Hello from California!

[Country Heart]

I plan on installing two hives in the spring.  Have been working hard on my "book" knowledge - reading everything I can get my hands on in print and online.  I think I'm finally starting to get a handle on all the options - so many decisions to make and prep to do before then. 

I'm very excited that tomorrow I will be getting my first look into a real hive!      

Do you remember your first look?  Any advice you can offer this newbie would be greatly appreciated.   

[AllenF]

Welcome to the forum and with your first look, don't swat.

[Country Heart]

Don't swat.  Got it.  Thanks!

[ccar2000]

Welcome from the Southern California High Desert!
My advise is to take in all others advice, distill it to suit your style and climate then make your own decision. Oh yeah, and have a blast!

[kathyp]

you might consider narrowing your location a bit.  CA covers lots of territory and climates!  we have a bunch of members from your state and you may find others close to you.

[annette]

Hi,

 Annette here from Northern California.

Been beekeeping since 2006 and learned so much on this forum. Could not have done it without the help of so many wonderful, experienced beekeepers.

This is what I learned from the forum:

Ask a question
Get many different answers
Read and understand each answer
Go with my intuition

If most of the beekeepers answer the same way or a variation of the same way, I go with it.

It has worked out

Regarding your first time with the bees. Just relax and enjoy it. The first time my mentor opened up a beehive I was in ecstasy with all the bees flying around. I just knew right then it was for me and I wanted to do this.

So as Kathy mentioned, where in California do you live??

Nice to meet you and wait to hear from you again

Annette

[mikecva]

Welcome to the forum.   

Yes, do not swat, also do not eat bananas or drink alcohol just before entering a hive. If your mentor allows, stand over the freshly opened and inhale. The aroma is strong but great.    -Mike

[yockey5]

I was a very young kid (maybe 8 or 9) and I watched a beekeeper go into his hives. Hooked from that day on and that was in the early 50s!
Someday maybe I will tell you of my first experience of trying to hive a swarm.

[specialkayme]

Welcome to the site!

[Larry Bees]

Welcome to the forum.   

Yes, do not swat, also do not eat bananas or drink alcohol just before entering a hive. If your mentor allows, stand over the freshly opened and inhale. The aroma is strong but great.    -Mike

Why is it bad to eat bananas before looking in the hive? Larry

[BlueBee]

My advice would be to avoid going overboard with equipment in your first year.  There are a lot of ways of keeping bees.  You may discover that once you have live bees, some of the things you read about in the forums just aren’t a good match to your conditions or management desires. 

Larry I believe the folk lore is that a banana gives off a scent similar to the bees alarm pheromones.  Hence eating one might make you a marked man.   

[Larry Bees]

A marked man you say !!!

I never eat before inspecting my hives if I look at them early in the morning. However, on Saturday and Sunday I did eat bananas before looking at them and the bees were the meanest that I have ever seen them. I thought that maybe the Brazilian Pepper that is in bloom made them angry, but maybe it was the bananas. I had never heard of that before but I'm thinking that it must be true.

Larry

[Country Heart]

Thanks for making me feel so welcome.  It's nice to have a place to go and "talk" with other folks who enjoy bees.  I already feel like I have gotten loads of great advice by just hanging out on the forum and reading, reading, reading.

I am located in the South Bay - San Jose, California.

My first look went well.  I believe I am hooked.    

As BlueBee mentioned, I have read the bit about not smelling of banana when working with hives.  It sounds like good advice to me.

Thanks again for the warm welcome - and yockey5, feel free to pip in with your first experience trying to hive a swarm.  I am always ready for a good story. 

[BlevinsBees]

Join our bee club, we'd love to have you!!

http://www.beeguild.org/

[mikecva]

The smell of bananas is close to the attack odor a guard bee gives off. -Mike

[BlevinsBees]

I'm not so sure about the banana story. I have a banana every morning sliced on my oatmeal. Sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I go to the beeyard still chewing/swallowing to do inspections and I've never noticed the difference in their behavior.

[Country Heart]

Join our bee club, we'd love to have you!!

http://www.beeguild.org/

Thanks for the invite!  I do plan to join.  I went to my first meeting earlier this month and feel like I have so much to learn.

[BlevinsBees]

The guest speaker Eric Mussen was pretty good wasn't he.

[Country Heart]

The guest speaker Eric Mussen was pretty good wasn't he.

He was quite entertaining.  I'm looking forward to the next one - where we get lessons in how to make things.   

[mikecva]

BlevinsBees, it might be folk lore as BlueBee said. Most folk lore is based on something real or just made up for some forgotten reason but the instructors in my club have been stung more on days they said they had eaten bananas then normal, so I just do not eat them right before I go out.

We have also wondered why they keep testing the banana thing.