From eco garden & chickens and now Bees?

[tiame]

Hello all,
I live in Surrey just outside of town but in a fairly built up area. 3 years ago I bought a quite dilapidated garden (if you could call it that) with a house. (tiny house HUGE garden) On a budget of virtually '0' I set about making the 15ft high with brambles and old washing machines into a nice productive garden with veggies from recycled materials (ongoing project and sounds so simple when you type it!) 2 yrs ago installed 14 rescue chickens after spending 8months researching chicken housing etc I'm proud to say that my efforts have produced 'Fort Knox' for chickens, all are thriving and well, not lost one to a fox, no disease and they are the happiest chickens I've ever met. The garden is an ongoing project of course and would still like a pollytunnel but... the next logical step seems to look at keeping bees! Have met one local hobby bee keeper & bees and now I want to learn more and get two hives of my own going. Nice to meet everyone and thanks for reading

 

[madasafish]

Hello and welcome.

I recommend some practical experience with your local BBKA . You'll find out what handling bees is like .. unlike chickens, bees can do you serious harm if you are careless .

 

[tiame]

Hello and welcome.

I recommend some practical experience with your local BBKA . You'll find out what handling bees is like .. unlike chickens, bees can do you serious harm if you are careless .

Thanks I'm looking at that. You should meet the chickens and the cockerel we hatched and would change your mind about the damage part

 

[Luminos]

Hi tiame and
I agree about the chickens

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Welcome tiame.

Hope you enjoy the Forum.


Good luck with your beekeeping!

Dusty

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thanks I'm looking at that. You should meet the chickens and the cockerel we hatched and would change your mind about the damage part

Hello and welcome. I fully empathise regarding the cockerels. We had an excessive number amongst our flock and they were highly agressive to the extent my grandaughter would not go down the garden. Culling became the only sensible solution.
Regarding bees, you really would not believe the quantum leap of knowledge you will need to keep bees successfully rather than buying into the game and not staying the course. For this reason I am echoing the advice of others to get hands on experience with extended training via a local Beekeepers association, plus a good mentor to guide you through the calamities. Don't buy any bees until you are over the first hurdles. Then enjoy.

 

[pargyle]

Hi and welcome, you are following my footsteps except my path was allotment, hens for eggs in backgarden (we have foxes actually LIVING in our garden !) with Fort Knox to keep them safe, I've spent the last 2 years getting ready for bees and got my first bees a little over 2 weeks ago. All my stuff is done on a strict budget but it's quite amazing what can be made from reclaimed scraps of timber, skip hunting and downright ingenuity. There are a few beeks on here who are a bit creative with hive building so you will have good company. Best hit the books and join your local association as you'll find there's a bit more to bees than it looks on the surface. Good luck and welcome.

 

[Sean.]

Hi Tiame,
Welcome to the forum : )

If you are after more plants, and other nice things look at 'seed banks'. Essentially, you grow various old varieties of plants, veg and so on. Let some of it go to seed and post the seeds back to the charity / organisation. Explain that you have bees and they should be able to assist you, and vice versa.

Find out who has horses, that stuff is good for a garden - and an ideal way to get rid of it for the owners!

P.s. freecycle is always worth a look.

Sean

 

[tiame]

Thank you all for this warm welcome, most appreciated.

Rest assured, we have every intention of finding out all we can before taking on any actual bees. Our house backs onto 250 acres of open woodland and two years ago we experienced a natural swarm. Midday in the garden, the neighbors suddenly screamed for us to get our dogs in and lock the doors which was the first we knew about it. There were so many bees in the sky above our houses, it went black blotting out the sun for approx 3 mins and the noise was unbelievable as they first all settled on a tree out the front and then swarmed, dispersing into the woods behind. We are very aware just how frightening that can bee! (and how fascinating) There is no shortage of wild bees near us!

We love our chickens and are a bit soft about them and have so far managed to find loving homes for the two cockerels we have found ourselves with. One of the rescue chickens as it grew turned out to be a cockerel and we hatched a few eggs and had one then. Our chickens after being extremely poorly and terrified of people when we got them, have turned into very sweet people loving holy terrors.

They provide eggs for the whole neighborhood, eat garden pests, provide awesome fertilizer and amuse us greatly on a daily basis. We did huge amounts of research before getting them and decided to build a bit of an unconventional living area for them out of mainly recycled materials and it's worked out beautifully. I aim to do the same amount of research before obtaining the bees and am quite into the idea of making them an unconventional hive from recycled stuff too. We are on a budget and would like to source what we can and recycle as much as possible.

Our garden was useless for growing anything and proved to be solid chalk and building rubble which was un-diggable. So we obtained some recycled wood and made a few raised beds and some immense old tractor tyres and have done the same. We have gradually made out own compost and bought in many tons of soil to fill all with to get a veg garden going. We have bought organic heritage seeds and although a bit hit and miss, are enjoying using them.

We are in the process of finding out all we can and were in no rush but have recently found out that a friend of a friend bought bees a couple of years ago and now cannot be bothered to take care of them and may be looking for a home for them so we may end up getting some sooner than we had anticipated! We will see...

Just learning all we can right now and in the planning stage. I am looking to make contact with anyone who keeps bees in the Oxted, Coulsdon, Caterham, Lingfied (Surrey) areas to hopefully learn all we can from people who are already actually keeping bees too.

 

[madasafish]

Thanks I'm looking at that. You should meet the chickens and the cockerel we hatched and would change your mind about the damage part

Hmm

My turkey has taken off part of a finger nail once... Perhaps you can sell them as replacement guard dogs?

Seriously I doubt chickens can kill you... bees can.

 

[Luminos]

Hmm

My turkey has taken off part of a finger nail once... Perhaps you can sell them as replacement guard dogs?

Seriously I doubt chickens can kill you... bees can.

They can if they're not cooked properly lol