2nd day of beekeeping.

[roofman]

One of my young lads wanted to work overtime this sat morning and during today's work he thought he would be smart and punch a bumble bee onto the floor and stamped on it..the skinny little feral rat got a size 15 right up his crack and lost his little earner sat morning because i hate people who kill things for no reason he dose,nt know me yet it seems

 

[Slowcoach]

That looks pretty grim. There are a couple of worse places you could have been stung but maybe would of been fine if you could take away the pain and leave the swelling.
Also on the downside you now have one less bee.

 

[duncans]

wow that looks very sore that does mate

 

[maz0]

1st lesson learnt. Always wear suit near the hive...

View attachment 232756

Ouchy! honestly I don’t go near them without my suit and gloves on. Take no notice of these American or Australian folk on youtube who are so experienced they dont need a veil or gloves. There was a guy on one of the bee forums who lost his son to anaphylaxis after his bees stung him, so take it seriously.

Enjoy the hobby its great fun. I’m dropping my brothers first hive off to him tomorrow.

On my 3rd year now with 5 hives, last year had a great little crop of honey that friends and family loved.

 

[brightspark]

I went with my brother one year to take a hive up the moors for a week on the heather . covered the entrance up put a strap round the hive and was carrying it to the estate car when his wife said there thousands of them underneath all clinging together. jeesus how we never got stung I don't know we put the hive back then pulled the rag away . they wernt to best pleased but they settled down. if they had started stinging our hands we would have just had to grit our teeth and take it he had em swarm one day the neighbours were crapping themselves out of ignorance they don't sting when swarming only if u swat at them

 

[duncans]

I went with my brother one year to take a hive up the moors for a week on the heather . covered the entrance up put a strap round the hive and was carrying it to the estate car when his wife said there thousands of them underneath all clinging together. jeesus how we never got stung I don't know we put the hive back then pulled the rag away . they wernt to best pleased but they settled down. if they had started stinging our hands we would have just had to grit our teeth and take it he had em swarm one day the neighbours were crapping themselves out of ignorance they don't sting when swarming only if u swat at them

can you die from loads of stings im not sure i can see with the lad in the picture and thats just one

 

[Wallace]

I was fixing a pump hose connection on a building site outside the church at Shepperton Studios on a nice sunny day with a crowd around me watching when they all scattered screaming and shouting. A bumble bee was having a look about the orange painted fitting and my tabard, I waved my hand near it and off it went along with the bystanders. Turned out they thought it was a wasp and one of their colleagues had been stung and died before the Paramedics could get there.

 

[Ali]

See the dog knows to keep his / her distance. Good for you taking up the hobby, I did a course last year but decided I need to wait a few years and learn a bit more.

 

[Eric the chicken]

Some years ago I was asked to collect a swarm from a house in a nearby village. When I arrived the swarm was a classic rugby ball shape about eight feet off the ground in an apple tree. I borrowed a set of steps from the householder and climbed up with a large plastic box, intending to pull the small branch on which the swarm was into the box. Plan was then to cut the branch with secateurs drop the swarm into the box, lid on and home. Unfortunately at the last moment I let the branch slip and most of the swarm went sky wards, the rest dropped in the box. Hoping that the queen was in the box I left the box on the ground under the tree and went off home for reinforcements, in the shape of the other half.

When we returned all the bees had clustered around one corner of the box half and half out. Obviously we had the queen but couldn't put the lid on. We carefully carried the box to the car kept our bee suits on and drove about six miles home though Bedford. This was about six pm on a Sunday evening. The bees remained dutifully in place on the box 'til we arrived home.

I hived the bees that evening.

 

[mike os]

another unknown hobby on the forum then... would love to give it a go.

i think my place would be OK,

how much work are they in reality?

 

[Gareth0123]

My best friend, my adopted daughter and I currently own 52 National Hives and 4 Long hives between us; with two empty long hives ready to go.

Several of our nationals also have a custom made second super on them that I designed to accept 16 X inverted kilner drinking jars and two additional production frames: one on each side of the super. Here is a cad animation of the Jar super assembly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnqXs2EIcSM

4 years ago we built a custom hive from reclaimed pallet timber as a gift to a local retiring priest and good friend.
This was a double length long hive containing 3 sections separated into two colonies, one at either end with a central storage area for smoker, tools and spare frames, mouse guards, crown board, queen excluders, feeders, etc. However, we designed and built this custom long hive to accept National supers at either end directly above the colonies and supplied it with two reclaimed pallet timber supers and two reclaimed pallet timber Jar supers. We finished the exterior of this hive in a Tudor style using a blend of raw linseed oil, beeswax and soot for the exterior frames, and Walnut oil, beeswax and (whitewash lime) for the exterior panels.

