[quote name='GBAstar']This sounds cool.
What type of investment did you have to make financially? I'm assuming besides the cost of bees and hives you needed gear as well? Does someone come to your residence and drop of a box of bees?
I have a friend whose grandfather had a small farm and they raised bees. If I remember correctly the honey tastes much different from what you would purchase in a store (similar to real maple syrup vs. store maple syrup). It was actually very sweet.
My parents have neighbors that raise bees on a very small scale.
Is it suggested to have a certain amount of land? I would imagine that raising bees in an urban setting from say a high rise balcony is probably a bad idea.[/QUOTE]
Investment was not crazy but I guess it depends on how into it you want to get. I picked up two hives for about $300, two colonies of bees for $300, am taking a beekeeping class for $300 and then random equipment like the suit and smoker, etc was probably another $100. You could always start with one hive, but they say two is better so you can compare the progress and see which one needs help.
I picked up the bees from a local beekeeper, but it was basically a cardboard box with 4 frames in it covered in bees and the queen and I just moved those frames into my hive.
Urban beekeeping is very possible and even on a balcony. Bees will fly in basically a 3 mile radius to find pollen so you shouldn't really have any problems, if you are interested. We have a little under an acre and a pretty good sized vegetable garden, plus the town arboretum is about a mile away, so I'm planning on having some happy bees and some kick ass veggies this year.