I reside on five acres, thinking about buying a hive and placing in the middle of the property. Anyone have experience with raising bees or advice they can provide?

If I may piggyback a question....

Does a beekeeper have any liablility for placing a hive? Bees can range up to 2 miles from a hive (according to Google) So if one of "my bees" stings someone, or they are working someone's flower garden and are unwanted, will I have a problem?

If they can microstamp bullets and shell casings, why not bee stingers?






Kidding!

But you think a lawyer really cares? If the OP has bees on 0.08 square miles, and a person is stung by a bee within the 12.5 square mile foraging radius of that hive, don't you think the OP will be "suspect" number 1?

It's a Bee Conspiracy

No longer in TX, but a buddy in Arkansas had two hives in a sub-division. He moved out onto 5 or so acres and has about 6 hives now. He contacted the state and they told him everything. Seem to be a friendly and welcoming hobby group. I would start here and make a couple of calls if no one on OB knows.

http://txbeeinspection.tamu.edu/

I know a Bee Keeping expert. She runs workshops and such all over the state. If you are interested in talking to her, email me at atxbanker at gmail dot com and I will give you her info. She lives in the Austin area.

Good luck, hope it works out. Someday I am going to get one of these:

http://www.honeyflow.com/

I suggest getting two hives minimum. For a new beekeeper, Its hard to identify problems without one hive to check against. Second, I suggest getting this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Beekeeping-Dummies-Howland-Blackiston/dp/1118945468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459259834&sr=8-1&keywords=beekeeping+for+dummies

Its too late this year to learn and get started, so you hav eplenty of time to read. After you read that and get your bees, you can get this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Handbook-Diana-Sammataro/dp/0801476941/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459259915&sr=8-1&keywords=beekeepers+handbook

This is far more in depth and will address more specifics. I use it as a reference.

5 Acres is plenty of space to put bees and not be in anyone's way.

Thanks, it's all great info

The additional time spent maintaining multiple hives vs 1 is minimal. I second the point of having two hives for comparison. Buying bees is pretty expensive, and it's likely too late now to order bees. However, we are in the middle of swarm season. Contact your local beekeeping club and let them know you are in the market for any swarms that are captured. Free, native bees!

Where are you located?

so what's around this 5 acres, do you have any habitat or do you plan to just feed them year round?

Bees will find pollen and nectar to survive.

Here is a good cartoon of what I mean. Look at the distance, and the acreage that they can cover if needed. Even downtown houston on the top of an apartment building will work.



From BeeSource.com

I want to do this SO BAD.

...but I'm holding off until the "next" piece of property.

I reside south of San Antonio, everyone has five acre plots. Lots of pollen and nectar everywhere.

OCD Math nerd says bee source dot com is off on their 1/2 mile and 2 mile numbers.

100 yards, 6.5 claimed, 6.49 actual
0.5 mile, 540 claimed, 502 actual
1 mile, >2000 claimed, 2010 actual
2 miles, 8658 claimed, 8065 actual
5 miles, >50,000 claimed, 50,285 actual

Either way, you'd have to be practically in the desert for bees not to be able to sustain themselves outside of a serious drought (and potentially dead heat of summer). You can have as many hives as you can handle in that area.

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Either way, you'd have to be practically in the desert for bees not to be able to sustain themselves outside of a serious drought (and potentially dead heat of summer).

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I wonder about that in my part of the world. Our crops are wind pollinated, not much to feed a bee when you raise corn, wheat and sorghum. And our grasslands are just that, grass. We do have wildflowers, but they are limited both in numbers and timing,

The best bet would be to have urban bees that hit up everyone's flower beds and gardens, or have your own bee feeding garden.

You're right, most of Texas' crops don't benefit bees (and vice versa). So, if you have large swaths of farmland like that, it may be tough. Below is a very general description of US foraging areas.

http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/Forage.htm

On a side note, we have a little cultivated quarter that is surrounded on all sides by pasture. When we have a garden, I am amazed at how many pollinators show up. Flies, wasps, bumblebees, solitary bees, etc. Rarely honeybees, as far as I can tell.

Below is a photo of a bunch of solitary bee burrows that popped up in a county road near our place.

What is your main holdup keeping you from starting an apiary? What's your concern? Same with you, OP.

I have been considering it and every beekeeper I have talked to suggested the two hives. They also suggested spending some time with a nearby beekeeper as sort of a mentor. I have not pulled the trigger due to geo location.

I think most all beekeepers recommend 2 hives because that's what most all beekeeping books recommend. I started with 1, and it was just fine. I also could have started with 5, and it would have been just fine. There's really very little difference in time required between keeping 1 and 10 beehives. Extracting honey is the big time difference.

Also, cost is a large constraint to starting beekeeping. A hive kit generally runs about $220 per hive. If you buy bees, expect another $250 for the bees. I'm definitely an advocate of finding a mentor who has some experience capturing swarms. Free bees are better than paying for bees.

