[HopDen]

Wife and I went to a beginners class at our county bee keepers association. We have been milling the idea of having a few bee hives for some time now. Great presentation! Upon entering we wrote our names on a raffle ticket and much to our delight, my wife's ticket was pulled as the winner of a nucleus of bees. Will be ready at the end of May and we are excited to begin a new, learned hobby! I ordered a few books, watched a few documentaries and surfed youtube already. With that said, I am almost certain there are a few people on the forum who raise bees. If anyone has some advice on bee keeping or can point me to some good information I would be grateful.   

[pete b]

Congratulations, winning a nuc is a good omen. I have been keeping bees for about 15 years.Where do you live? We have a lot of bears here, if that is the case for you the first piece of advice is to get an electric fence before the bees arrive.
Also related to where you live is that I am keeping bees in a northern climate and have to be sure to get them up and running so that the Queen is making a lot of brood and frames are being built out with comb by mid May when dandelions blossom so that they have the workforce and storage to bring in lots of nectar. Getting a nuc in late May would be very late here but maybe it is par for the course in warmer climates without harsh winters to have honey stored for. If you live in a cold climate and you can swing it I suggest getting two hive set ups and getting a full package earlier. I am getting three packages on March 25. I will feed them until mid May.
The best thing you can do is make connections at the county association and get some in person help. Also, find out who sells bees and equipment locally and buy from them, they will help out when you have problems or questions. It’s definitely easier to learn with a person at your hives rather than trying to remember what to do while surrounded by thousands of pissed off bees.

[HopDen]

Congratulations, winning a nuc is a good omen. I have been keeping bees for about 15 years.Where do you live? We have a lot of bears here, if that is the case for you the first piece of advice is to get an electric fence before the bees arrive.
Also related to where you live is that I am keeping bees in a northern climate and have to be sure to get them up and running so that the Queen is making a lot of brood and frames are being built out with comb by mid May when dandelions blossom so that they have the workforce and storage to bring in lots of nectar. Getting a nuc in late May would be very late here but maybe it is par for the course in warmer climates without harsh winters to have honey stored for. If you live in a cold climate and you can swing it I suggest getting two hive set ups and getting a full package earlier. I am getting three packages on March 25. I will feed them until mid May.
The best thing you can do is make connections at the county association and get some in person help. Also, find out who sells bees and equipment locally and buy from them, they will help out when you have problems or questions. It’s definitely easier to learn with a person at your hives rather than trying to remember what to do while surrounded by thousands of pissed off bees.

Thanks for the tips Pete! I live in NE Ohio about 55 miles SE of Cleveland so we do get some rough winters now and then. As far as bears go, we will have an occasional sighting but I am told they are mostly male bears moving thru the area. No resident bears AFAIK. I think I'll have to worry more about skunk, raccoon and mice. Just joined our county bee association so I am already networking. Met a wonderfully informed lady at a local nursery where I purchased some boxes and needed equipment yesterday. She was very adamant about reaching out to her for help or advice which will not go unappreciated. FWIW I just assume avoiding pissed off bees but I realize that's not likely to happen!! LOL

[fredthecat]

im no expert, but i was close to trying to generate a small house for those mason type bees simply for polination purposes. it sounds very easy, but obviously much less apiculture than simply allowing nature to happen. just a thought that perhaps you dont need to go all-in to start keeping bees or bee-like insects.