I returned to this hobby several years ago after our daughter encouraged me to do so. She had seen the early pictures from the 60’s of me in bee veil and gloves, smoker and hives. She said “dad, you use to do this, and we need experienced beekeepers to help out the pollinators.”
I had recently retired from dairy farming and finding that I had more time than common sense, agreed to once again enter the hobby of beekeeping. How difficult could it be? I had done this for several years, had a great mentor at the time, my Uncle Roy. He had several yards and I would occasionally tag along and help out.
The first year back I spent the winter building equipment in anticipation of getting back into the business. I also found out that Dadant Beekeeping Supply was also still in business. An old supplier that I did business with many years before. I also found that there was a new supplier in the area, Honey Bee Ware. I placed my order for four 3 pound packages of Italian bees, and we were off to a great start.
Having old knowledge of beekeeping is a good thing. To a point! Beekeepers were talking about something called the varroa mite. How bad could that be? During the 60’s we had something called American Foulbrood. The cure for that was to burn the hive.
After reading about it, and watching many YouTube videos of treatment free beekeeping, I decided that I just wouldn’t worry about it the first year. That’s what many were saying. The second year would be the year I would have to take care of the problem. And, it was just a small mite, how bad could that be?
The next spring came and r realized that the mite that I had ignored was like the preverbal elephant in the room. That little beggar closed the operation down. All four hives dead and full of honey.
I decided to be a little more selective in my YouTube videos. I also ordered more bees, built more equipment and also had the greatest respect for the varroa mite.
Through the years you gain experience, and experience is the best teacher. I’ll share a few bits of knowledge that I have gained in this journey.
For those that are starting out in this hobby and believe as I did about mites – ( there are those that do treatment free beekeeping.) I have not learned how to do treatment free beekeeping and my hat is off to anyone that can manage numerous hives and not use any type of treatment for the pesky mite. If you are under the notion as a new beekeeper that you can manage the mite without any type of treatment – order your packages or nucs now for next spring. They are still at last year’s prices.
The longer you are in this hobby, the more you realize what you don’t know. The old saying “you don’t know, what you don’t know” is so true in beekeeping. Every year there are new challenges and you will learn from them.
Read the old masters of beekeeping, Doolittle, Jay Smith, Langstroth, CC Miller, ROB Manley, Dadant. The information that these early beekeepers gleaned from observing the “Hive and the Honey Bee” hold true 100 plus years later. Cornell University has old issues of the American Bee Journal that are fascinating to read. Subscribe to the American Bee Journal or Bee Culture magazine. We are fortunate today to have so much information in our home that is available on the internet. But – be selective in your YouTube videos.
One of my favorite sayings in beekeeping, and it has been around as long as men and women have been keeping bees is “get 10 beekeepers in a room and you will get at least 11 opinions”.
I even find myself having several opinions on the same subject. Must be an age thing.
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