Author Topic: I want bees! (Read 16438 times)

emmy1978 · « **on:** January 15, 2007, 11:05:32 »

Although I am brand new to lottie life and my lottie needs lots of work to even have one little bed this year, I have found out we are allowed bees on our site. I would really love this as my grandparents neighbours kept bees and their honey was just superb. Does anyone have any experience of beekeeping, what are thoughts on it and how would I go about getting them (lie in wait by flowers and beenap them)
I saw Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall programme where beeman ( official title) ???caught him a swarm and delivered them, is this the usual way? Ideas on cost etc. Thanks!! :)

triffid · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2007, 11:14:29 »

Hi emmy,

Yes, there's a few of us beekeepers on A4A, as you might have guessed. ;D

I looked up your local association of beekeepers on the BBKA website: there's one in Bournemouth.

BOURNEMOUTH & DISTRICT
Mrs Angela Flint, Flat 18 Portadene, 6 Portarlington Road, Bournemouth, BH4 8BT 01202-469310

If they're anything like our lot, they'll running courses for beginners. Like many associations, we do our beginners' course at the start of the season (Feb/March) so that by the time everyone's finished, it's mild enough to bring them to the association apiary to look at some real bees in action.

Re getting your own bees. Your local association may do what ours does: collect swarms as a public service (many BKAs work with their local councils) and then pass them on to beginner beekeepers. That's the way most peeps start.

Beware, though: bees are addictive.
And you probably wouldn't really want them on a lottie plot which you're cultivating (you'll end up disturbing each other ;))
So you might need to sign up for another plot, or see if you can organise a little place for a couple of hives in some out-of-the-way corner of your site.

emmy1978 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2007, 11:21:59 »

Excellent, thanks. Wouldn't consider getting for good few years but you know how we all love to plan and dream...! will see about signing up for the course though, just out of interest and to see if it's definately for me. Love to see bees on my diddy patio, think they are amazing. Hate wasps though-evil.

triffid · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2007, 11:29:02 »

Probably best to get the lottie straightened out before you take on another new project. But if a course is running, why not trot along? Ours costs something like £35-£40.

Now you have an allotment, you'll probably revise your view of wasps a bit. They're actually very useful predators. All through spring and summer they clean up loads of veg-munching bugs. So it's a good thing to try to live and let live if you can. :)

(BTW, I'm talking about wasps on the lottie/ around the garden, not about sharing your home with a nest!)

emmy1978 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2007, 12:07:24 »

I love all natures beasties really! :)

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2007, 17:26:56 »

It's the wrong time of year to get bees, but the right time to start getting ready. If you're reasonably quick you can get a hive cheap in Thornes' winter sale at https://secure.thorne.co.uk/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/millhouse/thorne/shop/shania . Otherwise you may be able to get one second hand from the local Association if you're lucky. There are probably meetings to go to at this time of year, and do get reading.

triffid · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2007, 20:20:33 »

Good point about the reading, Robert...

If you want something fascinating and bee-related but which won't canter right over what you'll learn on a beginner's bee course, I can heartily recommend Hattie Eliss's "Sweetness and Light".
This wonderful book was written for general readers rather than experts, but has lots of fascinating stuff for experienced beekeepers too.

And at least it'll give you a change from the allotment books you're probably digging through. ;)

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2007, 21:01:02 »

The big problem to be aware of is varroa mites, which spread viruses that kill bees. They're becoming immune to what has been the main treatment, so avoid using Apistan as a solution. There have been a lot of hive losses around Birmingham over the last year, probably due to the resistant mites, and the result was my bees got overwhelmed by mites from other peoples' collapsing hives. I've lost one colony, and I'm just hoping it's going to be the last!

emmy1978 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 16, 2007, 10:20:58 »

Thanks for all your advice peeps. This is not something I'm planning on doing in the very near future and will want my lottie well established before I consider adding bees to it!! It's just that I was reading through my contract and spotted bees are permitted and thought oooooh how good would that be! Sounds a lot more complicated than I first thought but I love to plot and plan so I will check out running of courses and the sweetness and light book.
Thanks again :-*

bombus · « **Reply #9 on:** January 16, 2007, 19:51:00 »

Hi Emmy,you could have a day at the Lincoln District bka auction of live Bees and equipment on March 31st. at the County Showground,Scampton,Lincoln.
Bees and the Hive they are in made up to £120 last year, with people coming from all over the country to buy. Everything you could need to set up in Beekeeping can be bought there, and at a fraction of the cost of new.Most years you can buy a National Hive for £30 or less as an example. It's not a bad idea to set off with some reasonably priced second hand stuff untill your sure you and Bees get along with each other!
It might also be prudent to ask your fellow Allotment holders views regarding you keeping Bees nearby as a few stings can soon upset the Applecart. ;)

flossie · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2007, 21:35:04 »

