In my first bee article, I discussed a bit about how I got into beekeeping. In this second article, I detail the journey into beekeeping and the decisions made along the way.

I received a Little Giant bee starter set that included a base, brood box, cover, smoker, hive tool, brush, and frame holder grip tool for Christmas in 2018. The brood box needed to be stained or painted, but otherwise, it was a plug and play setup—the decision of what type of bees and quantity required a quick decision.

I researched nucs and package bees. A nuc has 3 or 5 frames with a majority already drawn out with brood and honey. It also includes a mated and accepted queen with hundreds to thousands of workers. A mated and accepted queen is critical.

We understand the mated part in that a queen needs to be fertilized and laying eggs, but the accepted part is also essential. There are times when a hive may not take a new queen, and the workers conduct a coup and kill the queen. We will discuss this phenomenon a bit more in article #3.

First Frame of Honey from George Wimmer
Image of a frame of honey from George Wimmer
A package of bees is a box of bees numbering in the hundreds to thousands depending on the size you purchase. There is a mated queen kept separately in the package, so she is safe during the shipping process. The package is opened; the bees are poured into a waiting brood box, and the queen is released into the hive.

I researched each option. Nucs generally cost $100 more than package bees and can take an extra month longer. Package bees are conversely less expensive and ready to go a month or so earlier. The nuc has up to 5 frames with brood and honey an is essentially a mini hive in operation with a greater potential to give you excess honey in year one. The package bees have a lot of work ahead of them and may not provide you with honey in year one.

I choose to purchase a five frame nuc because there would already be frames with brood and honey and an accepted queen working the hive. To me, it appeared to give my hive the best chance to thrive. I hoped I could fill a 5 of my Wimmer’s Wilderness glass mason jars full by the fall.
First Honey from George Wimmer
Image by George Wimmer
When I started my first hive in the spring of 2019, I found a place in eastern Wisconsin that sold bees. I keep bees at my northwestern Wisconsin lake cabin property, where I have adequate acreage to accommodate hives. I had the original idea that finding a good source located in the same region weather-wise was a good idea. It was not necessary as most places that sell bees in my state get their bees shipped to their location.
I drove the 3 hours to pick up my nuc of bees. None of my family members wanted to ride with me and thought I was crazy to carry bees in my car. I assured them the bees are contained in their nuc. Good thing they didn’t listen to me. After my 3-hour journey, back at least a hundred had escaped and buzzed around the interior of my car.

The great thing about honeybees is that they don’t care about me, and we all stayed pretty mellow listening to Chopin on the trip. I put the five frames from the nuc into their new hive along with five new frames, and my journey into beekeeping began.

First Bee Hive from George Wimmer
Image of the first bee hive from George Wimmer

As this article is over my 500-word limit and there is much more to say about year one, my 3 part series on beekeeping will now be a 5 part series.

Article #3 covers the rest of year one and into my first winter, which taught me a lot. Article #4 includes year two to date, and the fifth article will discuss the plight of honeybees in general. Be sure to signup for the free CritterFacts newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any of my articles!