Hello

[FidoDido]

Hi there.

I’m here to ask advice about beekeeping as a complete beginner!

I’m actually a dog trainer by profession but I’ve long been fascinated by bees and always fancied giving beekeeping a try. I rent a barn from my friend for my dog training business. She’s recently transitioned a large portion of her land to a flower farm and we realised that me having a hive or two on a flower farm would be a match made in heaven!

I’ve just warched some YouTube videos of a young chaps first couple of years keeping bees and he seems to be selling it. He explained about the importance of labels and it being the correct water content etc but is there anything else that’s required before you sell your honey? Don’t they have to come and inspect your kitchen for cleanliness or anything??

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m actually a dog trainer by profession

Hi and welcome. I thought you might be a Seven Up fan
Join your local beekeeping association first. You can wing it on your own but it's much easier if you have help.
Your friend's flowers may help but your bees will forage far and wide up to two miles away. It also depends on the flowers. Not all are bee friendly
Good luck, and stay with us ....there's masses to learn
You don't need your kitchen inspecting, by the way.

 

[drex]

Welcome to this wonderful craft. As suggested above, learn all you can about looking after the bees. Well kept bees will give you honey. You can then learn about honey processing ( which is much easier than the bees) .

 

[enrico]

Do a bit of reading. Some light reading is 'bees at the bottom of your garden' it gives you some idea of what it is all about and doesnt cost the earth, unlike beekeeping which can be quite expensive. You dont NEED cleanliness certificates but you are dealing with food so common sense means you need to have the right environment. Go to the blog page and put my name into the filter. There are some stories in there I wrote for a a magazine with tongue in cheek but they will also give you a few laughs and point out a few pitfalls and highlight the pleasures. A great hobby, Go for it.

 

[FidoDido]

Well thank you very much for
The replies! I’m quite excited to get going! Is there a particular time of year that’s best to start my colony?

Do I need a bee suit or can I be like the Texas Bee Works lady who seems to have some sort of invisible force field around her whereby she never gets stung? Or does does she douse herself in “Happy Bee” pheromones or something that make the bees accept her as one of them?

Actually I’ve never been stung. What if I’m deathly allergic and die the first time? Is there a way of testing this before I commit to a whole flock?

 

[FidoDido]

Do a bit of reading. Some light reading is 'bees at the bottom of your garden' it gives you some idea of what it is all about and doesnt cost the earth, unlike beekeeping which can be quite expensive. You dont NEED cleanliness certificates but you are dealing with food so common sense means you need to have the right environment. Go to the blog page and put my name into the filter. There are some stories in there I wrote for a a magazine with tongue in cheek but they will also give you a few laughs and point out a few pitfalls and highlight the pleasures. A great hobby, Go for it.

Thank you! I have just ordered the book.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do I need a bee suit or can I be like the Texas Bee Works lady who seems to have some sort of invisible force field around her

You can try

Actually I’ve never been stung. What if I’m deathly allergic and die the first time? Is there a way of testing this before I commit to a whole flock?

Get yourself stung outside A&E

 

[Newbeeneil]

Well thank you very much for
The replies! I’m quite excited to get going! Is there a particular time of year that’s best to start my colony?

Do I need a bee suit or can I be like the Texas Bee Works lady who seems to have some sort of invisible force field around her whereby she never gets stung? Or does does she douse herself in “Happy Bee” pheromones or something that make the bees accept her as one of them?

Actually I’ve never been stung. What if I’m deathly allergic and die the first time? Is there a way of testing this before I commit to a whole flock?

Ah, if you think bee keeping in the UK is going to be like Erika Thompson's you are in for a big surprise. She is a very talented bee keeper with loads of experience, working in ideal beekeeping weather conditions and with local bees that seem pretty docile.
As Enrico has said do lots of reading and join your local bee keeping association before you get your bees as you may find you expend a significant amount of money only to find you don't enjoy putting you hands into a box of about 40,000 stinging insects.
If you join an association you will be able to get used to bees before you fork out your hard earned cash.

 

[FidoDido]

You can try

Get yourself stung outside A&E

Hang around in the hospital car park, cover myself in jam and cross my fingers?

 

[Newbeeneil]

Hang around in the hospital car park, cover myself in jam and cross my fingers?

Most likely to be stung by a wasp if you use jam

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hang around in the hospital car park, cover myself in jam and cross my fingers?

