Hello from southern California! I’m trying to support my young daughter’s deep interest in becoming a beekeeper. In preparation for her project becoming mine, I’m trying to learn all I can. She watched the entire Beekeeper online course and I’m still sorting through the material.
Learning about all the various issues, I gotta say, swarming and being responsible beekeepers having to relocate/rehome/remove a swarm is making me extremely nervous. We just don’t have the space to have multiple hives, as fun as that sounds, so I’m concerned our one hive is going to turn into a nuisance to the neighbors. From what I’m reading in this forum and in the online course, managing and mitigating (preventing) swarms sounds like a very difficult and never ending job -at least in the spring/summer. I’m interpreting all of the posts on this subject to address not IF but WHEN they swarm. Since swarming is considered natural bee instinct, then will this be a constant stress for me?
Don’t get me wrong… I’m super excited to start this journey with my daughter, but I am also a busy homeschool mom to four kids (mentioning this to give you an idea of our busy schedule). We went to one local beekeeper who implied it’s super easy, “you just need to check on them every couple weeks”. This is what convinced my daughter that we could take this on. But now, I think this guy was exaggerating how “easy” it is. I don’t really want to adopt 30,000 new children that I have to constantly take care of.
So my questions are 1.) Is the managing of possible swarms a serious stress for people who can not split due to space/local city ordinance. 2.) Is there a tried and true method to really prevent them? And 3.) Breaking down all of the tasks involved, how much time (realistically) do you spend caring for your bees?
My cart is ready to go: I have my Flow Hive 2+ and accessories waiting for me to purchase. But I just can’t seem to push that little “buy now” button.
Hi Yvonne, what a marvelous experience to consider providing for your daughter! But your instinct is correct, beekeeping is a lot more than “easy”, especially at first when you’re just learning. My advice is - before you hit Buy Now - have your daughter join a local beekeeping club that meets in person. Scope it out first of course and go with her if she’s not old enough. See if someone will mentor her by having her participate in inspecting their colonies this season. If she truly loves it, then a purchase next year might be better justified - and you will have a network of real beeks who can help, and will be happy to take those extra colonies off your hands (those extras fetch a good price btw)!
One caveat - some clubs are very trad and lack appreciation for Flow Hives. Some Flow owners (like me) find it goes smoother to just focus on bee care when at club meetings, and discuss harvesting aspects with other Flowies here
Eva’s advice is good - especially the hands on aspects with trainingand a mentor.
My beekeeping journey started with my daughter, but she quickly abandoned me to other hobbies.
Beekeeping for me is another job, looking after livestock. During swarm season I’ll be in the hives every 10-14 days checking the brood for congenstion, rotating frames to provide jobs and laying space. From start (suiting up, lighting smoker, making sure I have everything), through the 5-15min inspection per hive, to tidying up (smoker out, suit off, gear away) it would take me 30-45min doing one hive, now I’m down to 20-30min.
Out of swarm season my inspections become more infrequent and may push out to every 2-4 weeks depending on flow. The time is the same. Winter which for me is 6-8 weeks, I don’t inspect the hive.
Other jobs - harvesting. I usually allocate a time period of 2 hours, but in that two hours I’m at the hive for only 10-15min, with most of that set up and pack up.
Biosecurity - we are very lucky and don’t have Varroa or Small Hive Beetles, so I can do my biosecurity checks as part of my inspections. How you approach these two pests will determine any extra work/time.
Like you I was concerned with swarming when I first started and probably over inspected to manage. There are some neat techniques around frame rotation and replacing queens that reduce the likelyhood of a swarm issuing. Also have a look at the Demare method of swarm control. Some of these techniques are difficult in a full flow frame supper as you can not use this supper to rotate “normal” lang frames.
And most of all ask questions of other beekeepers and sift through what will work for you in your climate, with your flows and beekeeping ethos.