Where are you located? Just trying to get an idea of where potential and existing OB beekeepers are located.

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What is your main holdup keeping you from starting an apiary? What's your concern? Same with you, OP.

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A couple of things, all somewhat legit.

1) I only intend to own this property for another 4-5 years and I have plenty of things to mess with between now and then, so I can wait.

2) My neighbor has a grandson (who lives with them) that is apparently deathly allergic to bees. And my little orchard, where I would like to put the bees, is pretty close to his house. While not having a bee hive does not prevent bees from being around, given my likely short time frame on the property, his general concern over the health and well being of his grandson, and me wanting to be a good neighbor, I think having bees right now would create more expense and heartache than it would good.

I've never told him I'd like to have bees, and he's never asked me to limit any bee-attracting plantings (I planted buckwheat last year and sunflowers the year before, both of which led to 1000s of bees), but he has genuine concern about possible stings to the point that he's told me where they keep the epi-pens in case of an emergency. Seems like a pretty easy sacrifice for me to make right now given it would be of a very short term benefit to me.

I got rid of my hives due to 1) neighbor problems, and 2) pain in the rear when bees are kept at a remote location.

What is a reasonable amount of honey you can expect from a single hive?

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What is a reasonable amount of honey you can expect from a single hive?

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The first year, you may or may not get any extractable honey from a hive. The bees generally make enough to build their population and sustain themselves for the winter. If you get any, you may get 20-40 pounds or so.

An established hive during a normal weather year should produce anywhere between 50-100 pounds per year. That's over 2 extractions, summer and fall. That's a wide range, but it depends on honey flow and hive management.

Note that I'm referring to a moderate Texas climate.

Also, for reference, a 5 gallon bucket (filled to about 4.5 gallons) weighs about 50 pounds.

The answer about how much honey 1 hive can produce: it's too variable to give you an estimate.

1. Do you "juice" your hive with artificial pollen substitute and sugar/corn syrup?
2. Do you chemically treat your hives for pathogens or do you go natural?
3. Do you prefer that your bees survive the winter on the honey they produced in the fall or do you extra most/all of it and keep them fed artificially?
4. What kind of year was it? Wet or dry? (Wet is usually worse).
5. What kind of nectar sources and in what quantity are they available?
6. What is the strength of your hive?
7. What technique are you using to get the honey out? Pressing? Extracting? Are you keeping comb honey?

I could add more things to this list. Sometimes the hives become weak for reasons completely foreign to you, and you get zilch.

In other words, if you are expecting 50 to 100 pounds of honey per hive, in my experience, you will be disappointed.

I'll respectfully disagree with you. I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect 50# per hive in a year. 100# is certainly on the high end.

That's assuming being conservative on the honey left for overwintering. I don't use any chemicals. Obviously weak hives won't produce as much honey.

50 is reasonable per hive but not your first year unless the planets align just right. But 50lbs per hivw requires a slohhtly better than average honey flow. If its dry or jist meh, then you will have honey but not enough for YOU, just enoigh dor THEM. I have had 3 to 5 hives over the last 3 years and haven't pulled 100 pounds of honey combined from them. There are a ton of variables so just focus on learnng. If you get honey, early on then that's great. Hive management is a big deal and it cost me one hive and has delayed others. Right now I have two hives started from nucs that are now one year old and are just now starting to pack honey in the first super. They have one deep that is about 50% full of brood. If they don't get their **** together, they will not produce excess honey it's year.

On the flip side, I have a strong hive that is 4 years old that has a deep and two supers of brood plus a nearly full super honey and are filling a second now...and the flow hasn't really come yet. This s why beekeepers tell you to start with two hives.

I know I have two hives that are slow and need some nudging. If I didnt, I'd consider it perfectly fine.

What do you with all the honey? I could see giving it away but there are probably only so many people you'd know that want it.

I have a friend that is a Bee Buster and I and many, many others get a nice jar full of honey every Christmas....

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What do you with all the honey? I could see giving it away but there are probably only so many people you'd know that want it.

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Are you kidding? I sell it before it's even produced. Have a friggin waiting list. I keep a reserve of 20 lbs or so for me but I will dip into it if needed to for sale. People love local honey. And it's a chance to talk to them about bees. People are interested in the process. I would love to give it away but equipment and processing gear is expensive. I sell eggs and vegetables too but honey is like crack. I sell mine for the going rate which is a bit more than you can get it in heb for and no one complains. There is an intrinsic value knowing it's raw and unfiltered and made by the bees and the person selling it to you.

But you aren't going to get rich doing it...especially after you buy wooden ware, and suits, and tools, and extractors, etc. Lol.

I had no idea - sort of figured whatever it would bring through farmer's market type places would have been less than the effort of setting up shop.