Apiary Site Secured.

[Everbeezer]

I've just had word from my Brother that I can use his allotment to place a few hives as needed. He had to OK it with the parish council first but they have given him the green light. This will be my first apiary site being a beginner. I have the equipment ready. Just need the bees.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Great news!

It's very exciting starting out.
When do you get the nuc?

Got a mentor yet?

Enjoy it. The first year can be the best!

Dusty

 

[Everbeezer]

I don't have a nuc on order or have a mentor as yet. I wanted to make sure I had secured a site before getting any bees. I have recently made contact with the East Lancs BA and will be going along to the hive openings this coming Sunday for some hands on experience. I do have a number of bait hives ready to put out and about and will be making enquiries with members of the ELBA about purchasing bees.

 

[Galaxy55]

AS Dusty says - enjoy it - and best of luck with your bee keeping - think carefully about the support you are going to need.

 

[taurus]

Why not post in the 'Mentor wanted' section on here. I asked for help and someone has very kindly offered to support me. I am hoping to get bees through them in the not too distant future - which has the advantage that my mentor knows the bees I'm handling.

 

[JC47]

I am also a new Beek and keep my hive on an Allotment site. To avoid any annoyance to other plot holders, and thus being forced to remove my bees, I have erected a screen of windbreak netting 2m. high to ensure that my bees fly above head height. This works very well and recently an hour long 'meeting' took place within 2m. of the Apiary without any problems.
Good luck with your Bees.

 

[Vortex]

Strangely the parish council for my allotment won't allow bees despite their environmental sustainability policy.
One thing of note .. as it's a public site you should have public liability insurance .. if you're a BBKA member then you get this as part of your membership.. if not I suggest you find a policy .. otherwise the parish council is liable if anyone gets stung and has an adverse reaction .. a situation they may not appreciate (in all senses of the word).

 

[Everbeezer]

Thank you for all your comments and advice. With regards insurance, I am this weekend handing In my application form and fee to the East Lancs BA and as Vortex mentioned will be covered by that membership as far as I know.

 

[Worldsend]

Our local authority permit bees on council allotments as long as you are a member of the local bka and have kept bees for at least two years

They took this decision due to problems in years gone past

 

[alldigging]

Our local authority permit bees on council allotments as long as you are a member of the local bka and have kept bees for at least two years

They took this decision due to problems in years gone past

So people have to keep bees elsewhere for the first two years?

we negotiated in our lease to allow us to keep bees: They wanted us to have basic certificate but that would mean future beekeepers would have to keep bees elsewhere rather than having direct mentor support on site. So they agreed that without the basic people have to have a mentor and be working towards it.

I'd got in touch with someone from York who said they were told not more than a 1/3 of beekeepers in their area had the basic so they were asking a higher standard than the general beekeeping population and so didn't insist on it.

I did ask the BBKA what % of members have the basic but haven't been given any stats.

I think there should be support for beekeeping for those who need it. The mentoring side is much talked about on here but I can find very little advice about it.

I've created a training inspection sheet to help people through their first season of inspections (with mentor support) so they can get an idea of what they need to be looking for. I'll hopefully have some feedback on it when we get some bees for our association hive.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When you're up and running get a stock of 8oz jars in - if you have a harvest, a little gift to each allotment holder will go a long way.

 

[Everbeezer]

Tomorrow morning I am going to the ELBA hive opening and will be asking about a mentor while I am there. In the afternoon I am going to my Brothers allotment to work out where I can place any hives that I wish to set up in the near future.

As I have said I have a few bait hives ready to go and will be looking to place them out and about soon. I have a new national poly hive ready to go and also a double brood nuc. The nuc is made up of two five frame national brood boxes that I purchased flat packed. I then made an open mesh floor with slide out varroa board. I also made a telescopic roof they allows a four pint feeder to be placed over the nuc. I covered this with some 1mm aluminium sheet my Son got from work.

I have also made a Warre x Topbar hive. This in length is the same as four warre boxes and holds 32 bars as set out in a Warre box. I have made a quilt to fit the full length and also a Warre type roof. It has three entrance holes, mesh bottom and underneath has four separate slide out varroa boards. The idea being it can be used with a solid floor, boards in, or as an open floor hive with all or just a few sections open.

 

[Everbeezer]

Excellent couple of hours at the ELBA hive opening this morning. There was a demo first using a spare hive and then a full hive opening of both hives that are sited there. The first was doing very well but the second unfortunately was in a poor state with suspected nosema.

I have also been up to the site that is to be my new apiary. After speaking to one of the allotment owners I found out that there are two beekeepers already on the allotment site so I will be looking to introduce myself to them both in the near future.