Beekeeping - have you thought about it?

[spikerS]

for the past long while, I have had this crazy idea in my mind. Beekeeping. Pretty much started when I first heard about their population numbers were in decline. I am very much a believer that if honey bees disappear off the face of the earth, we're pretty much fucked.

So I have been mulling this over. Has anyone done it before, have you had success? I am mostly worried that if I do start a colony, how do you help them survive the winter and our cold temperature?

And obviously I wouldn't keep a hive in my yard in the city, but maybe strike up a deal with a farmer somewhere close to the city that would let me set up on his land, would totally help with pollination of their crops too...

As a side benefit to this, is loads of organic, unprocessed honey and honey comb!

[BavarianBeast]

I was pretty close to dropping $100k into some bees and equipment for my farm last year.

It's extremely easy and rewarding. There are various places around the city that can build hoardings for your hives, or you can also buy wrap that will protect them throughout the winter. Why wouldn't you keep a hive in your yard in the City? I have lots of friends that do, they are not an issue. If you're dead set about setting up outside the city, PM me.

For one hive, I would plan on budgeting around $1000 in order to get all of the equipment and be able to extract the honey yourself.

[JRSC00LUDE]

I'd rather a neighbour with 10 bee hives in his yard than one with a single chicken.

[lint]

I worked with a guy who was an urban beekeeper and had the hive in his backyard in strathcona. www.calgarybeekeepers.com He moved, but the new owners of the house wanted to keep the hive. There are courses that you can take http://www.abcbees.ca/

[BavarianBeast]

Originally posted by lint
I worked with a guy who was an urban beekeeper and had the hive in his backyard in strathcona. www.calgarybeekeepers.com He moved, but the new owners of the house wanted to keep the hive. There are courses that you can take http://www.abcbees.ca/

Lol, pretty sure this is the house my friend bought! (In the ravine?)

He bought the house and it had two existing hives there, neighbors don't mind what so ever. His hot tub is literally right next to the hives and the bees will never bother you unless you are aggressive toward them.

[bjstare]

My parents' neighbour keeps bees in his yard (inner city NW). They don't mind at all.

[lint]

Originally posted by BavarianBeast
Lol, pretty sure this is the house my friend bought! (In the ravine?)

He bought the house and it had two existing hives there, neighbors don't mind what so ever. His hot tub is literally right next to the hives and the bees will never bother you unless you are aggressive toward them.

Would have sold in in Dec or Jan, and it did back onto the ravine, close to Christie. I believe he said the buyer had signed up for a bee course, so he included the hives in the sale.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
I'd rather a neighbour with 10 bee hives in his yard than one with a single chicken.

My sister keeps bees and chickens. Both are great. Not sure why people would hate someone having a chicken. She has 14 chickens and gets 10-16 eggs per day.

I would sooner live next door to a home with 10 chickens than one with a single dog.

[spikerS]

wow, I would not have thought people would be so accepting of a bee hive close to home like that. That's interesting.

I think my first step will be trying to build an actual bee hive (keep me occupied and I can always try to sell it).

But I am pretty interested in this, but something tells me Baygirl would kill me HAHA

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by sputnik


My sister keeps bees and chickens. Both are great. Not sure why people would hate someone having a chicken. She has 14 chickens and gets 10-16 eggs per day.

I would sooner live next door to a home with 10 chickens than one with a single dog.

True that, I'd muuuuch rather have neighbors with bees and chickens than dogs. I kicked around the idea of an apiary myself but haven't gotten around to it.

spikerS: You can also rest comfortably knowing that the "bee dieoff" panic was rather overblown and bee populations are at a 20-year high and steadily increasing. That said, more bees is never a bad thing!

[raceman6135]

It's not really honeybees that we should be worried about:

http://honeybeesuite.com/the-truth-a...y-bee-decline/

And

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/

Ah, someone else has also posted a link about this.

[Dave P]

I think Bee keeping would be pretty fun. Aside from getting stung haha.

Would probably be the nice thing to do and talk to your surrounding neighbors first. Would be terrible if someone had a bee allergy and you start building a hive next door

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by sputnik
I would sooner live next door to a home with 10 chickens than one with a single dog.

I would sooner live next door to a home with 10 chickens than one with an oblivious and inconsiderate dog owner.

Fixed

I think some hives would be kind of fun and rewarding, but I'm not sure why I think so.