Bees.

[Orfy]

Any good topics on bees on the forum?

I have been offered a place to put an hive.

[p.penn]

Oooh lucky you!

Citrine used to post about bees.....I will see if I can find anything.

[p.penn]

Ta da. Bees here

[Orfy]

Thank you.

Any one else keep bees?

[Annie]

often thought it would be an interesting thing to do and felt quite encouraged after watching the horti channel topic on bumble bee lodges but still not got round to making a decision. Good luck if you go ahead with it Orfy

[Meredith]

Thank you.

Any one else keep bees?

We have been bee keepers for five years now. It's a fascinating hobby, not cheap to set yourself up with all the gear but we love it.

[Orfy]

I'm looking into it with a friend so wee can split some of the costs.
If I can find someone to generate a swarm of bees for me then I think I can do it within my budget.

[p.penn]

I looked into it a little at a country show recently - it was suggested that I joined a local beekeeping group as you get the opportunity to learn so much.

I actually think I might anyway at some time - it's only £25 per year and would be fascinating whether I get bees or not.

[Prepper]

Hi Orfy,

My brother and I keep bees, we have 25 dotted around our local borough.

To keep costs down you can build your own hives if you've got very basic carpentry skills. We make the outer 'shell' but do buy in the frames as they are not cost effective for us to make.

In the second year, if the colony is strong, we 'split' the hives.

This is basically taking some frames from the first hive containing brood cells, pollen etc and with some attendant worker bees and putting them in a new empty hive. The workers will realise they're queen-less and will raise some of the brood cells as queens. All being well a queen will emerge dominant over any others, become fertile and start laying eggs. Saves £150.00!

Another option with splitting a hive is to buy a queen in, this costs in the region of £20.00.

By splitting the hive in the second year it also means you diminish the risk of the colony swarming.

We're on the local swarm list and got 5 new colonies this year by going to collect them.

Suggest joining the local association. It can be a bit 'old school' but you meet the sort of people who share your interest. Most beekeepers keep a limited number of hives and even the best of them lose some through swarming. That's how we picked up 2 of ours as although they could catch them they didn't need them.

Hope this helps.

[Mo]

That post illustrates what was , to me, the problem of beekeeping.
There you are with your expensive hive (not a handy-woman), and just wanting a bit of honey.
You notice that they are producing queen cells so it's time to split the colony.

I didn't find a book that told you how to manage your bees WITHOUT an ever-increasing number of hives.

Or how to stop them swarming if the weather is bad. You need to look for, and remove, queen cells every 10 days but can't open the hive in the rain. If the queen cells hatch you lose most of the bees in a swarm.

It helps if you are less clumsy than I am too, or have more than one pair of hands. Working with a friend helps, but that doubles the problems of finding a time when you can examine the hives (and it's not raining).

I used to keep bees. After a colony found their way inside my veil I got a friend to help. When she moved away she took some hives with her and we sold the rest.

[Organised Chaos]

Been thinking about this for a while now, especially with the problems facing bee populations over here in recent times, it seems like it may be a good thing for the environment as well as for us.

Been chatting to one of our customers who kept bees for years and can't really see why not to do it, just need to manage everything properly.

Anyway, we're off to Sutton Bonington show next w/end, there's a local beekepers club who have a tent up there with a hive in, you can get suited up and get up close and personal, so taking the little lad in there to see how it goes and have a natter to the folks that run it...

[p.penn]

I got really carried away when I went to the bee tent at the South of England show this year and came back armed with loads of leaflets, deciding this was definitely going to happen! I really would like to keep bees, but, although they said I would have enough space, having given it more thought, I would worry about the neighbours getting stung.

[Steve the Gas]

Bees generally won't sting unless seriously provoked - 'cos they will die after stinging.

[Bridgets Mum]

Have you looked at the top rail bee hives? More natural, more sustainable, more beeswax. Er.. less honey. Less bees killed when investigating hive. Supposed to be the way forward for backyard bee keepers. I'm going to do it ..... one day.

[Citrine]

An old thread, but Im still around, and I still keep bees - up to over 20 hives now!!!

We have a complete mixture - our main hive type is Langstroth, but we also have 14x 12's, Top Bars and Nationals..along with a Beehaus and a WBC.

Its a great hobby, but swallows up time and money!

Good luck to those who have started beekeeping...this year is a fantastic year so far!