Beekeeping is an exciting and rewarding hobby, and Sacramento, CA is the perfect place to start. With its warm climate and abundance of blooming flowers, the city provides an ideal environment for bees to thrive. But when is the best time to begin a hive? The optimal time to start beekeeping in Sacramento is in the spring. At this point, existing hives will have used up all their food reserves and may need to be fed by the beekeeper.
But soon flowers will open for bees to gather food, and the bees will be able to flourish. To guarantee delivery of bees in March, it's best to place an order as early as December. The Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association has grown from about 30 members a decade ago to nearly 200 today, showing a growing interest in urban beekeeping. However, starting a hive in summer means that bees will have much less time to create offspring and gather resources before winter. When starting a hive, beekeepers should order packages or cores; sort and prepare hive equipment; check if the queen is present and laying eggs; and make sure the bees are there. The timely congestion of the nest when the bees consolidate their reserves in early autumn and the adaptation of the colony to the local climate are also important factors. Sacramento's warm climate and blooming flowers provide an ideal environment for bees to thrive.
To ensure success, beekeepers should order packages or cores; sort and prepare hive equipment; determine if the queen is present and laying eggs; make sure the bees are there; and consider timely congestion of the nest when the bees consolidate their reserves in early autumn and adaptation of the colony to the local climate. To guarantee shipping of bees in March, it's best to place an order as early as December.
