So, the normal way to start beekeeping is to order and build your equipment in the winter, take some hands-on classes, then patiently wait for your 3 lbs package bees to arrive sometime in late spring (early spring if you are lucky). Well, this gives you a slow start, as you've missed alot of the big pollen/nectar season of early spring (Maple trees, for one). The bees spend most of the nectar on energy to drawing out new comb and feeding the baby bees.
The less traditional manner is to jump right in and order a nuc from late Spring, Summer, to as late as Fall. A nuc is typically 5 frames of drawn comb with brood, pollen stores, and honey--all covered in bees. You bring this home and put it in your super with 3 more empty frames for growth, give them sugar water solution to build up some stores for winter. Some bee farms will sell these as late as early October. It's a bit of a gamble, but if all goes well, you get a head start on the next season, and you could be harvesting lots of honey the first year.
Bill's Honey Bees of LaFayette, GA, offered to sell me two nucs at a good price and give me a crash course for free!
Sure enough, just after scheduling my nuc pick up, I herniated a disc in my lower back. Under heavy pain killers and muscle relaxers, I was in no shape to drive. Luckily, my loving wife was willing to load up the entire family for a 2.5 hr road trip to LaFayette, GA on a Sunday afternoon.
Dylan was a bit surprised at the size of their operation, and it was a bit intimidating at first, but their bees are quite calm. They just want to do what bees do, and provided you don't try to squash one, they really don't want to sting you.
Here are some pictures from Bill's Honey Bees:
That's me in the veil. Bill uses no protective gear and was only stung once after pilfering several hives.
Bill holding a frame of bees. You can put your hand on them and pet them. They don't seem to care a bit.
This is the process to add new (flightless) bees to an existing hive or nuc. Since they are young, they have no issue switching to a new queen. With a good hard shake, the young, flightless bees land on the rubber mat on the ground, and the older bees fly off back to their original hive.
Here is what you are left with (a bunch of flightless bees on a rubber mat). It takes this bunch a bit before they figure out where the nuc box is (smell of beeswax or the queen lures them in).
But once one finds the nuc, she raises her abdomen and fans her wings to spread the scent and the rest follow.
We also found this bug eating a bee. Bill had not seen this bug before, so he asked me to take a picture. After posting on Beesource Forum, I got a quick answer--a Bee Assassin Bug. Not considered a real threat to the bee population, but occasionally, they get a bee.
My new hives, positioned for early morning sun:
First morning out, and they've already found the basil in our garden and are bringing in pollen from our neighbors flowers:
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