Dancing Bees Apiary

07/09/2026

Flowery is Sincerest Form of Imitation

07/03/2026

🐝 How Many Bee Hives Should You Start With? 🐝

A follower recently asked me, “How many hives should I start with—and how many is enough for just one person?”

That’s such a great question—and honestly, I get it all the time! 😊

Here’s my advice for hobbyist beekeepers:

✅ 1 to 2 Hives – Perfect for Beginners

🐝Great for learning the basics

🐝Lower cost and less time needed

🐝Easy to manage without feeling overwhelmed

But with only one hive, if something goes wrong (like queen loss, disease, or winter loss), you don’t have a backup

✅ 2 Hives = The Sweet Spot to Start

🐝Offers flexibility and a chance to compare colonies

🐝If one hive struggles, you can share bees, brood, or resources from the stronger one

🐝Helps you learn faster and build confidence

✅ 3 to 5 Hives – Ideal for More Experience

🐝Allows you to compare colonies side-by-side

🐝Produces more honey, wax, and other products

🐝Still manageable even if you have a full-time job or other commitments

✅ 6 to 10 Hives – For the Advanced Hobbyist

🐝Good if you want to sell honey locally or grow your beekeeping operation

🐝Requires more equipment, space, and time

🐝Can get time-consuming during swarm season, mite treatments, and honey extraction

Remember, beekeeping is a year-round activity. You’ll need to check each hive about once a week, especially during spring and fall.

Here are some important questions to ask yourself before starting:

Do you want bees for pollination, honey, education, or just passion?
Do you have enough space (yard, apiary, or outyard) for multiple hives?
Can you handle lifting heavy hive boxes (they can weigh 60–90 lbs full)?
Can you invest the time every week to care for your bees?
How will your local winters affect your ability to overwinter hives?

So if you’re just getting started, here are my top tips:
✅ Start with two hives
✅ Take it slow and steady
✅ Enjoy every moment of your beekeeping journey! 💛

07/03/2026

I unfortunately will not be setting up at the yard sale tomorrow at Swanton community center. I had a bad case of stupidity this morning. 🫪 I will explain after I let my mother know. 😞

07/03/2026

07/02/2026

Going to die of heat stroke but I am getting into the bees today. Did yesterday. I was soaked in 10 minutes. So bee jacket and gloves came off. Tank top and shorts. Getting stung wasn’t as bad as the heat so I took the chance. Honey production from the couple hives I checked isn’t the greatest. My colony is so large they are putting brood in my super frames again. Will be putting on queen excluder which I hate. They are prone to rip their wings and cut their already short lives shorter. So I am going to remove all the bees off the medium super frames which has capped brood and then put them in my other hive (which is a deep brood box) I did the newspaper combining with. They are not very strong so I would like to get them built up before winter. They are placed in the middle right above the other brood. (If you leave any bees on, they will be killed as intruders). And then wait a few days for the brood to hatch and then hopefully take the medium frames out and put in my deeps. This year has been a tough year. They bees are throwing everything at me. Dearth is starting or going to start. So supers come off and sugar water goes on. I have goldenrod growing everywhere so hoping for some dark honey in the fall.

07/02/2026

🤣🤣

07/01/2026

Working on getting some honey labeled, jarred, sealed and gift jars looking beautiful for the yard sale Saturday, July 4 at the swanton community yard sale. I will be there from 8-10 or 11. My husband had surgery so it depends on how he is feeling. But I will have quarts for $25, Pints are $15 and the cutest little gift jars for $10. I also have wrapped 6 inch honey dippers $2! I will also be bringing some creamed (whipped) honey. It is a time consuming honey product so I will have limited supply. But the bees are blessing me with more honey (I hope!) I have dark and I have light honey still available also. Happy 4th!