It all started at the local nature center’s Earth Day Celebration. I stopped by the local beekeepers association display table and was asked the fateful question, “Would you like to keep bees?” Me? Yes! I said, “Yes,” and that was that. I knew that the city I lived in had just passed an ordinance allowing beekeeping in the city, so I jumped on the bandwagon. The gentleman who asked also offered to help me obtain the bees and get me set up with two hives.

I had purchased the Beekeeper’s Bible years ago on Amazon and had dreamt about having the sweet little honey makers, but had never planned out actually acquiring them in real life. I am a planner. I love planning. In the normal progression of doing something as daring as beekeeping, I would have researched the equipment, compared prices for different set ups and different companies. I would have estimated the amount of honey produced each season and the price per pound I could expect to sell it for. I would have figured out the ROI (return on investment) for getting the bees and all of the equipment and how much I could get from selling the honey.

But not this time. A door unexpectedly opened for me and it took me less that five seconds to process the question and jump in with both feet. I had to decide then and there or wait another year because there is a particular time of year for purchasing packaged bees and getting them set up in a hive so that they can gather enough honey stores to make it through winter. In Illinois, that time of year is April. It was April 22nd and I did not have much time to think about it.

While Mr. G kept his side of the bargain: purchasing the bees and picking them up for me. I had not even started thinking about how I was going to get the equipment when I got the email from him saying that my bees were in on April 29th. The last week of April had sped by and then May exploded with busyness. I was way behind schedule. I originally planned to get the starter kit by mail order from a beekeeping supply store, but then decided since the headquarters was within a short driving distance I would go pick everything up and save $70 in shipping costs. In the meantime, Mr. G hived my bees for me.

I drove the two hour drive to the beekeeping supply store on May 8th. While there, I took the time to ask 10,000 questions and go over all of the options. In the end, I decided not to get the starter kit because I could get discounts for buying bulk packages of unassembled boxes and frames. It would be cheaper overall since I was getting enough for two hives, plus I would have an extra of the brood box, the super, and the frames to go with each. The downside was that I was purchasing everything unassembled, but again it saved me money.

What I saved in money, I spent in time. Not just for the drive; it took me a while to get my hive boxes nailed together, primed and painted. Then for the frames, it was nearly impossible for me to nail them and keep the frames square. After attempting the first two, I stopped and asked Mr. G for help. He sent me the instructions for a frame jig. It took me a little more time to get that built, but after I had the jig to hold everything in place while I nailed with a nail gun, everything went much faster.

The other consideration was where to put the hives on our property. I read the city ordinance over a few more times and determined the best spot was inside our wrought-iron fence, 10 feet from the southern property line, with the entrance pointing toward our back field to the south. The hives would be sitting on an area of stones which act as a dry creek for rain water to travel down the slope and out to the woods. We are at the low point in our neighborhood so the amount of rain water can be intense during long heavy rains. Because of this we needed the stands for the hives to be very sturdy and up a little higher than I have seen in photos. My husband found scraps of treated lumber and built the perfect stands.

We situated the stands and the hives near a tall pine tree which I hope can give them cover from the elements, yet allow plenty of sun to shine through. I was finally ready by the last week of May and Mr. G came to transfer the bees on Memorial Day at 5:00 PM. He brought two cardboard nuc boxes which hold five frames each. As he carried the nuc boxes into our backyard the reality of what I had done started to sink in. Inwardly I was freaking out a little bit. And the realization that I had never in my life been around a live occupied bee hive.

I had seen bees through the cool glass hive at the nature center. I was not skittish about encountering bees and wasps in my garden. I had a neighbor in college who had the remains of a hive that had collapsed. My friend and I took one of the boxes from the vacant hive and did the messy job of extracting honey in our kitchen. It was good dark honey. We had no idea what we were doing, but it was fun! And delicious!

Outwardly, I was keeping my cool, despite sweltering in my full bee suit. My nice neighbor, who had inquired about the mysterious boxes I was building, came out to watch over the fence as Mr. G helped me move the frames into my hives. Five frames full of bees and a queen into the first hive, and five frames full of bees and a queen in the second hive. It is recommended for new beekeepers to start out with two hives to compare one with the other. One of the hives was slightly more robust than the other and actually had drawn out three additional frames that Mr. G had left behind. He said he would bring them later and I said that as a thank you he could keep them. He would be able to take these three frames and requeen the bees to start a new hive of his own.

What was the grand total to begin beekeeping? Purchased fro the beekeeping supply store: 5 brood boxes, 50 brood frames, 50 foundations, 5 supers, 50 super frames, 50 wax sheets, 2 feeders, a full beekeeping suit, a smoker, cotton fuel, a bee brush, a hive tool, a frame grabber, and 2 beekeeping books. All of this cost me a grand total of $8xx.xx and a 4-hour round trip drive. The two bee colonies: $250.XX? For a grand total of $1,000.XX? Maybe it is a good thing I did not have time to plan this time around because I was expecting the start up cost to be about half of what it was. However, I do not regret it a bit and although I will not likely have any honey this year, I cannot wait to harvest my liquid gold!