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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Todd Walker <mtwalker AT imageray.net>
  • To: <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Aspiring Beekeeper Looking for Advice on Starter Equipment
  • Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:36:15 -0500

John,

I have purchase equipment from both Dadant (http://www.dadant.com ) and Brushy Mountain ( http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/  ), which is a NC company. Their prices are comparable; however, there are a few benefits with Brushy Mountain. Their hive kits include screen bottom boards and both the bottom boards and hive tops come preassembled. Dadant kits have solid bottom boards and both the bottom boards and hive tops come unassembled. For buying larger quantities (e.g. cartons of five hives, supers, etc), Dadant can be cheaper.

Dadant offers several kits that make ordering easy. The two that I have ordered in the past are:

Brushy Mountain has a hive kit but not a honey super kit. In my experience the only real benefit to the kit is convenience. I later ended up buying a better veil, gloves, and smoker than what are included in the kit. In the long run it might have been cheaper if I had bought the components individually but at least now I have spare gear and stuff that my wife, etc could use.

My advice would be to wait until after the Equipment lecture to purchase any hive equipment. You may learn things that could influence your decision. If you still want somethings for your Christmas list, some recommendations would be:
A gift certificate to Brushy Mountain and/or Dadant
A larger smoker (the beginner kits only come with the small smoker)
Two of the classic bee reference books:

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you at the bee school.

~Todd

From: John Nicholson <jlnicholson AT gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 18:11:34 -0500
To: <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [ocba] Aspiring Beekeeper Looking for Advice on Starter Equipment

Greetings Beekeepers:

I am planning to begin bee school in January and was hoping to get some advice on what supplies I should plan to purchase to get started. I am sure we will be going over some of this during the bee school in January but I though some items may make good Christmas gifts. Specifically, I was looking for advice on whether to buy a starter kit as opposed to individual items? Any recommendations for online or local merchants?

Any advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.I look forward to joining your community in the coming months.

Many Thanks,

John Nicholson
Chapel Hill, NC
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