I finally got my hands on an affordable beehive from Craigslist. My friend lives in Woodinville, where it was located, and she picked it up from the seller for me. For $10 I think that I got a good deal. The only work needed is to paint it on the outside and wire some plastic honeycomb foundation into the frames (this will be were the babies will be made to populate the hive) and get some bees. It already into the bee season though, so I might have to wait until March to get bees, when the season starts again. You have to give the bees sufficient time to build up their stores in their new hive to tide them over through the winter. Otherwise you have to feed them sugar water, and they can go through 10 gallons of this a week! Yikes!
I am excited to start as a novice beekeeper. I took a Master Beekeeping class at the Pierce County Extension about 2 years ago. I need to take it again, though, to refresh my memory. There is also a hands-on component to this class that I missed last time that would be helpful to take. Also, I am keeping my eyes and ears open for a fellow beekeeper who needs help so that I can learn by helping. For further information, I have been checking out the numerous books and websites on the subject , and viewing an amazing library of informational beekeeping videos on YouTube.
Hopefully in the next couple years we can have some honey. Mmmm. I can't wait!
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