 

[Eric the chicken]

another unknown hobby on the forum then... would love to give it a go.

i think my place would be OK,

how much work are they in reality?

People in London keep bees on roof tops and garages. You don't need much space at all. The biggest problem may be neighbours, some people are scared stiff of bees. If they have a sensitivity to stings this is understandable.

As to work involved, actually not a lot. If you're really interested contact your local beekeeping association. They will be only to keen to give you the facts. They will probably have an apiary where you can see experienced bee keepers working the bees.

 

[visor_down]

Don't know if it's just my area but there seems to be noticeably less bees around this year? They usually go mad for one particular concha plant but very little activity on it this year.

 

[Al Strachan]

Don't know if it's just my area but there seems to be noticeably less bees around this year? They usually go mad for one particular concha plant but very little activity on it this year.

i've got a couple of hives, and i lost one this year due i think due to the extended cold spell. Its been unusually cold for weeks on end this year, rather than mixed hot/cold that we usually get and i think its had an adverse effect on the bees.

 

[bigegg]

Hats off to you, allways wanted to do this.

That was the initial problem.
Should be "hats on".

 

[mike os]

People in London keep bees on roof tops and garages. You don't need much space at all. The biggest problem may be neighbours, some people are scared stiff of bees. If they have a sensitivity to stings this is understandable.

As to work involved, actually not a lot. If you're really interested contact your local beekeeping association. They will be only to keen to give you the facts. They will probably have an apiary where you can see experienced bee keepers working the bees.

meant to do a course this year with local club... guess what?

 

[maz0]

i've got a couple of hives, and i lost one this year due i think due to the extended cold spell. Its been unusually cold for weeks on end this year, rather than mixed hot/cold that we usually get and i think its had an adverse effect on the bees.

Poly or wooden hives? Poly hives work great with our northern climate, haven't lost a hive over winter yet. Murray McGregor who is the the UK's biggest honey farmer, has several thousand hives all over Scotland, reckons he gets about 25% winter losses with poly compared to his wooden ones as well as stronger spring growth from the hives. I only use poly myself, which is a shame because it removes the DIY aspect but far easier/cheaper than dealing with dead hives every spring.

 

[fizzy]

I am petrified of them - run a mile.
Mate's dad was a proper old school bee keeper. Council used to send for him to deal with swarms. He just used to turn up with a stick and a cardboard box. No suit! He was in his 70s and they never seemed to sting him - or he was just immune

 

[DAPPH]

Hi. I have done the course and member of local club - my bees came from there apairy.

I have been okay with stings. Just think eye lid was pushing the limits.

I am building my 2nd hive today.

The swelling may well move down your neck and face with you ending up looking quite amusing . A hot water wrung out folded up towel over the area as hot as you can bear it helps to neutralise the venom .
I used to be a commercial keeper with 100 plus summer hives and dozens of neuc boxes .

Tip
Get everything in your apiary standardised so things can be cleaned , sterilised and put on any hive ..it saves a lot of time & money in the long run .

You are coming up to what is known as the June gap , where it gets so hot the plants stop producing nectar and being fertilized start to turn to seed . You could do worse than make some trays as crown board feeder trays 3 inches deep and have a 19 mm centre hole in a 40 x 40 block of clean pine screwed &glued to the centre of the tray . Fill them with a watering can of 1:1 water & sugar as a syrup . That way you will be able to help the bees make a lot of honey and give you enough so you can let them fill the brood box & one complete super for their over wintering needs .
Even then stop taking the honey off in the first week of August & check they are storing for winter .

 

[Al Strachan]

Poly or wooden hives? Poly hives work great with our northern climate, haven't lost a hive over winter yet. Murray McGregor who is the the UK's biggest honey farmer, has several thousand hives all over Scotland, reckons he gets about 25% winter losses with poly compared to his wooden ones as well as stronger spring growth from the hives. I only use poly myself, which is a shame because it removes the DIY aspect but far easier/cheaper than dealing with dead hives every spring.

I have a national and a WBS both wooden. surprisingly the WBS hive didnt make it but the national was fine. I'm pretty new to it, but i think it was my fault, the WBS should have had a crown board on top, and also the top bee escape blocked off to minimise draught. I also left the queen excluder in which would have deprived them of feed higher up in the supers.

I'm sorting the WBS at the moment ready to split the national hive up if possible, so should be better this year (and lesson learnt).

Theres a lot to keeping bees!

fortunately i've never had to buy bees. first ones was a swarm, and the second hive is split from a swarm at the end of the garden last year.

interesting stats on the poly hives. Expensive and would never likely shell out that much on a hive when i have the gear to make/replicate.