Submitted By: Jeff Peacock (hiveman@hotmail.com)
What low-key hobby helps ensure a beautiful garden, relieves a variety of disorders such as multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, arthritis, chronic pain, and rheumatic conditions, and supplies a delicious, healthy alternative to processed sugar which alleviates allergies, ulcers and skin problems, soothes sore throats, and is a natural antiseptic that helps heal wounds?
In some ways, however, the most important benefit of beekeeping is to provide a relaxing break from daily life. I distinctly remember at one of my first visits to the Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association (MDBA) monthly meeting hearing one gruff old beekeeper respond to a question about what he liked best about beekeeping by saying, “When I’m out with my hives no one messes with me.” Beyond the obvious truth of that statement, working with bees requires a calm, measured approach in order to avoid agitating the hive, and that calm demeanor soon internalizes.
Setting up a home apiary (bee yard) is simple and relatively inexpensive. All you need is a fairly secluded corner of your backyard. The ideal spot provides morning sun and afternoon shade, a flight path that raises the bees over the heads of people in the yard, plenty of flowering plants, and is far enough away from your neighbors’ yards not to disturb them. At first glance you may not seem to have that spot, but take another look.
- No morning sun, well, as long as you find a dry area the bees will be happy anywhere. Moist conditions lead to mold, so avoid that. Early sun just gets the bees out of bed earlier.
- Flat yard, fences too near the neighbors? Is there a structure or bush that you can face the hive towards? Forcing the flight path up into the air is just as effective as placing them on a rise.
- Just converted to xeriscaping to save water? Not to worry, bees forage 1-2 miles from the hive. One of the benefits of living in California is that there’s almost always something flowering somewhere not too far away.
In my experience people are usually delighted to have bees move in to the neighborhood. Most people are sympathetic to bees simply because they’ve heard about the decline in honeybees due to disease and mites or, more recently, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD affects commercial beekeepers more than hobbyists, but it has devastated the commercial beekeepers and has had a significant impact on crop pollination this year.
Once you’ve chatted with the neighbors and found your perfect apiary site you’ll need to buy some supplies. There are a number of suppliers, all of whom sell starter kits for around $100-150. These include the hive, the equipment and usually a book on beekeeping to get you started. In addition, consider coming to few MDBA meetings. Some MDBA have equipment and/or bees for sale from time to time (especially in the Spring) and this may be an inexpensive way to get an established hive quickly. If you’re handy with wood working tools and have the time you’ll find it trivial to build your own hive components. There are a number of designs available on the web for Langstroth or even Topbar hives and hive components. Many of us like to experiment with different designs for escape boards, swarm catchers, and other components. When you’re a hobbyist you’re free to have fun!
Informational Links
The Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association (http://www.diablobees.org/) has information on beekeeping and swarm catching, as well as an extensive list of suppliers and other resources. It’s usually best to get your bees locally, so check the California section for those. Also, the MDBA buys bees for the club members in the Spring. We go and get them from the supplier and bring them to the annual apiary workday, so joining the club is a good way to get bees in good shape, for a good price, and spend some hands-on time with experts learning how to set them up and work with them.
You can buy fresh, local honey at:
>> Many local beekeepers sell honey at local farmer's markets - like The Moraga Farmer's Market. I would recommend that people ask where the honey is from.
>> Steve Gentry has his honey available at Diablo Foods here in Lafayette. Steve lives in Orinda and has hives all over the Lamorinda area.
>> Hurst Farms on St. Mary's Road (across from the Little League Fields)
Health considerations:
Local organic honey is best for allergies, since it comes from local flowers and hasn't had all the good stuff boiled out of it. Raw honey is NOT recommended for infants under 1 year old. Infants under 6 months old have immature gastrointestinal tracts and are susceptible to infant botulism. Raw honey can have some spores and should be avoided until babies are a year old, just to be safe.
