Welcome to my blog homesteadingandhomeschoolingmom. Through this blog I plan to take you on my adventures of homesteading on our 3.5 acre property as well as homeschooling my two little freckles, Meatball & Whiz. Along the way I will give you tips on how to be frugal about it all as well.
We have recently become the owners of honey bees! This is our newest addition to our homestead. We currently have 2 hives, one Italian & the other Carniolan. From these two hives, we expect to see 50-100 pounds of honey. Because this is our first year with the bees, we will not be extracting any honey. The bees will need the honey to eat throughout the winter. If I extract too much honey then they are forced to get their nutrients from a pollen patty, which is second rate eating as you can imagine! Each year we hope to add a new hive to our apiary. Just think of all of the goodies that can be made from the honey as well as the beeswax (candles, lip conditioners, lotions…).
If you are planning on or dreaming of having an apiary, read up on all of the various diseases that can affect your honey bees. Knowledge is power! Adding honey bees to the hive can cost anywhere from $90 (packages) to $160 (nucs) so this is something that can be an expensive venture at first. However if you educate yourself, and your honey bees survive the winter, you will be ahead in expenses if you choose to get creative and sell your beeswax goods and honey. (Check your local Cottage Laws on selling homesteading goods). Also be sure to check into your local laws on apiaries. We had to register our apiary within 10 days of receiving our bees. These are the items we purchased from Amazon to get our apiary started:
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