Beekeeping for beginners

[Birdie Wife]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread...

I was thinking of getting a hive and some bees. Does anyone out there have experience of beekeeping, recommend a book, know of anyone with some second-hand equipment in good order or just good advice, all would be appreciated.

I love honey (have also made mead ), I am a fair distance from the next nearest neighbour (about 1/4 mile) and there is a good supply of heather and gorse flowers out there. I also like the fact that they can look after themselves if/when I go on holiday

Thanks in anticipation!

[smallblueplanet]

This is not really helpful but I know there are lots of bee-keeping websites out there from when I went googling for info about bumblebees!

[Alice]

Hello Birdiewife, yes there is a lot of info on bee keeping and equipment on the web. I know this because last year a swarm of about 11,000 bees turned up in our garden and we had to call a bee keeper to come and deal with the situation which he did in a most expert manner. He said the situation was due to bad bee keeping - like someone had gone on holiday so not there to see that the bees were planning to swarm, and to retrieve the swarm. Maybe it's a point to check before deciding on the bees. Good luck with the project.

[NOG]

The Bee Keeping Year is May June July August......then not a lot happens till next May. So Summer holidays are out. Too start you will need 2 hives incase your queen dies...if she does you can take the one out of the other hive and hopefully they will think she has swarmed and start producing another. If you have only one hive and she dies it is unlikly that they will be able to produce a new queen intime.

Join you Local Bee Keeping Association first and go to the winter lectures and get your own bees early next year.

[Birdie Wife]

Hi NOG/sbp/Alice, thanks for the advice. I haven't investigated where my nearest Association would be, but I suspect it would be Inverness which is a two hour drive away, so I suspect I'd not be going that often!! I know of a couple of people up here who have hives, so I think my next step will be to contact them and find out what they do. I certainly wouldn't want to cause trouble to anyone else with errant swarms in the summer!

[NOG]

NO you have that bit wrong.....swarms are no trouble....its free bees for the first person there....Once they swarm off your land thay are nolonger YOUR bees they belong to who ever captures them. Why do you think Keepers come out for free to deal with them.

[Alice]

That's right Nog. The bee keeper who came and removed the bees that swarmed into our garden didn't charge us as he got a free swarm. However it was all a bit excitement making for us when they first turned up and I think bee keepers have to be resposible in their keeping. Do youkeep bees? I've been noticing the bumble bees all day . Never realised there were so many different kinds !

[Jaxom]

Under Roman Law the swarm remained the property of the keeper as long as he kept it in sight. Once out of sight the swarm was fair game for whoever got their hands on it.

[Shortie]

I let everyone know how bee-keeping goes. Getting a little bumble bee house for my dad for fathers day. He always said he'd keep bees one day

[Alice]

Thanks for that Jaxom. You sound a bit like my husband. There's nothing he doesn't know something about. Shortie, do keep us up to date with the bees. As I said I've got bumble bees of all varieties in my garden - white bottoms, yellow botoms, orange bottoms, orange stripes, black, yelow, enormous, small. Never realised there were so many different kinds. I've never found a bumble bee nest in my garden. I think they come from miles around. Now that I have time (retired) I'm on their case to find out what's going on. Good luck to your dad and his bees.

[NOG]

I have currently got a nest of Bumble bees in one of my compost bins...We get on well, it takes a lot to get them to sting you. and at the end of the year they will be gone. They are a bit like wasps they dont use the same next twice.

Its a bit late now but you could start to make a nest for them for next year.

The easiest way is to get a bird table with a roof an fill in the gap between the roof and feed table with bits of straw and twigs. With some luck someone will find it and you will have a nest.

[Alice]

Thanks for that NOG. I'l rig something up for next year just so that I can watch what goes on.

[NOG]

If you are not the DIY you can buy nest boxes for them but don't forget they are protected so you are stuck with them for the summer. But they will polonate the flowers for you. Have a look here for Ideas http://www.greengardener.co.uk/clearance.htm

[Shortie]

The easiest way is to get a bird table with a roof an fill in the gap between the roof and feed table with bits of straw and twigs. With some luck someone will find it and you will have a nest.

Oooo... I'll give that a go, if not for bees then any insects that want to take up residence. I have a rarely used bird table (I have cats and the birds would have to be pretty brave). I was going to throw it a couple of weeks ago but didn't. It's been saved.... Cheers

[Alice]

Thank you for the link Nog. I've got loads of bumble bees but I've never found a nest to see what they do. I was going to make one but I fancy the one with the transparent lid.