Thanks for the info B - I would love some bees. Dad used to keep them when we were children, I've been saying that I WILL get some but have not got around to it yet. If I pluck up courage and go - have never bought anything at an auction before - I will need some advice on transporting them

thanks again :)

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #11 on:** January 17, 2007, 08:52:48 »

You'll need a closed up hive or nuc box (depending on the size of the colony) with lots of ventilation. The procedure is very well known, so if you get involved with the local Association they'll be able to advise.

flossie · « **Reply #12 on:** January 17, 2007, 19:52:12 »

Thanks - I will let you know if I get organised to get myself there and have the courage to buy some :o

triffid · « **Reply #13 on:** January 17, 2007, 20:20:41 »

Flossie, as Robert says, varroa has had a huge effect on the way beekeepers have to work. Your local beekeepers' association is the best place to start -- even if you know loads about beekeeping because of your dad. Things have got so much more difficult in the past 10 years, since varroa mites were first brought here -- and continue to do so. :(

One problem with buying bees at an auction is that you might inadvertently buy a colony with varroa that's resistant to pyrethroid treatments (sometihng like the beekeepers' version of MRSA) -- and move resistant mites into an area of the country that hasn't got them.

Your local association will almost certainly be able to set you up with a swarm later on, or recommend good people to buy bees from if you want to get an early start this season.

You can find your nearest bunch of beekeepers here -- it's a nice time of year to make contact, too, as no one will be frantically dealing with bees/honey etc :)

http://www.bbka.org.uk/members.php

flossie · « **Reply #14 on:** January 17, 2007, 20:22:34 »

thanks for that :)

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #15 on:** January 17, 2007, 21:04:09 »

Resistant mites aren't necessarily a problem. They're only resistant to one type of treatment, fluvalinate (a synthetic pyrethroid), which is the active ingredient in Apistan and Bayvarol. Don't use them; use Apiguard, which is thymol-based, or oxalic acid.

triffid · « **Reply #16 on:** January 17, 2007, 21:28:23 »

Sooner or later, all beekeepers in mainland Britain will have to live with pyrethroid resistance. :(

Meanwhile, beekeepers who live in areas still free of pyrethroid resistant mites would not thank anyone for moving colonies with resistant mites into their area. Particularly since many have been reporting problems regarding the efficacy of Apiguard as a treatment, and that oxalic acid is a product that isn't authorised in the UK for use as a veterinary medicine.

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2007, 21:36:46 »

Apiguard works fine as long as you use it properly (I wouldn't recommend anyone to treat 'by rote' as this is how people get caught off guard by resistance). Oxalic is widely used and well-understood; it shouldn't be dismissed because there's nobody to pay the considerable cost of getting it licensed. That approach is a dead end because you end up with nothing acceptable except Apistan, which no longer works across large areas of the country.

triffid · « **Reply #18 on:** January 17, 2007, 22:49:08 »

Robert, I'm not quarrelling -- we're on the same side ;D

My main points are:
1. Beekeeping is now more complex than it was in those lovely pre-varroa years, so it's a good idea for someone starting out to enlist the help and support of their local beekeeping association.
2. It's not a good idea (for all sorts of reasons) to move untested bees into a new area. That's not me on a soap-box -- it's the current advice from the Bee Unit at the Central Science Lab.
http://beebase.csl.gov.uk/public/BeeDiseases/resistanceAdvice.cfm

Incidentally, I'm wholeheartedly in favour of using oxalic acid. However, the fact that it's not authorised in the UK as a bee medicine (and therefore isn't legal to use as one here) is still likely to cause complications and bureaucratic grief. Goodness knows, we have enough to think about already regarding food and labelling laws, cosmetic certification and trading standards! ::)

The Apiguard problems were mentioned in this month's Beecraft. I have no personal experience of them. Your point about not treating 'by rote' is exactly the sort of reason why new beekeepers are so much better off with the support of experienced beekeepers rather than going it alone.

On a much more cheerful topic, did you see this amazing bit of bee magic? An exhibit of filled honeycomb shown at the National Honey Show!

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #19 on:** January 18, 2007, 07:59:35 »

I've heard about a lot of problems with Apiguard, and they seem to boil down to misuse. The thymol evaporates, so the process is temperature-dependent to some degree; the solution is to use it in either May or September, which gives you a period when it should be neither too cold to vaporise it nor so hot that it all vaporises at once and drives the bees out of the hive.

Any patience I ever had wirth 'rote' treatments evaporated this year. A lot of hives have been lost locally (the Association lost its entire apiary) and I strongly suspect that this was down to resistance, which wasn't far away last year. My hives got flooded with mites as a result, I lost one, and I'm seriously worried about the rest.

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Author Topic: I want bees! (Read 16438 times)