Many beekeepers buy 2 or 3 pound packages of bees to start out. But by doing that, it takes a year to get honey. The bees need a year to build up the hive for there to be enough bees to produce enough honey for them and me. The first year, the concern is to produce enough honey to feed the bees throughout the winter.
The second year, there should be enough of honey for the bees and the beekeeper keeps the rest. These 2-3# packages cost somewhere between $80-100. Most seem to steer the beginner to the gentler bees which are Italian and Russian. Mine are going to be Queen grafted from Danish Buckfast mother, mated in MA with VSH Carniolan-Italian drones! I learned that there are all kinds of strains on bee, like people, with different personalities, and other traits. Since this is all new to me, I will have nothing to compare them with and I trust that it won't really be a factor in this venture.
I just wanted honey the first year, if possible, so I ended up buying a Nuc (short for Nucleus) which has bees already making honey on frames or foundations. It's essentially a small working beehive.
With a Nuc, you just remove the empty frames from your box (or deep hive) and replace them with your purchased Nucs. My Nuc is going to be five frames, which is a great start. So, I will remove 5 of these frames and replace them with frames that have bees and honey all over it and put those in my new hive.
I have sent my down payment to Boston Honey Company and will need to pick up the bees in Holliston, Mass. sometime in mid to late April. They will let me know.
Lots to do before then. Bears are out of hibernation now, I've heard, so once this snow melts enough, I will get the electric fencing installed to protect my hive. We'll talk about that next time.
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