Bonjour from France. Wise words needed please.

[beeno]

Hi FleurBlue,
Welcome, how nice to have some newbie enthusiasm on the forum. It would appear that you are planning a bait box, make it a six frame one and it can double up as a nuc. Being the only beek in your locale your are not likely to catch any swarms other than your own.
I would personally start with one colony to see how you get on, especially if you are buying it. Your friend can probably provide a virgin or two if you get into trouble on that score.
I disagree with the advice of talking to your bees as they see Co2 as a threat, but by all means talk to the flowers.
Have fun.

 

[dclewis]

How's your French? If you can make your way in French then get along to your local syndicat d'apiculture. You'll meet local beeks and they will probably have a rucher école.

A quick search on google brings up
http://unapla.org/.
They are just north of Nantes. They have a rucher école and I would recommend you make contact there.

Also yes, you do have to declare your apiaries and hive numbers but inspections are only required if you suspect a health problem and you call the inspector in or if you are selling bees. If you buy bees make sure you get a heath certficate from the seller as he is meant to have them inspected before he sells them to you.

I recommend starting with 2 colonies if possible but you can make do with 1. I like belt and braces.

 

[FleurBleue]

Thanks everyone, for your much appreciated words of wisdom. I'm threatening to become the bore of the universe amongst my friends, so I'm seriously chuffed to have found you all.
I found the chat area last night and got cracking...given a week or so, no doubt I'll be clearing the room as soon as I get in there.
You know what? How can anyone not be fascinated by bees? It's beyond me!

 

[pargyle]

I disagree with the advice of talking to your bees as they see Co2 as a threat,

What ? Through a veil and at the usual distance when inspecting ? Should I stop breathing then ? I've never seen a negative reaction from my bees when chatting to them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What ? Through a veil and at the usual distance when inspecting ? Should I stop breathing then ? I've never seen a negative reaction from my bees when chatting to them.

Some people can avoid this by talking from the opposite end

 

[enrico]

Quote......I disagree with the advice of talking to your bees as they see Co2 as a threat, but by all means talk to the flowers......unquote
Blimey, I am in trouble then, I have been talking to mine for over thirty years. It is calming for me and they like to hear what I say! We have the odd debate about who can hurt who the most but apart from that I have found them to be really good listeners!
E

 

[REDWOOD]

If you hum you give off less Co2 and methane gas will only upset them more.

 

[BeeJayBee]

It's in Wikipedia, so it must be true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_bee

Attacking bees aim for the face by sensing regions with high levels of carbon dioxide (like mosquitos).

I've had bees inside my veil, and have not been stung at all, let alone on my face.

The only time I've seen anybody stung on the face, rather than on the hands, is if they've had poorly regulated type 2 diabetes so their breath has a taint of acetone. Stings were near the eyes, not near the nose or mouth.

If bees were that concerned about the source of carbon dioxide they'd aim for the nostrils or mouth.

Bees use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide. They let levels build up to as much as 6%, higher than humans can tolerate. More on Scientific Beekeeping http://scientificbeekeeping.com/old-bees-cold-bees-no-bees-part-1/

 

[pargyle]

It's in Wikipedia, so it must be true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_bee

I've had bees inside my veil, and have not been stung at all, let alone on my face.
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That's one of the problems we face these days - people seem to believe everything they read on the internet ... Wiki can be a useful source but we have to remember that everything is written by the community - not all of whom are either qualified or sufficiently knowledgeable to write about a subject.

I've been unlucky enough to have been stung on the face, on the forehead and on the side of my nose - but the sting trigger has been movement (trying to brush her away) nothing to do with my breath.

I think talking to the bees helps a great deal .. but I'll cut out the heavy breathing and trying to kiss them, I think, on Beeno's advice.

 

[dodzylla]

Hello there

 

[FleurBleue]

Hello dodzylla x

 

[castanea]

Bonjour et bienvenue de provence
Have you joined the local Ruche Ecole.

 

[FleurBleue]

Merci beaucoup, x

 

[beeno]

What ? Through a veil and at the usual distance when inspecting ? Should I stop breathing then ? I've never seen a negative reaction from my bees when chatting to them.

Sometimes I have one or two bees pinging the veil, and if you stop breathing they fly away.

 

[beeno]

Some people can avoid this by talking from the opposite end

The wisdom of the bees they don't like what comes out of either end of humans. Can't disagree with that.

 

[stephenpug]

Merci beaucoup, x

what area in france are you FleurBleue

 

[FleurBleue]

Between Chateaubriant and Nantes Stephen.

 

[stephenpug]

Between Chateaubriant and Nantes Stephen.

I have a friend
marilyn who owns the bar restaurant in chateaubriant we are moving to the limousin by bellac 10th may retiering from work tommorow cant wait