Bees

[dangerous brian]

Hi been thinking of getting a Hive for a while now,i like Honey and bees are good for the enviroment,trouble is other than the fact they sting i know very little else about bees,does anyone on here keep bees and if so are they hard to look after,any tips or advice would bee appreciated thanks Brian all the way down in sunny cornwall.

[cousin jack]

Hi been thinking of getting a Hive for a while now,i like Honey and bees are good for the enviroment,trouble is other than the fact they sting i know very little else about bees,does anyone on here keep bees and if so are they hard to look after,any tips or advice would bee appreciated thanks Brian all the way down in sunny cornwall.

 

Bri, I think some strains of bee are worse than others for stinging. Best thing to do is find someone local to help get you going. I've got an old boy local to me who has even made me a hive, well the brood chamber and lid, and keeps encouraging me to start up, but I have enough to do with me 'osses, give it a go boy!

[agg221]

I used to keep bees, until I discovered I suffered from anaphalactic shock (never got stung by my own bees though!) There are an increasing number of diseases around, which means a regular care regime. You also want a known queen with known tendencies - get one with a swarm and it's pot luck. The queen passes her tendencies on to all her worker bees, so it controls whether the hive is aggressive, or whether the bees follow you down the garden after you've been working with them. Starting with a swarm and then buying a replacement queen is the common low cost route (buying the whole colony is very expensive).

 

I would say the best bet is to track down your local branch of the British Bee-Keeping Association as they're likely to have an apiary and at this time of year it's where the meetings will be. It gives you a good way to see what they do, how much effort is involved and whether you like it. Certainly the one near me was very hands-on for visitors if they wanted it. It's ultimately your best route to a swarm-derived colony too, when everyone has as many as they want, and they may have a selection of books to borrow.

 

The kit can be expensive. The hives themselves come in various standard sizes - they vary in likely yield, how heavy the boxes are when full and how vigorous the colony needs to be to sustain it. If you're handy with woodwork and have a router, making your own is straightforward - see if you can get some cedar for the boxes and spruce for the frames, then buy the wax foundation that the bees draw out into cells for storing honey or breeding young. You will also need a smoker and overalls/protective gear. If you get a yield, you will need to extract the honey. Again, worth seeing if the local club hires out an extractor as it's an expensive, bulky thing to have sitting around for one or two outings a year.

 

One thing, get two hives rather than one. It's easy to split them then and keep continuity if one colony gets wiped out.

 

Alec

[pward]

i have a hive in a hedge if u want it hehehehe there angry bees tho

[Johny Walker]

we need more bees, good on that man:thumbup1: