> > << After five years of hobby beekeeping, my young wife and I've decided to > advance to "sideliner" status with a trial of 50 additional colonies to add > to our current 8. She'll be doing most of the work, but what a dynamo! > Anyways, were to get 'em? From time to time I've seen bees advertised in Bee > Culture (which I get), but there havn't been any applicable ads in the last > couple months. American Bee Journal (which I've seen occasionally but not a > recent copy, subscribing soon) has a beefier classified section. Could a > current subscriber look for me in this and last month's ABJ and tell me if > there are local hives for sale?>> Hi Tim I to have made the decision to increase my the number of colonies I keep. For the past several years, the local demand for my honey has been greater than I could supply. The way I'm doing it is by using splits in the spring. I build all my own equipment except frames. Each summer in July I add a brood box of foundation above a queen excluder. By feeding them heavy, they will draw the comb out and fill it with syrup. In the fall I remove the queen excluder and allow the queen access to the top brood chamber. A good queen will fill both chambers with brood during the spring buildup. In the spring I put the queen and about 8 frames of brood in the bottom chamber and use the rest to start a new colony. This if a little slower than buying them all at once but you won't have so much worry about diseases from purchased bees. Also by going slower, I can let my market and abilities grow together and can stop grownig at whatever point I like. Frank Humphrey [log in to unmask]