General Husbandry Exam

[MuswellMetro]

has any one done the General Husbandary practical in the last few years

i reckon i can get my hives and apairy up to standard but I am worried about my honey processing facility which is at my house 3/4 of an hour away

How hard do the come down on the honey processing facilites...do i need double sink

my kitchen is my process area....so do you need to clear it all out of spices racks ,dog baskets, cat litter, clean the cooker, close the cat flap etc etc....

my normal mode is to clear just down one side of the kitchen, wash the splash back and floor and use trays and put the dogs basket in the garden but i doubt it would pass a deep inspection with just that, i often use my association 9 frame electric rather than my manual extractor, do they need to see both?

 

[simoncav]

I took the GH this year and entered with a colleague from my association. We shared out the association kit, me the heated capping tray, him the extractor and explained beforehand what we were doing.

Almost all beekeepers extract in or around their homes and the examiners are no different. As long as you have a clean environment with everything laid out logically so you can explain the process you use, they should be happy.

I extract in the garage (at night!) and then bring the filtered honey into the kitchen for warming, filtering and bottling.

Have a temperature chart in prominent view so you can refer to it when they ask about max temperatures and times. That way you do not need to memorise the various temperatures. Don't forget to lay out your wax processing kit too with some nice, good quality samples and having any winning certificates in prominent view speaks volumes. Dont forget, they only have a couple of hours to assess you, so they may only spend 30mins in your house.

They are simply checking you are safe and can produce good quality honey and wax... Most of the assessment takes place in the apiary - Make sure you know your diseases and have good records.

 

[Easy Beesy]

Friend of mine got asked about keeping disinfectants, washing up liquid and other kitchen paraphernalia separate from stuff used for cleaning extractor, knife, trays jars etc. she just showed them separate cupboards. Didn't spend much time on my wax bits (!) but then that could be because by then they'd already decided to fail me!

 

[DulwichGnome]

Didn't spend much time on my wax bits (!) but then that could be because by then they'd already decided to fail me!

Did you get any feedback to say why you had failed?

Mike.

 

[masterBK]

Not sure extracting in the garage would be acceptable if car oils stored in there or there are oil drips on the floor. People often store cans of paint, turps etc in garages and these must not be in the same place as a food item.

All general husbandry candidates get feedback from the moderator (based on the reports of the two assessors) whether they pass or fail.

 

[simoncav]

I too failed the GH this year - The feedback letter I got was utterly appalling - meandering, rambling rubbish describing how crap I was as a beekeeper - No specific bullet points of what was good or sub-standard, no areas to work on, no encouragement to take the exam again.

I knew I was going to fail as soon as I showed them my Poly hives and use of Demaree's as swarm management - their faces looked like I had made a nasty smell.

I just despaired of the whole BBKA "Education" process having received such an appalling response, but with encouragement by my colleagues and mentors, I got really angry and fired back a letter containing the original feedback with a formal complaint. Eventually I got an apology and what I consider "proper" feedback as I requested, much more to the point, with items I got right and areas to work on along with a suggestion to take it again.

I've probably made no friends within the BBKA education cabal, but screw them. It's about time they had a bit of quality control from their customers as the whole group seems made up of ex academics more interested in preserving the status quo than actually bothering to listen to the grass roots of the BBKA.

All you have to look at is the appallingly low numbers of members encouraged into actually taking any qualification other than the basic - They should be set a simple target of getting say 5% of members beyond basic assessment in 3 years. Otherwise you could view the whole current BBKA education process as simply not fit for purpose...

 

[susbees]

Not sure extracting in the garage would be acceptable if car oils stored in there or there are oil drips on the floor. People often store cans of paint, turps etc in garages and these must not be in the same place as a food item.

I agree with that one. I have at times had a UK commercial beekeeper's extraction room photo on my information board which I had to Photoshop to remove the shelf and assorted tins unrelated to beekeeping from the wall above the decapping system.

The kitchen issue is a hard one. Ours is a busy family kitchen for up to seven people at times. It rarely conforms to the kettle, toaster and gleaming empty surface image. If it is, as it is, a big room with covered trays of seeds on a windowsill six feet or more from the extractor is that acceptable? Do you have to cover a clean, cobweb-free timber beam on the ceiling with a laundered catch-net? Etc etc. We were warned by the deputy moderator at a workshop NOT to go the honey room approach due to the added legislation we would have to go by yet separate sinks and cupboards is heading in that direction in any case.

