General Husbandry

[Heather]

Have many of you taken this... what are the pitfalls as I am told a high fail rate?

 

[itma]

Pitfalls?
Not sure that's the right way to look at things.
Its an assessment of what you are actually doing. And your bees, and the state of your colonies. And your understanding of what you should be doing.
So its a general absence of daftness rather than specific traps.

Personally, I'm holding off until I have my own in-house extraction/honey room. At present, I've been fortunate enough to make use of others' real estate - for which I am duly grateful.
And then there's tidying up my hive records ...

There's odd things you are expected to have available, like spare drawn brood comb...

But I'm not sure "pitfalls" is the way to regard it!

 

[Heather]

Have my own extraction room.. may need to repaint the floor as constant scraping off wax and propolis have taken its toll.
I hate written exams as memory shot to bits, but practical should be ok. Am giving it a go.

 

[masterBK]

GH Pass rate 69% in 2014, 76% in 2013.

That is not a high fail rate in my humble opinion.

 

[Heather]

Well that's very encouraging. Will let you know.

 

[Black Comb]

Do you need a dedicated honey room to pass GH?
I am hoping my clean kitchen will suffice.

 

[Heather]

I think that is acceptable. I am just lucky to have a couple of 'bee rooms'.

If I was going to have the kitchen as the 'exam extraction area' I would remove all superfluous stuff to make as clean and tidy as pos ( TOH wont mind the disruption for 1 day).

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If I was going to have the kitchen as the 'exam extraction area' I would remove all superfluous stuff to make as clean and tidy as pos ( TOH wont mind the disruption for 1 day).

In SWMBO's mind that would mean dragging out the cooker, kettle and dishwasher! (That's before you point out the phrase 'extraction area')

 

[DulwichGnome]

Hi Heather, did you take the exam? Did you pass?

I am looking to try next year and have been trawling thou the regs to make sure I can conform when I came across the term 'full sizes frames'. Does anyone know what the BBKA expect? I am on Rose size frames and I am sure I can do all that manipulations they what but it would be a shame to have the examiners turn up and say my frames are wrong.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ask them?

 

[masterBK]

If you are able to perform all the required tasks listed in the GH syllabus and guidelines then you have nothing to worry about regarding frame type. Of course you will only be required to carry out a limited selection of these tasks but will not know which ones were selected for you until the examiners turn up for your assessment.