Hi from Normandie, France

[Greggorio]

I'm English, 32, handyman/gardener, married, 2 kids. I have a smallholding out in the countryside and I love my life here, well barring the incredibly low income.
I am a complete novice to beekeeping and have started with 3 hives, it was meant to be two but I wasn't firing on all cylinders when talking to the guy in French and ended up with 3. Two homemade Warre hives and one Dadant. The Warre are not standard size because the dimensions i followed did not account for a few things in differing wood thickness but you live and you learn. I think that although more complex i will continue to use two types of hive as Warre are dirt cheap to build but having frames seems handy in other ways. Especially for selling nucs.

We shall see though as I am prone to whims (in the finer details, I don't tend to drop out of hobbies for no reason)

I also am mildly nervous as I've never been stung by a bee and though I doubt the pain is horrendous I do worry I'm allergic sometimes which would be just my luck

 

[B+.]

I also am mildly nervous as I've never been stung by a bee and though I doubt the pain is horrendous I do worry I'm allergic sometimes which would be just my luck

Is there a beekeeping association or a mentor you can call on to guide you? A hive full of bees can be quite daunting in the beginning.