Heavens, no. Take a few bees in a jar… you may need somebody to catch them for you then stick your nose in it
Seriously, your first exposure never results in anaphylaxis. It serves to prime your immune system. The second might.

 

[Swarm]

First sting is free, it's subsequent stings that may cause problems.

 

[madasafish]

Beejacket and veil essential.
Full beesuit? Wellies and loose trousers enough.
Get some experience at local club before spending any money - most lend suits to beginners.
Make sure you are not put off: some bees can be intimidating for beginners- but essential to encounter so you are not put off.
Lots to learn, lots of nice helpful people to learn from. Lots of fun..

 

[ericbeaumont]

cover myself in jam and cross my fingers

FD, allow me to throw a bucket of water over your fantasy.

First fact about wasps: yes, in late summer they go for sweet but unless you sit on one or drink one from a can, I'll lay good money and bet that you will never be stung. In fact, to confound your preconceptions, you can feed a wasp from your hand without drama.

expend a significant amount of money only to find you don't enjoy putting you hands into a box of about 40,000 stinging insects

Yes, the bigger picture is that you have no experience of honey bees and must get some this spring as Neil describes. Management of colonies is a sweaty learning process littered with mistakes, and will take several years to achieve competence as the seasonal window of opportunity is narrow. If your colonies tiddle along like those of many novices the bees will make little or no honey, certainly not enough to sell. PS: check the price of local Suffolk honey and see how much it would need and how long it might take to recoup your investment.

Beekeeping can be divided into three categories: the life cycle of the bee & colony; the effective use of kit; knowledge of weather & the green environment in which your bees operate. As Dani said, not all flowers are good for bees. This info will guide you & your friend with a field: research — rosybee - plants for bees

Take your time to learn this game: read the Haynes Bee Manual, check out Black Mountain Honey & Norfolk Honey Company videos on Youtube (avoid most else) dip regularly into Dave Cushman's A-Z of beekeeping, and do let us know how you get on.

 

[FidoDido]

Thank you very much everyone! I am devouring every word of advice!

I’m fairly relaxed about bees/wasps/creepy crawlies in general so unless they seem to take against me on sight I expect I’ll be ok with a bit of practise. My friend has various flowers and is planning a lavender field shortly which I believe bees are quite fond of?

I shall contact Suffolk Beekeepers Association soon.

One other question if I may - my friend offers a “Pick Your Own” flower thing. Will the bees chase away her customers?

 

[Erichalfbee]

One other question if I may - my friend offers a “Pick Your Own” flower thing. Will the bees chase away her customers?

Likely not. Anyway even if you don’t keep bees of your own others will find them.

 

[FidoDido]

So as I understand it - you buy a hive and a colony. At some point, the colony gets too big and they toodle off to pastures new with a queen and the existing hive gradually builds up again.

So you catch the swarm and put them in a new hive so now you’ve got two hives. Or else you don’t, and the swarm finds somewhere else to live?

 

[FidoDido]

… oh and what are these Flow hive things? Any good?

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Many (but not all) on here think that good beekeeping means taking steps not to lose swarms. Learning how to do that and than carrying it out is not straightforward. Although some beekeepers say that bees should be allowed to swarm because it is their way of reproducing, many others would say that swarms that move into buildings can be a nuisance. It's probably also true that the survival rate of swarms is low because of varroa. Not everyone agrees, of course, and I'm saying that to try to pre-empt an avalanche of comments from those who disagree.

There's so much to read. The good thing about reading stuff on this forum is that someone is always on hand to point a critical finger at dubious postings.

(BTW: Although individual bees are reared in a colony, there is no reproduction until one colony becomes two - and that is what swarming is.)

Also, though I don't have any experience, many would say that, particularly in the UK, flow hives are not as good as they sound. But David Beckham has one, and he got at least one jar of honey in the Netflix series. (One of my favourite things on TV for a while.)

 

[Erichalfbee]

So as I understand it - you buy a hive and a colony. At some point, the colony gets too big and they toodle off to pastures new with a queen and the existing hive gradually builds up again.

So you catch the swarm and put them in a new hive so now you’ve got two hives. Or else you don’t, and the swarm finds somewhere else to live?

NO
You go to bee school and learn how to manage them so that they don't swarm
Are you having us all on?