Got our first 2 hives

It's really DW's thing, as I'm more into raising meat.  But I do love eating honey, and am hoping we eventually get enough to try making mead again.  Only ever did that with purchased honey (used a mesquite honey when I lived in Arizona, and flavored it with Prickly Pear fruit - that was dangerously good stuff).  

Sounds like this year will really be all about establishing the hives, and getting them to build up enough comb and honey stores to get through the winter.  Then next summer, if they survive and we do what we need to for them, we should be able to start harvesting some honey.

Should be a fun journey.  Hopefully without too many stings.

Stings are part and parcel of bee keeping, but you can change that.
If you dont have a quite bee hive, it can be changed by introducing a new queenbee to the hive.
They can be purchased readi;y.
Bees do not like sweat, pest repellants of deodorants , so avoid wearing them when working with the bees.
Join a local bee group, you will learn heaps.

DW and Thing 2 are the ones most into the bees, and it will be their responsibility.  I'll help where I can, but I have a serious fear of bees. Like uncontrollable panic sometimes.  So they'll do most of the work.  They both took a class from a guy that has thousands of hives, and trucks them all over the west coast to pollinate crops.  He's big into helping back yard keepers do it right.

Andrew Mayflower wrote:They both took a class from a guy that has thousands of hives, and trucks them all over the west coast to pollinate crops.  He's big into helping back yard keepers do it right.

he might have different ideas about what doing it right means than a lot of folks here. a bit like learning to garden from the operator of a giant farm. there's definitely a lot to be learned, but, you know, migratory beekeeping is a whole different animal from keeping a few hives.

probably I shouldn't be so pessimistic. I would guess that he practices and teaches a high intervention style of beekeeping. that doesn't appeal to me in the least, but a lot of people keep bees that way and really enjoy it. just know that there are alternatives that your family might (or might not) find more rewarding.