I’m on my second year of beekeeping. I remember a week or so after I hived my nuc, I had a bee come visit my wife and I on the front porch. My wife says, “hey one of your bees came to visit.” I looked at it and thought, it looks a little brighter yellow than I remember. I ran to look at the honey bees to see if it was a honey bee. Even then I didn’t know, I forgot what it looked like by the time I got there. I suspect it was a yellow jacket. I had already read 3 books, Michael Bush’s website, and a good portion of scientificbeekeeping.com at this point. And I couldn’t even tell the difference between a yellow jacket and a honey bee.
Not knowing the difference did not prevent me from timely mite checks and treatment, regular hive inspections, joining a bee club, and getting a local mentor (mostly me emailing her pictures when I get confused). And believe it or not, despite confusing a yellow jacket for a honey bee, I overwintered my hive successfully in frozen Michigan. Somehow, my bees did not need Thousand’s pity.
To those that seem to want to discourage Pink from keeping bees, this is a issue with experience rather than knowledge. All you have done now is discourage her from seeking information on this forum. Within a few weeks knowing the difference between a wasp and a honey bee will be as obvious to her as it is to you. Thousand, I think your response is ridiculous. It’s just a newbie mistake. If she had said she didn’t have time to take care of the bees and she was just going to hive them and let bees be bees… then I would have agreed with you.
These days the most important thing to think about it mite management. Make sure you read up on it. After reading a few beginner books, read Randy Oliver’s site, several times. If you practice evidence based medicine you will appreciate the view point. Luckily as a CRNA you will have plenty of time to read! Probably not so much when you get home.
Our bee club has an apiary day every month that allows you to get experience with more hives with experienced beekeepers right by your side. Look into this.
-Mike