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HiveFive
10-04-2017, 09:35 PM
Glad I found your forum!
I've been working on getting my business up and running for about two years now.
We are Hive Five Apiary and Bee Supply in Tappahannock VA.
I'd like to share our adventure with you and pick you brains for suggestions and ideas.
Glad to meet you all!
Fulcrum
10-05-2017, 07:54 AM
Welcome.

I bought my business off an apiarist and we shared a building (different space so the honey was safe) for a few years. Keep your doors closed when extracting if you have hives close by. It's hard to work when there was a couple thousand honey bees flying around the shop.
HiveFive
10-05-2017, 10:41 AM
Brad,
Learned that my first year working with a mentor.
He didn't even get the bees out of the supers, just dragged them into an open garage. Talk about thinking "there has got to be a better way!"
So a machine shop and an apiary in the same location wow bet that was entertaining at times!
thanks
Jeff
vangogh
10-05-2017, 10:53 AM
Welcome to the forum HiveFive. I think you're the first person here who owns an apiary and might be in the running for most interesting business. I look forward to getting to know you and thanks for joining the community.
HiveFive
10-05-2017, 04:56 PM
Thanks!
I find the bee business fascinating. The bees especially, they never stop amazing me. The other side of the business is processing and retail. This isn't my first rodeo with retail but I'll be picking everyone's brain to get it right this time!
Fulcrum
10-05-2017, 05:06 PM
So a machine shop and an apiary in the same location wow bet that was entertaining at times!

It went better than I would have expected but there were a few things that stood out:

Bees go after honey if it's within about 200' of the hives.
Bees go into a funky nose dive after they fly through the flame of an acetylene torch.
Bees seem to be attracted to fire.

And I got some free honey from time to time.
Owen
10-05-2017, 06:40 PM
Welcome to the forum. :)
cbscreative
10-10-2017, 01:27 PM
I have to agree your business is one of the more interesting we've seen and I'm pretty sure you're our first member in apiary. I wouldn't have even known that term before. I had a grandpa who had a small farm with a fairly decent sized field of blueberries and had honey bees. Nothing commercial, just private stash. I didn't dare get too close to the hives. I should also mention I'm in West Michigan where there are a lot of blueberries. Welcome.