(Former) Beekeepers?

[Lauren Angelo]

Hi composters,

This is (perhaps) a long shot, but for some reason, composting, worms,
chickens, bees -- they're related in my mind... Symbiotic
relationships between man and insect (or chicken) with tasty
comestibles as the end result, I suppose.

Anyway.

I am very interested in becoming a backyard (or roof?) beekeeper, and
I am wondering if there is anyone on this list with experience
beekeeping. I am in research mode, and in particular, I am looking
for book recommendations, local meetings, used equipment and gear, as
well as advice / common pitfalls. The summary of what I know/have
thus far is:
- I am reading "The Bee Book For Beginners" by Frank Randall
- I have a browser window open for the Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers
Guild. (Meetings in San Jose are too far for me, though. Any
beekeeping meetings/classes in MV/PA?)

Thank you in advance, and I apologize for the off-topic post.

In other news, my composting bins are in a good steady state, and my
1.5-year-old just discovered the magic of holding a worm from my worm
bin in his hand. Nothing warms the cockles of my heart like seeing my
two kids poking around in the compost.

Lauren

[Steve Lamm]

Hi Lauren,

I bet you would like the approach the Backwards Beekeepers take. One book that follows their philosophy is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping. Another book recommendation: http://www.rootsimple.com/2011/09/practical-beekeeper-by-michael-bush.html

Here's the blog for a local beekeeper that does humane removal: http://losaltoshoneybees.wordpress.com/ (they captured some bees at Bowman this week). You might see if he makes bees available. Local stock would be a great way to go.

-Steve

[Dan]

Hi Lauren

Funny you should bring up bees right now - The kids and I just watched
a local beekeeper remove a swarm from one of the neighbor's houses
last week. The beekeeper's name is Ryan Stevens, and he told me that
he has 12 hives in his backyard here in Mountain View. He lives over
behind PACT somewhere. I called him to see if he wanted to come get
this swarm of bees, and then the kids and I watched the whole bee
capturing operation. It was entertaining, and Ryan was more
enthusiastic about bees than most people are about anything. He even
gave me a huge mason jar full of raw honey for calling him. He told me
he harvests about 100 gallons of honey each year!

His email is Rya...@peoplepc.com, and his phone number is
650-969-6513. He seemed like a nice guy, maybe he would be willing to
give you some help in getting started.

--Dan

[Rebecca T]

Hi Lauren,

I took an intro to beekeeping course offered as a Groupon. It was very interesting and informative, taught by Rick Baxter of Round Rock Honey. As I recall, in order to legally keep a hive in Palo Alto, you must get written permission from your three adjacent neighbors, and your hives must be 25 feet from each of those property lines. I was thinking of attempting to find an experienced beekeeper with whom I could apprentice, but that's as far as I got.

On a related note, Bayer's neonicotinoid pesticides (including clothianidin) kill honeybees and are implicated in colony collapse. After Germany, Italy and France banned it, their decimated honeybee populations began to increase. More info here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/epa-save-our-bees-and-the-food-we-eat-ban-bayer-s-chemicals-now?utm_campaign=aZQlDgyMtF&utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert

Hope that's of some use,

Rebecca

[Audrey]

Thanks for these timely posts.... we have a swarm of bees in our
yard now so great to know we have local resources to help us find them
a safe home.

- Audrey

On Apr 5, 9:21 pm, Lauren Angelo <lauren.ang...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Lauren Angelo]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded. I appreciated all the
online/local leads, as well as the beekeeping books Steve and Ben both
lent me -- thanks! I'm working my way through them.

Rebecca -- thanks for the tip on local ordinances. I had wondered
about that. Fortunately we live in Mountain View, which doesn't
appear to have the same restrictions.

More local beekeeping links:
http://www.metroactive.com/features/urban-beekeepers.html
http://mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=5072

I've just been reading up on swarms, but I didn't realize this was the
time of year for them... Well, if anyone on the list happens to call
Ryan Stevens or another beekeeper to remove a swarm, I'd love to be
there. Audrey?!

Lauren

On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 9:21 PM, Lauren Angelo <lauren...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jeral Poskey]

There is a beekeeping class for two in Redwood City in today's Groupons.

http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/1727/deals/316920-three-hour-beekeeping-class-for-two 

[Lauren Angelo]

Sweet! Thanks, Jeral! Anyone interested?