The first sting!

[Plot17B]

Hello,
Well, we're new to our lottie and were chatting to the treasurer when he mentioned about getting a hive on his orchard plot and asked if we would be interested in helping. That was a few weeks ago, and having always been tempted to keep bees, said yes.
Well they've arrived tonight by Ford Fiesta (I think, it was v dark at 10pm and the make of car wasn't forefront of my mind)...with two fully suited minders. So whilst we held torches, they transferred the swarming bees in their old box into the new hive.
Mind you, that lasted about 3 mins after which, despite staying at a distance, both Ken and myself ended up running up and down the allotment path stripping clothes off and dodging slightly miffed and unsettled bees.
Stings: I got 1, Ken 3. We got lots to learn methinks.
But they are in their new home and looks like I'll be doing a course shortly with Ken and help out with his hive.

Wish us luck and expect pleas for advise over the coming months!!
P17B

p.s. I've got to dig the pond on our plot too sometime this year to get the frogs up and running. Any ideas where you can get cheap butyl liner from? Cheers

[crichmond]

Looking at getting some myself, I read that you eventually get used to the stingsso they dont go all red and itchy, apparently they stil hurt for a couple of minutes though.
I got some pdf books on beekeeping if you fancy a read click the link below.
Index of /bees

[Tam]

Pond Liners Direct Ltd - Specialists in Liners, Pumps and Filters

I used this firm in the past and found them very good. I don't know where they would rank in the price stakes, although at the time I thought the price reasonable.

[Plot17B]

Hi,
Thanks for the links Crichmond - the bee stuff looks great so i'm going to print that out (at work!). I'll pass the link to Ken too if you don't mind. :-) Many thanks.
And Cheers Tam for the liner info. I've just got to decide which bed to sink the pond into so I'll order my stuff shortly.
Xlent stuff. Cheers!
P17B

[janeyo]

Lovely, I asked OH only yesterday if we oculd think of getting some bees to which he replied 'haven't we got enough to do?' lol.

I guess it was a good time to find out if you were allergic to the stings!

janeyo

[Headfry]

Plot17B Welcome to the vine, great to have you with us!

Bee stings....the sting will be left in your skin, don't pinch it in order to pull it out you should scrape it out, from skin outwards. If you squeeze it, the venom sack will pump more of the 'stingy' stuff into you. If you can remove the sting as quickly as possible that is better, again less time for stingy stuff to get into you.
When a bees stings, small amount of pheromone is released, this lets the other bees know to 'sting here please' great! so that is why you sometimes get multiple stings.....I know, been there- done that- got the swelling!
Great news about having bees! it makes me very happy to hear of new bee keepers.
What type of hive have you....have you had bees before? WOW- really is great news!

Janeyo, all in good time and I am sure your time will come.
Bee keepers are busy in the summer months, stopping swarms, checking bee health, collecting honey...I guess about an hour a week in summer per hive, depending how big the hive is. Takes me about 2 though, as I just love watching the girls go about their lives. Think I would crawl in and sit a while if I only could :-)
In the winter there is little to do really, just checking that the hive is secure.
Trouble is that bees and veg growing are all busy at the same time.
I work full time. have two and a half plots, bees, and a profound love of sailing and water sports...and.....
Yes , Mr HF said exact same thing......tee hee....
all seems to be working out ok so far, fingers crossed. Have not yet dug the boat and sailed the plot!!!

