#3. First class down, and the learning curve is steep.

Where do I even begin?  Perhaps by setting the stage.  The course in Beginner Beekeeping is being held at the Cornell's Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center.  I love these places.  Felt like I was back in college, except plant-oriented and by the beach.  And because I was early, I was able to scan the Center's table of literature.  Why, oh why did I pick up the pamphlet titled 'Plum Pox'?  To ruin my life?  The end of the stone fruit world as we know it is nigh.  And I was going to be planting a peach tree and about 12 cherries this year...

So there were about 20 of us sitting around long lab tables arranged in a giant square.  I was really surprised at how many people showed up.  The students ranged in age from 20's to elderly, with most around my age, I think.  (I'm going to call that 'middle aged', to be kind to myself.)  Our mentor/instructor Ray had tons of visual aids, from real bees suspended in a resin cube - one worker, one drone, one queen, to miniature model hives, to real hive parts.  Also, lots of photos illustrating life stages - btw, a worker bee lives 6 weeks.  The wear out their wings flying!  They literally wear out!!!  So they live longer in winter when they're stuck in the hive staying warm.  Great factoid:  internal hive temperature is always 96°.  The bees keep it that way.

Here's the bad news:  amateur beekeeping is not for those with light wallets.  The initial investment is crazy expensive.  Hate to "hok a chainik", as my grandmother used to say, but when I started a hive in England in the 70's, I think the whole setup cost me around £20.  Of course, that was when a £ was a £, so maybe $40.- $50.  Including hive, bees, and sundry equipment - all used, of course.  Well, things have changed a bit.  Okay, so the class cost is $150.  It's 1½ hours/month for 9 months.  But then last night we were handed order sheets for hives and equipment.  New stuff, of course.  A complete beekeeping setup, including assembled hive parts, tools, gloves, veil, smoker, sets us back about $500.00, delivered.  Then there are the bees.  I stuck with the nuclear option, and that's $125.00 (as opposed to 4 lbs. of 'package bees' @$110.00).  The 'nuke' (my word, it's actually 'nuc') includes a proven queen (she's mated and laying - important, because they only mate once in their 2-yr. lifetime) and enough young attendants to fill four wooden frames.  There are 10 frames per 'super' - or layer of hives.

Okay, so I ordered my bees.  I will order hives and supplies this month.  But I'm starting out with 2 hives.  So my investment so far will be around $1200.00.  Oh, and Long Island, I found out, is not a great honey-producing area; we just don't have enough things blooming, especially late in the season.  Apparently, our honey will be all made by the end of July.  And we'll be lucky to get between 10 and 30lb. of honey per hive per year.  So let's do the math:  $1200 initial investment ÷ $300. (30 lbs. per year average for 2 hives x $10./lb. for local honey) = 4 years to break even.  That's if I were to sell all the honey.  And that doesn't include the cost of jars and extracting the honey.  I think centrifugal extractors cost around $500., but I think we (class students) will be able to borrow an extractor from our teacher or from a Long Island bee club, at least for the first year.  That is if our bees produce any measurable honey the first year, and that is, apparently, a big 'if'.  So obviously real beekeepers don't do this the way we novices do.  As colonies divide and expand, they get to collect swarms, i.e. free bees (freebees, hah!), and they must make their own equipment or score cheap used stuff.  At some point, the true economics will become clearer.  Right now, I'm all in and am ready to let go of the expenses issue and concentrate on the process.  


My head is ready to explode.  But I'm really excited and fully engaged in the planning:  thinking about where on my property to situate my hives, and what color(s) to paint them...