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| I am very new to the idea of bee keeping. I am considering it and want to know what is involved. Is it a good hobby? I have a garden and I love the bees that visit my yard and pollinate things for me.
I also have a smaller back yard and wonder if I kept bees if they would be all over the place too much? I have a toddler son and wonder about the safety of keeping bees. Is this activity totally unsuitable for an urban back yard? Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. :) V. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| It's a good hobby if you're up for it, but more important, it's a noble thing to do. Honeybees will contributed $20billion to the US ecomony this year, and that's not counting honey or beeswax. For generations we let the feral hives in the hollow trees do all that work. Today the feral population is so low that our agricultural economy is at risk. Keep bees. Save the economy. LOL |
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- Posted by DIRTY_KNEES_IL ZONE 5 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 10, 05 at 9:27
| GO FOR IT! GET YOURSELF A BEGINNERS BEEKEEPING BOOK. BEEKEEPING FOR DUMMIES IS PRETTY GOOD. YOUR SON WILL LOVE IT WITH YOU. MY KIDS HAVE BEEN STUNG A FEW TIMES. MY SON ESPECIALLY LIKED TO OPEN THE TOP COVER TO TAKE A PEEK... BUT HE SOON LEARNED. IF YOU HAVE A CORNER OF THE YARD AWAY FROM ACTIVITY IT WOULD BE THE BEST. I HAVE TWO HIVES CLOSE TO THE NEIGHBORS YARD. THEY HAVE LILACS NEXT TO THE FENCE AND IT FORCES THE BEES TO FLY OVER THEIR HEAD HEIGHT WHEN THEY FLY THROUGH THEIR YARD. AN INTERESTING NOTE ABOUT URBAN BEEKEEPING... THERE IS A BEEKEEPING PROGRAM IN CHICAGO TO ENCOURAGE CITY BEEKEEPING. YOUR COUNTY EXTENSION CAN GET YOU IN TOUCH WITH A BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION. IT'S GOOD TO HAVE SOMEONE TO ASK ADVICE. |
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- Posted by Merops_apiaster Cadiz (Spain) (My Page) on Fri, Jun 10, 05 at 12:48
| It is a good question. I remember to my father being stung when helping me to move my hives and saying me: "Hijo, no prefieres el tenis? (Son, don´t you prefer play tennis?)". Really beekeeping is a passion. A way to enjoy and to be in comune with Nature. Of course you can keep bees in urban places if you obtein a gentil line of bees. That´s common in Germany, and personally I have 3 hives in a populated area without problems (using benzaldehydo as repelent to harvest the honey). |
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| You don't have to worry that there are bees all over. You will hear them but they won't bother you. I have a cotoneaster right outside my door and there are lots of bees in the flowers at this time of year. But noone has been stung. The bees just go about their business and you can walk right by them. One of the good things about beekeeping is that it is very soothing to sit and watch the bees go in and out of the hives and hear their buzzing. Most of beekeepers have a chair in their beeyard and use lots of time just to relax. The bad thing about beekeeping is, that it is addictive. Jens |
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