Help out if you can.

Bee’s are sweet. And they love their queen. One stung me on the eye once and it didn’t even hurt. I’m definately getting some bee’s.

-- Hear today, gone tomorrow

We had four hives in our backyard when I was a kid, didn’t bother anybody, not even us. Bees get used to someone and they ignore you.

-- *Arachnoleptic*: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidently walked through a spider web.

It would probably help even more if people stopped the indiscriminate use of pesticides…I don’t think we learned enough from Carsen’s “Silent Spring” :-(

-- "Checking for square? what madness is this! The cabinet is square because I will it to be so!" Jeremy Greiner LJ Topic#20953 2011 Feb 2

Raising bees is a great idea, and I wish I could help. My wife would be a shut in, if I put bee hives near the house. On a half acre lot there isn’t much room to put them anywhere else. When I was a child growing up in the farm lands of Idaho we had bee hives almost everywhere.

-- Mel

A friend of ours raises bees on our property. She had to move out of her house and we have the space, so it works out well.

-- "Too much hurry ruins the body. I'll sit easy … fan the spark" - I. Anderson

Bees are great, and are not aggressive, in my experience. We had them on our farm, never got stung by one, even when I hit their hive with a tractor.

Paul C. Bees tend to get used to their surroundings pretty quickly, they know you in a way if you’re out there milling around and they won’t bug you. The Africanized bees can be territorial and they don’t like lawnmowers, but they still get the job done as far as pollination goes though. Some of those specials you see on TV about them are rather sensational, they aren’t the killers everyone thinks they are, it’s only when certain circumstances happen that they attack. Still, I’d feel better if they weren’t around. My wife is slowly caving into the idea of keeping them here, but she mostly fears what the neighbors will think.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

The nuc hive you posted is mostly use for “splits” or small swarms.
Here is a blog I put together showing the construction methods I use for Langstroth hive bodies.
Here is a great link for anyone considering raising bees. Click on different topics on the left side of the screen.

-- Scott Smith, Southern Illinois

Bees are fascinating, and the more people know about them the better they will fare, but abandoned or neglected hobby hives can be a source of problems for healthy hives. The abandoned hives are scavenged by other bees who then spread the pests and diseases back to their hive. Look into observation hives with a bee entrance outside. Try to help native/wild bees by avoiding harmful pesticides and providing early/dependable sources of pollen/nectar/water for them. Let your dandelions grow unmolested. -Jack

Jack, I can safely say I never worry about dandelions. I think they are beautiful and cannot understand the obsession with their destruction.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.