The most frequent question I'm asked is why would a woman want a hobby like beekeeping? First, let's take the sex-ism out of beekeeping. Women, men, teenagers and children can all enjoy a hobby as fascinating as beekeeping. Second I don't consider it so much a hobby as an effort to become self-sufficient and know my food intimately. After last summer's fiasco of chicken house sickness, I was totally ready to get back to what I know from my childhood - I know how to raise my own food and process it. Sure you make mistakes but you have many resources locally and via the internet. Here are just a few:
United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, has a free printable 50 page backyard beekeeping publication at http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0135/.
John Maynard who is the bee inspector for the State of Alabama will answer questions. As a note, every Alabama beekeeper, even if only one hive is started and is for personal use, must register their hive with the State of Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. It costs very little ($10) and your apiary receives a certificate of registration good for one year. You are encouraged to brand your hives and register your brand with the state as well. If your hives or equipment are stolen, your mark identifies it as belonging to you and it can possibly be located again. Let's face it, beekeeping equipment can be expensive and the hives have value.
Your "hobby" is closely monitored due to disease. Alabama is one of the few states not reporting colony collapse. Most states that allow cross border migratory transport of hives to California are experiencing this problem Alabama does not allow colonies to go to California to help pollinate the almond growers trees. It could be caused by the stressed state of the returning bees or by something being passed to the bees. Hard to say right now the exact cause of colony collapse but I'm very glad Alabama is a closed border state.
A wonderful resource for the beginning beekeeper is their local beekeeping club who provides great mentoring and knowledge sharing. In Alabama, check out http://www.alabamabeekeepers.com to find a club near you and join it. At this site are numerous copies of their newsletter, Stinger, that provides a wealth of information. I spent about a year researching different sites and finally taking a couple of beginning beekeeper classes offered by our local beekeeping association.
Finally most of the beekeeping companies market their wares in great catalogs. You can go online to http://www.dadant.com or to http://www.gabees.com or to http://mannlake.com to find solid information about the ins and outs of beekeeping.
The second most common question I'm asked is why did I select a top bar hive or kenyan hive. I am a small woman. My husband is allergic to everything outside (bees, ants, etc.) So I am a single operation beekeeper.
A commercial hive, the hive that most people think of as a hive, weighs anywhere from 100 pounds full of honey in a large hive to 75 pounds in a medium sized hive to 55 pounds for a small hive. Plus you must constantly monitor and move the top down or up depending on the location of the hive and the queen. My back just won't take it. The kenyan hive is at my waist and you can work with the hive without moving square foundations up and down back and forth.
There are drawbacks to the kenyan hive, also known as the top bar hive. First the honey is only comb honey. You cannot borrow the club extractor (assuming you did join that beekeeping club or association) as the extractor works with frames. A top bar hive does not have frames, only a bar across the top where you will extract the honey by cutting the comb and then squeezing the comb for the honey. This is the old fashioned way of getting honey. You also will not get as much honey from the top bar hive. So one has to decide which is most important - what is your reason for beekeeping? For me, it is a backyard, grow it myself movement.
The final question I'm asked is "Is it expensive?" The answer is maybe. Like anything you do, it can be done inexpensively or expensively. Your choice. The full bee suit, gloves and veil will run about $90, the smoker another $45 (tobacco burnt in the smoker will kill mites that are parasitic to bees), woodware (the hive) can run $285 and up. You must purchase a hive tool, which costs a few more bucks. It is always suggested to have two hives. Bees and the queen may be purchased or collected from the wild.
Our club keeps a swarm list for anyone who wants to collect the bees for free. The problem with this method is not knowing the nature of the queen. If you buy a certain type of bee, it should have a certain personality. For example, I have Italian bees and queen for their less aggressive nature.
I did not buy the full bee suit but did feel that the veil and gloves would be good. My hive ran about $300 but is guaranteed to not rot for years and years. I also bought my colony and queen for about $100. All told I have spent about $450 on the bees, including my club membership dues and the state registration of my hive. Did I do this because I wanted something cheap for sugar? No, I did this because I wanted to know where my food is grown. Could you do it cheaper? Absolutely!
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