[Plot17B]

Hi Headfry!
That's really useful to know...I'm sure some of the sting stayed in me as four days on, it's still swollen (not sore but red and raised). I'll be more careful next time. :-)

Most people on the allotment site are pleased about the bees...only one person has a problem so far. And I've just bee promised some bee keeping equipment from a friend who gave up a few years ago so I'm almost all set for the course on Saturday! Should be interesting. Fingers crossed goes well. I'll keep you informed. :-)

Thanks for everyone's help and support too!
P17B

[Headfry]

Hi Plot17B, great news about your equipment! What type of hive have you?
You can get something called a 'glass quilt' it replaces the wooden 'crown board' (the inner roof of the hive that covers the bees working area)
I find it great as you can take the outer roof of the hive and actually see the bees and what they are up to before opening them up to the world (tend to get a little airborne when you do this) Its great for the novice (me) as you can see what you are up against, just few bees or lots of bees! some people are worried when they first lift the wooden crown boards that thousands of bees will rush at them!
When I come to lift the glass quilt I still puff just a little smoke under a lifted edge, just to move on any bees and to let them know that I am there.
If there are very few bees, I don't smoke them, It cant be nice for them, all that smoke. poor girls, bad enough me opening up their home!
Also,
Its great for showing people in the hive without disturbing the bees to much, When my bees are quiet, I have shown so many people my girls like this, most people are completely drawn in and forget that they have no gear on.... me included, I seem to end up watching and then thinking, oh that looks interesting I will just lift the board and have a look at a frame....ouch! stung again should have put some gear on or better still, remembered that I was not wearing any in the first place..... ho hum! lecture from Mr HF almost inevitable

sorry for rambling on...again!

[Plot17B]

Hi there Headfry, Tried to post picture on here yesterday but the forum servers seemed to be down. The hive is ....erm...a simple box type hive on breeze blocks with a newly housed swarm of bees. Ahem. I'm really showing my dumbness arent I! I've no idea the hive design name nor the variety of bee we have. I've been doing some reading from the docs forwarded earlier in this thread by Crichmond, with the big doc being very useful indeed. But the course is this afternoon so I'm hoping to glean facts and technical details from the expert keepers then.

So thought I'd take a snap on Thursday night and post it up but it has taken me this long to get on the system.

Thanks for the notes on the glass quilt too. I'll mention it to Ken and see what he says - it does make lots of sense indeed!

hive image:

methinks I've got lots of stings to come and things to learn. Going to fun!
P17B

[peanut]

How exciting! The hive looks fab!

I don't have Bees, due to having 2 mad dogs that would just cause havok, but I love reading all your Bee threads

[crichmond]

See through quilts here
https://secure.thorne.co.uk/cgi-bin/...R_ID=805922127

[bluemoon]

I'd love bees. Not sure how popular they'd be on our lotties though. I might look into it, all these bee threads are making me quite jealous.

[Plot17B]

Hi,
Well we are back from the bee keeping session in middle of rural Warwickshire. It was really great and they got all the novices to examine frames, showed us what/why/how to inspect and we found evidence of varroa mites on the bees and then isolated one of the little chappies. So useful to actually see one in real life.
Identified the queen (not marked) and watched new workers emerge from their cells after eating through the cap. Saw the pollen and honey in the cells and the different types of cells - queen, drones, worker brood cells.
And so useful to stand in middle of the hives, surrounding by the bees and really get a feel for the safety and lack of risk. I've never been a runner when wasps/bees appear but had a hint of nervousness for the whole hive buzzing around me. But standing there in the correct gear and watching the hives owner in just a veil (bare arms and a top in which the bees could crawl upwards) and handling with confidence did dispel those nerves.
Fantastic. I've just got to get the veil and gloves from a friend then we can inspect our hive ourselves properly.
Now understand what Headfry was asking about "what type of hive" we have. I am assuming it is a national standard but will ask Chris (who brought the swarm over for us) if it is a modified standard or not. :-)

All good stuff and next meeting is a month away. Def find a local group if you're wanting to try things out. Great way to ask advice and meet fellow keepers. Such a friendly bunch!! And they provide cake afterwards. Bonus. :-)
Cheers and spk ltr!
P17B

[Claire72]

would wild bees occupy an empty hive? Is it necessary to 'buy' bees?

[Plot17B]

Oh, and Ian had glass quilts on his hives so we've seen the value of them too. Cheers for the link Crichmond. :-) We are thinking of putting one in to help us inspect.
There really is so much to learn here........