Bearded Ladies.

[jdmidwest]

This heat has the girls out on the front porch for some air the last few days. It is called bearding, a big wad of bees outside the hive. Normally they are inside maintaining the temps of the brood, fanning the honey to dry it out, or other duties. With the heat, they come out for some air as they are not needed for those duties.

New queens are released and the new hives are coming along. 2 are strong, 2 may need some reinforcement this weekend. I will probably move a few more frames of brood into them to build their numbers.

[Gavin]

Nice setup JD...

[jdmidwest]

This little hobby may amount to an income in a few years. Honey sales. Queen bee production. Nuc sales. Looking to a retirement project.

[Quillback]

You going to ship your honey to buyers, or will it be local pick up only?

[jdmidwest]

Honey will be sold here locally when I get it. Trust me, you tell someone you have bees, the honey is the first thing they ask for.

Honey production is alot of work. You pull the supers at the right time when they cap them. Then you have a short time to uncap it, spin it out of the comb, filter and bottle it, label it, then sell it.

I am honestly looking at the other side of the business, production of bees. There is a good market for bees, queens, and other starter stuff. Bees are catching on and many new persons are getting info it.

[Quillback]

Well I was hoping you'd ship some, too far for me to drive to SE MO.

When I lived in WA state, used to go east over the mountains in the spring to trout fish. When the fruit trees are blooming there's not enough bees to pollinate them, so there's folks that are in the business of bringing bee hives over and temporarily setting the hives in the orchards.

[jdmidwest]

Look around your area, there should be a local guy near you. Check out farmers market next month as keepers will be bottling soon.

[ollie]

My mother in law for years was a beekeeper. Fascinating I must say, but they didn't make all that money. I think she told me the best year they had they only made 15k. They had WAY more hives than pictured here Jd. The best thing I liked they made was a creamed honey. I went a couple of times with him (father in law) on a couple of house removals. The city used him on occasion to get rid of hornets nest and beehives on city property. He didn't charge enough for those, but he got to keep all the bees he removed. They had their hives scattered all about the place as well. Are you a member of a chapter? They are good to get with if your not.

[jdmidwest]

We have a local club that meets once a month. It is headed by the Beekeeper of the Year in MO, Grant Gillard. Great guy, pastor of the church we hold meetings in. It is a very informal club, but has a great bunch of people. Great place to bounce ideas around and keep up with what is going on. I have a mentor, an 88 year old fellow that has been keeping bees for about 50 years, he is alot of help. And I remembered the basics from my grandfather when he used to keep bees.

I have just been going for about a year now this month. I just doubled my hive count this month and am actually ahead of what I planned to be at now. Weather keeps up I may make another split or two for a couple of more. I will start moving them out to the country later this summer and start scattering them around on some of the family farms. I have access to over a thousand acres on just the immediate family farms, so I have plenty of room to grow. Many of them are begging me to bring the hives over so they can watch them.

It is just a hobby for now, still trying to decide to go sideline or full blown in the business. I have never met a rich beekeeper or one that did not have another source of income for support. But it is good, fun, honest work that gives you alot of reward.

[ollie]

Sounds like you know what your doing! I don't think they wanted to make much money at all. Both retired and didn't want any taxes on their income at that stage in their lives. The last line you typed says it all.