Installation- Set up

How many bee colonies should I start with?

Beekeeping is increasingly becoming popular, making honey bees a fantastic next-door neighbor in many backyards. The rewards from beekeeping are also unmatched. Their products are highly sought after and loaded with many health benefits. The hobby itself is also therapeutic. Beekeepers live longer! Thankfully, you don’t need a garden of flowers on your property. These super-skilled creatures fly up to 5 miles in search of food resources. One of the questions asked by beginners revolves around the number of colonies to start with. Here is what you need to know. 

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How many bee colonies should I start with?

As a beginner, you need to have enough bees to make it a worthwhile venture. At the same time, this is not the time to move too fast and have a bee disaster. Your available capital, space, and time will also determine the size of your apiary. Most experienced beekeepers advise beginners to start with two colonies. This is also what is taught in beekeeping classes. While one person can manage many beehives, the craft needs time to learn. You can start with one colony, but two hives help to increase the odds and the chances of success. If you have one colony and it dies, you may have to wait for the following spring to start all over again. However, if you have two and one fails, you can share some brood frames to boost the failing one. If one colony loses a queen, you can donate some frames with fresh eggs or larvae to the needy one to save it. 

What are the benefits of starting with more than one bee colony?

Having more than one hive in your apiary gives you more resources to work with when one hive is failing. Besides the brood frames, young worker bees can be shared among colonies. Nurse bees help care for the brood and other chores in the hive. With more than one colony, you can also evaluate the progress in the hives. Each colony is usually unique, and mainly, temperaments differ. Brood, workers, frames, pollen, and honey can be shared among the hives. This is referred to as equalizing the colonies. This is done with a reason and not aimlessly. 

Lastly, beekeeping is not easy. Colonies may die out even if you do everything right. Even experienced beekeepers lose colonies every year. The first year can be frustrating for you. With one colony, you will end up with zero bees if it fails. This can be dishearting after the expenses, time, and effort. With an extra hive, you will not start from scratch. 

When should l increase my colonies?

Some new beekeepers are over-ambitious. With zero experience, they want to set up a large bee farm with many hives. It is advisable not to acquire more colonies than you can manage. It is better to start the first year of learning. After overwintering your colonies, you can now graduate to more colonies. You can split them to make more colonies in spring, saving you from buying new ones. 

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Does having many colonies cause fighting?

Multiple bee hives rarely cause fighting among the bees. However, you must be cautious about robbing among colonies, especially the weaker ones. Robbing causes the spread of diseases among colonies. You can do this by avoiding spilling sugar water in the yard, throwing burr comb or hive debris, and using hive reducers on the weak colonies. Robbing only happens in times of nectar shortage. Sharing young nurse bees among colonies can cause fighting due to their different pheromones. You can avoid this by spraying the bees with a light coat of sugar water.

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