bees have just killed my chickens?

[Rosti]

Quite so. The mechanisms of swarm control, watching for changes in temperament after requeening and what to do about it plus an awareness of what is likely to be going on in the hive from observing at the hive entrance and to mood with the weather, flows, and other factors HAS to be better taught.

"At the hive entrance" Storch; is a good start though.

 

[louiseww]

Re - buying a full suit. I always wear a pair of thick white jeans with my jacket and ALWAYS wear another layer under the jacket as I got stung through the bee suit on my arms! I sometimes wonder why I do this..........please remind me! ha!

 

[louiseww]

What a terrible experience, poor chucks! Just goes to show how aggressive and nasty bees can be when the mood takes them!
I wonder if the wasps have got into the hives and cause havoc .....there seem to be a lot around as it is so warm and muggy! But what do I know as a novice? Don't suppose you dare go and look in the hive?

 

[kazmcc]

I know what you mean Rae, but there must be some way of stopping people with no experience just buying bees then getting way out of their depth.

 

[susbees]

Missed it completely, must have walked past there half a dozen times!

There. That's spoilt your day hasn't it.... ...?

 

[susbees]

"At the hive entrance" Storch; is a good start though.

I agree. As I've said before it would be good to discuss his observations and see which are fact, which guidance, and if any just don't hit the mark. Could get complicated .

 

[susbees]

Just goes to show how aggressive and nasty bees can be when the mood takes them!

Bees defend their home, most animals do in some form or other. And if someone blocks up their hive, from the sound of it almost totally front and bottom then that's what can happen. Pressure cooking comes to mind. A sad lesson to learn indeed.

 

[susbees]

I know what you mean Rae, but there must be some way of stopping people with no experience just buying bees then getting way out of their depth.

Courses vary hugely in quality. BKA apiaries are not in existence everywhere. Today I have weighed in to a "feisty bees make more honey and fight off predators better debate" (not here I might add)...the sentiment being that gentle bees are made by controlling man. Some things make me feisty .

You can "own" all manner of dangerous creatures without doing a course. It's the intelligence of the owner and amount of time and effort they are prepared to put into the learning curve that's a chunk of the issue...to read, observe, learn and listen.

 

[Rosti]

I agree with your post Susbees, the problem for beeks is that it is 'in vogue', what with the high profile decline and 'urban' design chic hives. Without blaming Omlet (who do after all offer a keeping course as part of their package) and the publicity about bee decline that they have ridden on the back of; I suspect there are plenty newly in beekeeping at the moment because they want to be seen as beekeeprs rather than putting the effort into being beekeepers (no stats to prove that at all by the way!).
However well structured or accessible the course, gaining education/knowledge has still got to be on a new beeks 'to do' list (and should be there throughout their keeping career). I am not sure that this is true of the 'Image' Beek as I would call them.

A few 'high profile' urban swarms / stinging incidents and we'll all be on the naughty step.

 

[BlidworthBees]

A few 'high profile' urban swarms / stinging incidents and we'll all be on the naughty step.

And with a knee jerk reaction "the appropriate national authority" will have bees covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060045_en_1#pb1-l1g1

Read and be afraid.

 

[rae]

I know what you mean Rae, but there must be some way of stopping people with no experience just buying bees then getting way out of their depth.

I think bees are probably pretty much self regulating - they require a considerable financial investment, and they can hurt you rather badly.

The "gotta do a course" mentality is pervading everything, and in most cases simply leads to a bunch of commercial outfits doing crap courses for big money. Thankfully beekeeping is still so amateur that we have a bunch of associations trying to do the right thing for free. Ours was fully booked for the year, so we simply bought every book on the subject, read them and started with a nuc. Combined with this place as a source of infomation, we're doing fine!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think bees are probably pretty much self regulating - they require a considerable financial investment, and they can hurt you rather badly.

The "gotta do a course" mentality is pervading everything, and in most cases simply leads to a bunch of commercial outfits doing crap courses for big money.

Tell me. My BKA course was inspiring and very useful, another course at a local college was worlds apart. It was obvious from the beginning that the tutors were inexperienced (in teaching at least) and had quirky ideas. Just a small example....when asked about artificial swarming we were told to look the methods up in a book as the tutors' own hives had never swarmed in the five years they had been keeping bees, and not to use apiguard as it was a nasty chemical.
I'm just glad I did the BKA one first.
My mentor and this forum have been by far the most helpful.

 

[keithgrimes]

I was lucky,I was on a fantastic course at the local ag. college, but I suppose they vary a lot. The best thing I ever did educationally was to join the local BKA and go along to the apiary every week and soak knowledge in from very experienced beekeepers. I don't think there's a substitute for actually doing it with someone looking over your shoulder.

 

[Poly Hive]

Correct, provided..................

You have the basics memorised so you can read the colony.

Also it pays massive dividends to find a beekeeper with more than 10 hives so you can see one after another and learn to find queens, or more to the point see the queen when she is in front of you. And also to see eggs which some never seem to get a grip of.

PH

 

[rae]

Also it pays massive dividends to find a beekeeper with more than 10 hives

Indeed. I don't think we learnt much last year as we just watched our Nucs grow. This year (artificial swarms, splits, merges, queen mating, finding unmarked queens, drone layers etc) has been somewhat more educating!

 

[Poly Hive]

*grins*

PH

 

[Erichalfbee]

Indeed. I don't think we learnt much last year as we just watched our Nucs grow. This year (artificial swarms, splits, merges, queen mating, finding unmarked queens, drone layers etc) has been somewhat more educating!

More grins

I started with a nuc at the end of May and I have done an AS, missed a really cunningly hidden queen cell and have caught my own swarm which is now housed in a nuc box being robbed after 10 days confinement because of rain so will the virgin queen get out to mate?...................phew.
It hasn't put me off but I feel like the world's worst beekeeper.

 

[Black Comb]

Yes 2nd year has taught me much more.

Now I need to learn more about managing the colonies (working the box) and have a stab at queen rearing.

 

[rae]

It hasn't put me off but I feel like the world's worst beekeeper.

I'll fight you for that accolade....but....doing an AS, then doing a split, then praying for 3 weeks, then opening up the box to find frame upon frame of brood and a thumping great queen in the middle of it all is very satisfying.

 

[joolsp]

More grins

I feel like the world's worst beekeeper.

I'll contest you for that...
Started with one hive this May (from nuc last year) and one way or another I've now captured my bees 7 times after a swarm (and had to wave one lot goodbye). On two occasions that was the same swarm taken twice after they poured out of where I put them first time. I now have 4 hives all from that original one. Hopefully unless I make any more blunders I can get back to 2 before the end of the season.