Biggest challenge for complete beginner

[FloatLikeAButterfly]

What would you say is the biggest challenge in setting up in beekeeping for a complete beginner?

 

[taurus]

Figuring out which experienced beekeeper's advice is going to work for you. Then realising the bees will not comply.

Seriously - you can do everything right and it will still go wrong - figuring that bit out is the hardest thing.

 

[madasafish]

What would you say is the biggest challenge in setting up in beekeeping for a complete beginner?

Sorting out the conflicting advice..and choosing a path which works - for you, the bees, and your location and microclimate..

 

[Gilberdyke John]

What would you say is the biggest challenge in setting up in beekeeping for a complete beginner?

Sifting through the "information" spouted by the instant experts and ignoring the tripe whilst adopting the accurate stuff.
Find someone competent to mentor you and learn from him/her not a committee of beekeeper with conflicting opinions. Spend the winter months with Ted Hooper book and get a grounding in truth.
This forum has a lot of knowledge which you can benefit from but again you need to sift what you read. You'll soon catch on to who speaks sense.

 

[enrico]

After things have gone wrong having the guts to get back on the horse!

 

[Millet]

After things have gone wrong having the guts to get back on the horse!

and try and try again learning from your own mistakes is much better than reading a book, i learned that the hard way when i was interested in to Falconry.

 

[Swift Nick]

What would you say is the biggest challenge in setting up in beekeeping for a complete beginner?

Not buying too much unnecessary kit, buying the necessary kit, getting the right bees, then not worrying and enjoying the work with the bees.

 

[Softley]

Gaining practical experience before gaining bees.

 

[REDWOOD]

Join an association
Learn the fundamentals of beekeeping
Make sure you have a clear plan and equipment for all scenarios

 

[sbisme]

Don't rush things, don't interfere with the bees unless necessarily and if in doubt put the hive back together and ask for advice, never knee jerk react

And for a beginner the above is a challenge

 

[Poly Hive]

Personally I think there are really two initial challenges.

The first is financial as the startup costs very much depend on whether relatively simple woodwork is within your scope. If yes then floors and crown boards for instance can save some money from the off.

The 2nd is getting to know the language we use and memorising the table o development so as to be able to read the colony. If there are very young larvae then the queen was laying just over 3 days ago and so on.

It's a wonderful if more than ever a confusing one due mainly to the WWW. I would caution you to be very wary of beguiling videos from the warmer parts of the world as what works well in those climes tends to not in our Maritime climate.

Enjoy,

PH

 

[BenLatimer]

What would you say is the biggest challenge in setting up in beekeeping for a complete beginner?

Not getting stung on your wangdoodle!

 

[user 15607]

Not getting stung on your wangdoodle!

How on earth did that happen, actually I don't think I want to know


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[Poly Hive]

There's an old oilfield saying: "Don't put your fingers where you wouldn't put your ****"

Looks as if someone got it the wrong way round.................LOL

PH

 

[colinc]

Interesting point raised by PH I recently looked into buying some cedar to make some hives and the raw timber was more than most commercial sellers for flatpack hives and also more expensive than some complete built hives.
Cost of start up definitely my biggest challenge combined with knowing what kit to buy. Buy the the wrong format at your peril


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[kevrhcfag]

Not beating yourself up too much about the inevitable mistakes and not learning from them.

 

[cinnamon]

As a newbie, first mistake I made was to do an expensive course (£95) which was only for 1 day. Other than some knowledge that I could have read all over the internet, it gave me not much.

Then I searched for the local BKA beginner's course. They offered the course at £35, which included 1 year membership to the association. Guess what - the course was a day long but weekly apiary visits were the actual learning experience, which came with being a member of the BKA. So for one off £35 not only I got weekly tuition but membership to the association and social events, where you mingle with and learn from other beekeepers. There are also the perks of hiring some equipment for little or no money, such as extractors and hive moving equipment.

 

[beeno]

Be under the misapprehension that you can make a living from it!

 

[pargyle]

Resisting the temptation to dive headlong into beekeeping without any basic knowledge of what is involved and the commitment required to do it properly ...

There's a few that get away with it - but there's a lot who give up a season or so after getting their bees as it all gets to be too much to cope with.

Best advice - Do a PROPER course, read everything you can get your hands on that's beekeeping related, join an association and get hands on with some bees - BEFORE you get your bees !

 

[Beefriendly]

Best advice - Do a PROPER course, read everything you can get your hands on that's beekeeping related, join an association and get hands on with some bees - BEFORE you get your bees !

Do a course, get indoctrinated into your local associations way of thinking. You are naive so won't know any better......
Yes read, but read with selective and critical thoughts, there are more bad books on beekeeping than there are bad beekeepers. Start with Manley and wonder why others don't compare even after 60 years.
Somehow our bee's survive despite our best efforts to do strange things to them.....which tells you volumes.