Well, the bees are going to swarm and having been a new beekeeper myself I did it the easy way by making other bee friends to help and collect the swarm until I got on my feet. That came in handy because they could bail me out if I lost a queen and other sorts of mischef I got myself into. Now with the home schooling since in live in a subdivision, my hives have been life savers to many a kid in my neighborhood who had to write a report on something. Plus if your daughter is enthusted with an outdoor activity I see that has a positive. With the flow hive, “the work” is done for you as harvesting honey is easy. Checking the hive isn’t to time consuming for a busy family. The focus of family discussion should be fun for quite a while as you learn how to tend to your bees. I hope you pull the trigger on the hive because driving to soccer games seems more effort and expense than bees are. Plus when you get a ton of honey your daughter now has a part time job selling honey.
Thank you Eva! I really appreciate your insight. I went silent on you because after reading your response, I started doing some digging on where local bee clubs might be and checking in with city ordinances. You gave me a lot of food for thought which I appreciate. The city ordinances turns out to be a bit more complicated than I thought and their rules made me rethink our hive location and if it can even work at all.
I’m torn because my daughter is SO EXCITED, having completed the online course quickly and reporting to me what she learned along the way. (She’s 10). But like with all kids, I’m feeling like she doesn’t quite understand how it’s a big commitment, similar to asking for a dog and promising to walk/feed it everyday. But the softy in me really thinks this would be an amazing experience for her and I’d love to go on that journey with her. I guess I’m feeling overwhelmed at the “what ifs”.
Also… I had no idea that there are people willing to pay good money to buy these extra splits! Normally people pay to have swarms taken away, not the other way around. So are you saying I don’t need to freak out so much about swarm management and if it does happen, I could easily find someone to take the split? If that’s true, I wouldn’t be so worried about being the hated neighbor.
I appreciate your idea of joining a local club and having her be mentored a bit. She’s so ready to get started and has been saving up her own money so she can help contribute. But I did spend some time looking into it, thanks to your recommendation.
And also thanks for the small warning of the traditionalists’ POV regarding flow hives. It’s always nice to walk into a crowd prepared.
I’m going to keep mulling over everything you said. Thank you so much for your support!
Hi Adam!
Wow thanks for the detailed time frame of work you put into your other “job”. That is extremely helpful. I mean, on paper, 20-30 minutes sounds manageable but I know being new that’ll likely be 60 minutes at first.
I am afraid of my daughter abandoning this hobby as well, and leaving me with the expense. However she is saving up her own money to help out so that tells me she’s pretty serious. For now.
And yes, the pest inspection is another big worry. Amazing that you don’t have to worry about that where you live!
I spoke to a guy who works at the local garden store and he said he used to beekeep but stopped because he started to grow allergic to them. After getting several stings over the years he was discovering his reactions to them
were worsening. So another worry to consider.
I will look at the Demare method and get into contact with locals about swarm management. Thank you very much!
Yvonne
Hi Martha!
Well you made me laugh about the soccer games! It’s not that particular sport for us, but definitely other activities that have me driving all over town.
I’m leaning toward pulling the trigger and am definitely excited. However I just got some news from the city that changes where we were going to put our hive and that puts a HUGE wrench in the plan. Our yard is so small. So I must get back to the drawing board now before the final purchase.
Thank you for the support and cheering us on. Your words were really helpful to read.
Yvonne
You are most welcome! An exuberant 10 year old is veeerrryyy hard to deny
This could provide you with a handy compromise, if you do end up not able to have a hive at your house - you could instead help sponsor a hive that’s located on someone else’s property. Some community gardens and parks do this, and your local bee club will certainly know about opportunities for that. That would also take care of being “that neighbor”….aka me (only a couple times!) when my swarm management was too late! Swarm season beekeeping is intensive and it took me awhile to get the timing right.
Another thing to try is to search this forum for nearby Flow owners, and PM them to see if they’d be willing to let you and your daughter take a peek.
Yes! She is exuberant and hard to deny for sure. Ok thanks for the suggestions. I’m doing some research now on other local resources.
Much appreciated,
Yvonne
I live in Tennessee and the bees is protected and our state animal/insect. The rule of thumb here is 50 feet from a door or window (yours and neighbors) and it’s acceptable.
when my swarm management was too late! Swarm season beekeeping is intensive and it took me awhile to get the timing right.