i am looking for. I have thought over the past few years of keeping bees. Small. Maybe only a few hives etc.
I was wondering if any of you can suggest a good book or books to read on the subject. The University extension offers classes but they are 3 hours away from where we live.
I'll have to teach myself along the way. I have seen books on the subject I would like to read the good ones and not have to sift through the books that work and the ones that don't.
Thank You!!!!!
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Post by plantsnobin on Dec 29, 2008 10:10:44 GMT -5
CFF here is our resident expert on bee keeping, I am sure he'll be along to answer questions for you. Alan is also giving it a go.
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Post by cff on Jan 1, 2009 22:37:13 GMT -5
Peapod"
PM me your mailing address - I'm sure I have a few books and maybe a CD that you would find helpful. I really don't need them and I would love for someone interested in beekeeping to have them.
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peapod
gardener
Zone 4, acidic soil, and sandy loam that I have worked on for 4 years. Fixing the bad stuff.
Posts: 175
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Post by peapod on Jan 2, 2009 17:04:16 GMT -5
cff,
the kind soul that you are a PM is on the way. thanks.
peapod.
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Post by hoosierheightsfarm on Jan 10, 2009 20:53:16 GMT -5
I have a "book on disk" that I got emailed to me for my taking a simple quiz. I'll see if it can be "shared". I'll have to check when I get home, as I'm at work right now.
POC
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Post by cff on Jan 11, 2009 15:14:30 GMT -5
Books are great and I learned a lot from reading but the best learning experience I had came from a six hour trip to Georgia years ago.
I had an invitation to ride along with a friend to pick up 10 Nucs he had purchased. The seller in Georgia had 50 years of experience as a beekeeper.
He was an amazing guy with a ton of real life experience. He actually talked me through the process of hand grafting and raising my own queens. The following week I grafted my first queens.
One thing I've noticed is there are a lot of beekeepers who are retirement age supplementing there income with beekeeping - and even more who enjoy it as a hobby. So please let me encourage you to search out a local beekeeper with a few years experience.
Experience is priceless
Peapod -
I've been gone a lot the past week and a half - I searched through my books and did find one that would be a good one for you and a CD with a lot of information. I had already given several of my older books away and forgot about it. I'll send them out to you on Monday (UPS) and you should have them Tuesday.
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Post by grungy on Jan 11, 2009 19:36:14 GMT -5
Cff,
Would it be possible to have you burn a copy of your CD and send us a copy, too.
Cheers,
Val (grungy)
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Post by cff on Jan 11, 2009 20:56:18 GMT -5
Val - PM me your address.
I don't know if this is a protected CD or not but I'll try to burn you a copy tomorrow. If it doesn't work I'll let you know
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Post by plantsnobin on Jan 12, 2009 9:48:55 GMT -5
Or, you could produce your own how to video and all of us here could buy it, if you aren't too busy, of course.
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Post by cff on Jan 12, 2009 10:48:13 GMT -5
I wouldn't have a clue about how to make a CD video - anyone have instructions ?
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peapod
gardener
Zone 4, acidic soil, and sandy loam that I have worked on for 4 years. Fixing the bad stuff.
Posts: 175
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Post by peapod on Jan 12, 2009 23:40:38 GMT -5
Cff,
there is a fella that I met at the local farmers market this past summer. He is the one that got me to think about bee keeping. He is your perfect description of what you mentioned. THe rertired guy who needed a hobby. What a wealth of information. I tell you...
He livesabout an hour and a half from where I live. This spring when we have some time (both of us) we are going to go to his farm (hobby) and check every thing out. and he is a nice fella to boot.
I'll keep you posted. He told me to read a few books in the meantime to get more aquainted with what to do and write down my hundreds of questions.
Grafting a queen bee huh?
That.is.a cool.thing.
The University Extension offers a class but as I have mentioned before it's 3 hours away and in the dead of winter. So far there has been a blizzard the two times it has been offered. I think spring time would be a much better time and the I can take my daugter with me and teach her at the same time.
My husband has always wanted bees so he is in on it too!!!!
That will make it a ton of fun.
So do you milk cows? The photo dead give away. How many head do you have? My husband said he would never milk another cow as long as he lives. He is the only son of 6 and the oldest, and his dad was a dairy farmer. It wont take a genius to figure that one out.
I want to have one for our consumption and family too that is nearby... The answer is always no...
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Post by cff on Jan 13, 2009 0:34:04 GMT -5
If you think hand grafting a queen is cool wait till I save up enough funds to purchase the equipment to AI breed queens (That's right - queens are artificially inseminated by a lot of commercial bee guys) The equipment is about $3,000 so its been really slow coming with a kid in collage but its a future goal and I'll be glad to accept donations from any rich members who want free queens for life  I stayed with my grandparents a lot when I was a kid - they were very old fashioned souther folk who whipped Proverbs 16:31 into me on a number of times until I had a natural respect for anyone with silver hair and something to say. I have to admit I've learned a lot more from watching someone with experience than anything else (maybe just my style of learning) or there really was something to the painful advise to sit down shut up and listen to your elders that my grandpa gave me so often. I did try a few local Extension classes but the pace was soooo slow I just couldn't spend a year in class for the things I wanted to learn in a few hours. Living around my grandpa was must have been comparable to living in the depression of the 1930's forever. They spent very little grew a lot; saved everything and dinner was always standing in the barn yard a few minuets ago. I've dressed or help dress about anything you could consider a farm animal I've learned to milk sitting on my grandpa's knee we milked cows and goats back then but I never really like goat milk too much. The picture was my last Jersey. Currently I have 13 Angus cows due to a management job that keeps me really busy and on the road a lot lately. Hopefully when life settles down a little I'll pick up another milk cow or three. I hate store bought pasteurized milk - if I can't have the raw unpasteurized stuff I'll drink water When you get your book and CD shoot me an email and I'll give you the short list of items you'll need to get started that will make it a little easier on ya. ttyl |
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Post by woodchuck on Jan 13, 2009 22:28:28 GMT -5
Here is what i am looking for. I have thought over the past few years of keeping bees. Small. Maybe only a few hives etc. I was wondering if any of you can suggest a good book or books to read on the subject. The University extension offers classes but they are 3 hours away from where we live. I'll have to teach myself along the way. I have seen books on the subject I would like to read the good ones and not have to sift through the books that work and the ones that don't. Thank You!!!!! There are lots of good books. It's difficult to recommend just one. I think that if you start with titles authored or edited by Roger Morse, that'll get you off to a good start. ABC's and XYZ's of beekeeping...kind of an encyclopedia edited by Roger is excellent. The Complete Book of Beekeeping by Roger Morse A Year in the Beeyard: An Expert's Month-by-Month Instructions for Successful Beekeeping....excellent!!!!...a rundown of what's required month-to month.....especially for northern beekeepers... FYI....Roger Morse was a professor of entomology (insects) at Cornell University... I got to meet Roger on several different occasions. He was a very nice man!!! <Woodchuck> |
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Post by woodchuck on Jan 13, 2009 22:38:19 GMT -5
That's very true, there's no substitute for experience. Books are great too, they can give a beginner a good head start...at least you'll have an idea what is going on and what questions to ask!!!!! Experience isn't everything....bad experience and habits are hard to break...I know beekeepers who had years (many years) of experience who couldn't consistently locate a queen and prevent hives from swarming (demareeing, usually) so that they'd actually reap a decent harvest. Books are a great place to start. <Woodchuck> |
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