This section is from the book "Bees For Pleasure And Profit", by Samson G. Gordon. Also available from Amazon: Bees for pleasure and profit; a guide to the manipulation of bees, the production of honey, and the general management of the apiary..
No question is asked oftener by persons wishing to begin beekeeping than this: "Where can I get bees?"
Now there are several good ways of getting the first bees-and the beginner should restrict himself the first season to four or five colonies at most. One way of securing bees is to buy them with a beginner's outfit. Another excellent way is to buy them of some beekeeper in the near-by vicinity of the beginner, and take them home in their own hive or hives. It is easy to do. Be sure the bees are in modern movable-frame hives and be sure to have the seller's guarantee that the colony has a good queen and is strong and all right. A small advertisement in the "Want" column of a country or apicultural paper, like Gleanings in Bee Culture, will often serve to locate such bees for sale not far from home. A much safer way is to buy bees of regular bee-breeders in 2-pound combless packages with queens. These bee-breeders are numerous; and, if you will send to The A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio, for a sample copy of their monthly magazine, Gleanings in Bee Culture, you will find in it the announcements of a large number of reliable bee-breeders in all parts of the country from whom bees and queens can be safely purchased. They are shipped by express. A possible way of securing good bees (especially in the southern states) is to buy bees that are in old box hives (which are hives not having movable frames) and transfer them into modern hives. The price for bees in such old hives should be low, for it requires considerable hard work and a degree of expert knowledge to transfer them successfully.
A frame in the spring showing bees on comb. The capped cells contain young bees that will soon hatch to bolster the hive strength.
Bees working on combs. The queen is at the bottom center.
Beekeeping and poultry raising go well together. When the bees require the most attention the poultry need the least. When chickens demand the most time, the bees are taking their long winter sleep, and require little attention. In the northern states the bees are put into winter quarters in the fall and require almost no attention until the following spring along in April or May. During this time the chickens require considerable care. If one would have early broilers in the spring, he must order his baby chicks early or start his incubator going early. He must feed his chickens so that they will lay during the winter. Incubator work and the brooding of chickens take place in the spring. When the main work of the year is over with the chickens in the spring, the honey flow will begin, keeping the owner busy until the extracting is finished in the fall.
Beekeeping is very intimately related to fruit growing. The production of much of the fruit from many trees and shrubs is dependent on the pollen being carried by bees to the bloom from different trees or plants, of varieties of the same species. In most cases the quantity is increased and the quality of the fruit is improved when bees are present. The two industries, therefore, can be united with great advantage. Intelligent fruit growers have learned to appreciate the valuable work performed by bees. As they become convinced that the services of these little friends are indispensable they not only begin buying colonies of bees but gradually increase their number until it is not uncommon for a fruit grower to own a large apiary. So, far from adding to the expense of fruit culture, the surplus of honey obtained has proved that beekeeping may become a very profitable sideline to fruit culture. One man, or a force of men, can care for the bees a part of the time and for the trees the other part, and thus be able to furnish two of the finest sweets in the world-the sugar in fruit and the sugar in the nectar of the flowers.
 
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