Not big game at all, but more people read this forum;

I just got set up with two hives, I'm looking to expand to 4 or 5 in the near future.

Does anyone else here keep bees? keen to give advice?

I keep bees. You'd never guess it from my name, right? For an excellent source of information, contact the NEOBA (Northeast Oklahoma Beekeepers Assoc.). When I lived in Okla, the president was a lady named Euvonne Harrison who knew everything about everything pertaining to bees. Plus she is a super nice lady that is patient and sharing with new comers.

so are you selling discount honey to fellow shooters?

I have two hives - but I'm no expert. They are working hard right now making a haul on basswood nectar.

2 hives is more than enough - but it gives me a back up when one of them swarms - as one just did at 1715 hrs last friday. 4-5 hives seems excessive since they will produce more honey than one household can use and yet the value of the honey is not enough that one can make enough honey with a few more hives to be worth the effort.

I think you need the economy of a much larger scale to make it worthwhile on a dollar basis. On the other hand, it's great to have 200,000 critters working 24/7 for you. 500,000 might be even better, but I haven't tried it
Brent

Brent, Express

I am not a bee keeper, but know a few people who are. I suspect the price of honey must be more expensive over here than the States as these people seem to make "useful pocket money" from around half a dozen hives.

Where I hunt one of the locals takes his hives up to the moors to catch the heather in bloom and the honey produced is fantastic.

I was also amazed just how much honey is produced by a hive. I forget the figure now, but seemed amazingly high.

He also said the production is very variable from year to year depending upon the weather conditions. I would love to keep a hive or two, but don't have the time and space.
Regards,

Pete

If Oleander grows in your area,make sure the bees do not make honey from it as it will contain poisonous substances.

Be sure to leave enough honey in the hives to carry the bees through the nonproductive times.

Foul brood is probably most likely to be your biggest disease threat.

Keep an extra hive on hand to catch the swarms if you don't need the hive you can sell it.Neighbors get irate if a swarm settles in their backyard or attic.

Bee stings kill more people in the U.S.A. each year than poisonous snakes.

Make sure no pesticides are used around bees as they are quite sensitive to a large number of them.

WC

In Okla, I kept upwards to 25 hives. At certain times of the year, it can be very labour intensive. Especially if you work a full time job and bee keep as a sideline. How you sell your honey can influence how your money flow runs. If you sell it to a wholesaler, then your profit is going to be very narrow as a goodly number of folks have got to make some money from it before it gets to the consumer. If you sell direct to the consumer or the end retailer, your profits are higher. Also, if you sell it as a specialty items rather than a commodity, you realize the full price possible. By that I mean you tout the health qualities of natural unprocessed honey rather than the simple fact that its a sweetner. My wife had a list of folks she called every year when the honey came off that would buy the honey by the gallon. Many of whom were allergy sufferers that swore by "Bee Good Natural Honey". I also supplied only health food stores and a couple of Amish bake shops. Now there are a couple of folks that are gonna get top dollar for their goods. No grocery stores. Like good auto mechanics, gun smiths and whores, if you provide a quality product, the word gets around and you don't lack for business. Counting my time as zero and deducting only the direct overhead, I was able to financed several hunting trips and a trip to Hawaii with my wife.
As posted, two hives will provide you with plenty of honey for your family use and enough left over for sharing with a few select friends and special Xmas gifts. Requeening in the fall will usually suppress swarming. There are several good books out about bee keeping with the one from Dadant being about the most complete. Enjoy!

I kept four as a teenager. The fellow that taught me how had about twenty. Every year we'd take them up into N.Ga for the sourwood bloom. Sourwood is still my favorite honey.

He could work his hives with just smoke and no protection but my bees hated my guts.

I grew up with them. My dad and uncle have approximately 3700 hives. They are based out of Washington state, but move them to California, and North and South Dakota, depending on the season. In a good year, one hive can produce more than 100 pounds of honey.