Next one day course Feb 25th 2012 – Two Places Available
Keeping honey bees is not simply a case of getting a hive, some bees and then leaving them to get on with it. Although honey bees are, and will remain, wild creatures, leaving them unmanaged will almost certainly mean the colony will die out within two years because of a mite now endemic in the UK bee population or starvation in our unpredictable climate or other disease. It is generally accepted that most wild bee colonies have died out in recent years. Without checking the health of your bees regularly and taking action other pests and diseases with the potential to destroy not just your own bees but also other bees in the area as a result of other local bees robbing from your weakened colony and carrying the problems back to their own nests. Effective management also means controlling the swarming behaviour which, while a natural process, means your bee colony is weakened by the departure of bees. A swarm may be carrying pests or disease and can also take up home in the roof of a house, cavity of a wall or other inconvenient, as far as the property owner is concerned, location.
You should also be reasonably fit and be prepared to be available for the bees when they need you, which is at least once a week from April to September, and keen to learn and carry on learning for the remainder of your beekeeping life.
And yes, you will be stung, often.
But, if it is for you, there is a pleasure in beekeeping from working with these wild creatures, learning their behaviour and of course enjoying and selling your own honey. There is always something to be learned with beekeeping you will not learn it from one course, one book, or talking to one beekeeper.
If you wish to take this further read on.
To begin with, we suggest joining our Association using this Membership Form 2012. For only £15 a calendar year you can have access to the expertise of our members throughout the county. This year we are introducing local networks to put you touch with beekeepers near where you live. You can visit a more experienced beekeeper and help with their bees. Membership also includes everyone in the same household making it even better value. And if you do get your own bees, and some of our members have done this in their first year, the £15 also includes BDI insurance for up to three hives and third party and product liability insurance for your beekeeping activities.
We recommend attending a Beginners Course and reading a few books. A list of titles and brief reviews can be found on our Reading List document. A guide to the basic equipment you will need can be found in our Introduction To Keeping Bees document.
Your first purchase should be a beesuit, you do want to keep bees don’t you? Wellingtons, protect the ankles – tuck the trousers into the boot bees like to climb into dark spaces. A pair of beekeeping gloves – although washing up gloves with a cuff will do – completes the protective clothing.