I was at the Midlands Education Co-ordinators' Day last weekend - the number of General Husbandry awards held in the region was very low but quite likely to be representative of some other regions. I still maintain it is too heavy an exam for one session and that not taking it and self-assessing "competencies" is not the answer to help beekeepers improve their skills.

What is your view masterBK?

 

[blackcavebees]

Regarding the kitchen ...

I only extract once per year and as I don't have a specific honey room, I use the family kitchen. Before extracting I remove a lot of the additionals in the kitchen - mug tree, microwave, egg basket, etc, etc, and clear and clean all the surfaces and tile splash backs. I then get to decapping and extracting and storing in buckets, trying (for past 2 years) to complete the process and wash my equipment, put back into boxes, wash the kitchen again and reinstate ready for family life.

When it comes to bottling I do something similar, only utilising a smaller clean area with cleared workflow etc. And try to get this all completed in one period.

Would this have to be "re-enacted" for the exam or just walk them through what happens?

 

[simoncav]

Just walk them through the process - most assessments take place before the harvest season anyway from April onwards. They will ask plenty of questions if you are not giving them what they want.

 

[eddiespangle]

I did it. My apiary was about mile from the house - the two examiners even gave me a lift. If you read the curriculum there should be no surprises. I plan on doing the advanced in 2013.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Regarding the kitchen ...

I only extract once per year and as I don't have a specific honey room, I use the family kitchen. Before extracting I remove a lot of the additionals in the kitchen - mug tree, microwave, egg basket, etc, etc, and clear and clean all the surfaces and tile splash backs. I then get to decapping and extracting and storing in buckets, trying (for past 2 years) to complete the process and wash my equipment, put back into boxes, wash the kitchen again and reinstate ready for family life.

When it comes to bottling I do something similar, only utilising a smaller clean area with cleared workflow etc. And try to get this all completed in one period.

Would this have to be "re-enacted" for the exam or just walk them through what happens?

i do simillar to you, it loooks clean but if they look at the top of the cupboards ,cookerhood or under the fridge...on hygiene alone i would fail out right....or even open a top cupboard and out falls e an open bag of crisps or peanuts as it did this morning

 

[eddiespangle]

i do simillar to you, it loooks clean but if they look at the top of the cupboards ,cookerhood or under the fridge...on hygiene alone i would fail out right....or even open a top cupboard and out falls e an open bag of crisps or peanuts as it did this morning

The examiners found my domestic kitchen acceptable. I hid my dogs. They did have a good look at extractor to ensure that it was clean. When back from the apiary they were more interested in my knowledge of honey processing.

 

[Teemore]

I'm hoping to pull a group together to work towards doing the General Husbandry here in NI in the not too distant future... good to know they will accept the 'domestic' extracting premises so many of us rely upon. If I do get things running towards a few folk doing the General Husbandry you can expect that I'll be querying those of you who have been through the mill already.

 

[blackcavebees]

I'm hoping to pull a group together to work towards doing the General Husbandry here in NI in the not too distant future... good to know they will accept the 'domestic' extracting premises so many of us rely upon. If I do get things running towards a few folk doing the General Husbandry you can expect that I'll be querying those of you who have been through the mill already.

Stick me on your list Lyndon

 

[eddiespangle]

My assessment's practical part consisted of inspecting a colony and pointing out various things, marking and clipping a queen, conducting an artificial swarm, setting up a nuc. They checked my equipment as well as my plans for extracting and processing. Not a bad assessment.

 

[DulwichGnome]

My assessment's practical part consisted of inspecting a colony and pointing out various things, marking and clipping a queen, conducting an artificial swarm, setting up a nuc. They checked my equipment as well as my plans for extracting and processing. Not a bad assessment.

Is clipping a queen something you have to do if it is not normally what you do? Can you clip a drone instead to show how you would do it?

Mike.

 

[eddiespangle]

Is clipping a queen something you have to do if it is not normally what you do? Can you clip a drone instead to show how you would do it?

Mike.

You could clip a drone if you wanted.

 

[DanBee]

You could clip a drone if you wanted.

Exactly. The rationale is that even if you don't do it yourself, you may be asked to demonstrate or assist at an apiary where it is done.

 

[eddiespangle]

Exactly. The rationale is that even if you don't do it yourself, you may be asked to demonstrate or assist at an apiary where it is done.

I suppose it also shows that you've chosen not to clip as a opposed to cant clip.

 

[Teemore]

Stick me on your list Lyndon

Consider it done

Will be organising a meeting at some stage to flesh out what is required of the participants.