Research, Research, Research!
I'm not the kind that likes to jump into something with my eyes closed, so I started by asking my brother what literature was best to read about beekeeping; specifically what I needed to learn before I got started. He recommended a few books:
1. "The Beekeepers Handbook, 4th Edition", by Diana Sammataro and Alphone Avitabile
2. "First Lessons in Beekeeping", by Keith S. Delaplane
I ordered them and started reading. I also started perusing catalogs from as many suppliers as I could get my hands on (Dadant, Mann-Lake, Brushy Mountain, Better Bee, Kelley Beekeeping, etc).
My favorite of the two books was Sammataro & Avitabile's "The Beekeepers Handbook", so if you have to pick one, I'd chose that one. It provided most of the information I felt I needed to know to get started.
I also read blogs (which eventually motivate me to start this one), watched YouTube videos, and read online articles. But honestly, ""The Beekeepers Handbook" and talking to my brother were probably the best and most frequently used resources for information for me.
So in the summer of 2013, I went to visit my brother out of state, and among the fun things that came out of that trip was the fact that he and his wife had started keeping bees.
My dad kept bees when we were growing up until the neighbors got a pool, and Dad "had" to move the bees to a friend's property in St. David. I think the distance made hive visits and maintenance more difficult, or perhaps the "out of sight, out of mind" principle took effect. Whatever the reason, Dad didn't keep the bees too long. Back to my brother... so I was intrigued with his new hobby and mentioned that I might like to get into beekeeping. My wife was probably thinking, "Oh great, here goes another expensive hobby!" After getting back to Tucson, I got busy with life and made no movement into beekeeping until We returned to visit my brother the following October. At that point, I got infected! Before getting back to Tucson, I searched the Tucson library for beekeeping books and was disappointed by the lack of available literature. So I asked my brother which books and reference material was best, and then I ordered just about EVERY catalog that bee suppliers would send me.
My wife said that after returning from visiting my brother last time, my interest had faded quickly, so she told me, "You're not allowed to get bees until you've been away from your brother for at least a month, and you still think it's a good idea and something you're interested in." Wise counsel indeed.
That was October 2013... it's now February of 2015 and I'm still infected!
