Completed Beekeeping Course

Last Saturday, February 19th, Angie and I completed the Beginners Beekeeping Course in Belleville.  The Instruction Course was presented by the St. Clair Beekeepers, and it was both entertaining and informative.  We met more pleasant, like-minded people that are either interested in, or are becoming new Beekeepers this spring.  We discussed buying a small, nucleus colony of bees from a local beekeeper, and placed our order for a "Nuc" this spring.  After mulling over the option of starting with a single hive, we decided that it would be better to follow the suggestion of starting with 2 hives, instead of one.  With 2 hives, you have another hive to compare with as the season progresses.  Also, a Nucleus Colony will build up to good strength faster than a "package" of bees, due to the fact that a Nucleus Colony comes with several frames of drawn honey comb, brood cells, and a mated and laying queen.  It is basically a small, established colony that is ready to grow when placed into your hive boxes.  If we have a good spring bloom season, we may actually get to extract some Honey from one or both of our hives this fall!  I am currently getting the rest of the hive boxes primed and painted, and all that is left is to construct the hive stand assembly and get it placed in the backyard.  We should have bees by the middle of April........and Angie and I can't wait!  We are both looking forward to watching the bees work, and learning about these industrious little creatures as the summer arrives.  The more we learn........the more we realize how much there is to know about Honey Bees, and Beekeeping!