My First Beekeeping Experience

Reader Contribution by Kim Walter
Published on November 12, 2013
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I am a bit ashamed to admit that at first I didn’t like bees. They buzzed around me and often I would step on

them and get stung. I didn’t understand bees or the important role they played in my day to day life. 

Much later I became more curious about bees and wanted to learn more so I joined a local beekeeping club in my area and began attending meetings every month. I also took a short course on beekeeping offered by the very same club, attended a few conferences and found a mentor. My mentor told me that all that was left was to order a package of bees and let the real fun begin. 

I was nervous because it was one thing to admire them from afar but quite another to have thousands of bees mere yards from my home. What if they snuck in during the night and stung me? What if they hated me and flew away? What if I killed them all? So many ifs….

I ordered my first package of bees that January and in April I was standing under a big oak tree as the club’s bees were offloaded from the president’s pickup truck. They called my name to gather my package…this was real, this was happening.  I was putting literally thousands of bees into my car— had I thought this through all the way? Are these the actions of a sane individual? 

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