Taking On Livestock, Part I
(Page 3 of 8)
March/April 1987
By John Vivian
How do you get that skill? From reading and experience, sure, but initially the best way to learn-and to see if beekeeping suits you-is to work some colonies with an experienced apiarist. Ask for the names of some teaching beekeepers at the feed store or county extension agent's. An outing or two with an experienced person can help you get over the initial nervousness any novice feels when adopting a few thousand well-armed insects.
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Right now, in spring, is the time to start keeping bees. You can buy your equipment-hive body, internal frames, and starter honeycomb-from a mail-order or local bee supply house. The easy-to-assemble materials for a complete hive will cost you about $100 (Fig. 3). You can then mail-order a starter colony for around $30 (Fig. 4). You may be able to purchase an established colony locally for about $100, but be certain first that the hive has been inspected and is free from disease. Then you'll also need a bee veil and hat, gloves, smoker, hive tool (for opening and manipulating the hive)-another $50. And remember, many folks recommend starting with two colonies, in case one fails.
Your ongoing expenses, however, will be small: replacement starter comb at a few dollars a box and maybe a $6 queen bee every year or two so you can make sure your colony's egg layer is in top shape. But watch out for another potential drawback: "bee fever." That beginner's over enthusiasm can tempt you to buy lots of hives and purchase expensive gear such as a $200 honey extractor. Stay small for a couple of years until that first flush of excitement passes, and you know for sure that you want to stick with beekeeping. If, at that time, you decide you don't, you can sell a going colony in spring with an ad in the local paper-for most of what it cost you.
For more information, why not read my book Keeping Bees ($12.45 postpaid from Williamson Publishing Co., P.O. Box 185, Charlotte, VT 05445).
Poultry Next
For me, gathering eggs in the morning is the essence of country living. The sun's just up, the air is clear, the hens on the nest are all fluffed up and fussy, and the straw is almost hot when you reach under for the eggs (Fig. 5). And you'll never be able to enjoy a store egg after you've tried one from your own hens. Yolks are a rich yellow, stand up fat and sassy in the pan, and have a flavor that fairly shouts F-R-E-S-H.
The same goes for the meat. Home-raised broilers have a bright golden skin and full-bodied taste that seem to have been bred right out of commercial birds.
Chickens can be enjoyable company, too. They're almost human in their temperaments-fidgety and bordering on hysterical when young, fussy and outrageously indignant as old hens. (My daughter Martha has a light, backhand head-slap she delivers to any hen that tends to be mean on the nest. Works wonders.) Roosters are vain and randy little martinets that ruffle their feathers, strut, and act tough until you wave your arms and yell B00! Then they shriek, gather their skirts, and run of (saving the occasional truly feisty cock that you'd better dispatch to the stewpot).
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