How did you get into Bee Keeping?

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kazmcc

Queen Bee
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Messages
3,147
Reaction score
3
Location
Longsight, Manchester, UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
None, although I have my eye on one ( Just don't tell Dusty ;) )
I would love to know how you all got interested in Bee Keeping, and were you as frightened as I am when you started? It would be nice to know what inspires people to get into this hobby.
 
I would love to know how you all got interested in Bee Keeping, and were you as frightened as I am when you started? It would be nice to know what inspires people to get into this hobby.

i lived in the school house and they had bees at the school...during all the summer i helped the my grandfather the caretaker look after the bees

but during term, i had to let other older kids do while the sick, the lame and the dyslexic likke me had extra lessons ....always wanted bees but moved to the Town, so i have a gap of nearly 40 years
 
Loved bees since I was 12 - watched Blue Peter, Magpie something like that - but Mum was allergic to EVERYTHING. So had to wait. Then young, married, two kids, broke, the ill, retired on ill-health going crackers. Asked on Freecycle for bee stuff and was given 2 WBCs and loads of bits and pieces. Now a newbee - yep, life is good!
 
I may try asking on freecycle as I don't think with this new condem gov we will be awarded another grant. I am a bit concerned as all the money we were awarded was used preparing the site where the bees will live. This was way before I did the taster session. Now I know how much it costs to keep them properly I am a bit concerned. There is always the co-op, they do a grant to get bees in Manchester, but I don't know if our project will qualify. I might have to do some fundraising :S

Some nice stories of how you started, you seem to have got into it young. Hopefully my lads will take to it, my middle lad, who is 8, is very interested. It is my childrens school I have been setting up the project so eventually he will get some bee time, as will my youngest, who's 4, but only with a lot of supervision and a good talking to about behaviour around the hive beforehand.
 
My (teenage) children are interested too - they thought I was bonkers when I started talking about it over a year ago. But now I finally have the hive, I've caught them all having a sneaky peep from a safe distance, and the o/h took out a chair and Ted Hooper :D
 
I just needed something different to occupy myself .Started with an allotment then progressed to chickens and now bees.Funny how life turns out :party:
 
I just needed something different to occupy myself .Started with an allotment then progressed to chickens and now bees.Funny how life turns out :party:

Where do you have your allotment Wayne? I am just down the road form you in Longsight :)
 
My wife has wanted to keep bees for a number of years now. When I had to call around a friends house over a year ago, I tripped over a Thornes order in the hallway and he said it was beekeeping stuff, I told him that my wife was interested and two minutes later, we were all in the back garden looking at his bees.

I said I would buy all the equipment for her and betwixt then and now, I got hooked as well.

And before you ask, Yes, we do have 'his and her' bees.
:):):)
 
Enjoyed an hour looking at bees in mid june with a neighbour then woke up the following christmas to a hive tool, then bee hive, and then we were beekeepers!
Sam
 
That is brilliant :) What a nice way to get interested in bees
 
His and hers bees sounds great lol, are the queens marked his and hers too :D
 
My brother kept bees when I was 17 (eons ago) and I helped him for 6 months!
5 years ago friend had swarm in her garden- I shot out and bought a hive and hived them in space of 3 hours - rest is history- Now Chair of local Assoc but prob because I am a bossy mare who can scrounge money and like to teach!
 
Retired early following ill-health and it was one of those things I'd always fancied having a bash at - if it was good enough for Sherlock Holmes' retirement, it'd do me..........
Must remark on one point though "Now I know how much it costs to keep them properly I am a bit concerned" - my 4 colonies, hives and all equipment have so far cost me around £150 all-in...... (but that's natural beekeeping for you!):cheers2:
 
When I was in primary school about 18 years ago they had a WBC in the corner of the school grounds and an observation hive by the library. A group of us used to get all suited up and look in the WBC occasionally

It all got me hooked but it was 17 years latter I got it all together and started with my own bees, just wish I had started years ago now!

Si.
 
Great stories. So many of you had them at school. Maybe this project i am part of will create future bee keepers in the next generation :)
 
Problem is so many schools will have nothing to do with bees because of children with allergies and Mr Health And Safety, surely allergies were around years ago and a sting soon taught you respect for the bees however small they are. Best of luck with the project kazmcc
kev
 
All my friends were getting ex battery hens but my husband wouldn't let me have any he thinks they would be too noisy/smelly/messy. So I said I would get bees instead, he agreed because he is a honey fiend! I got bee books for Christmas and birthday, and studied them. A new chap started at work and we chatted like you 'do' and I told him I wanted to get bees. He told me of his friend who kept bees, would I like to meet him. So I did and about a month later I had my hive and you know the rest!
 
A few years ago I spotted a glass bee hive figurine when we took a day trip to the Isle of Wight and said to the wife I wonder how bees make honey? The very next day we attended our local associations July apiary meeting and I was hooked, we signed up and the rest is history as they say.
 
In Spring last year, I was taking my little boy through a meadow in full flower and realised something was missing... bees. I remembered they were always around when I was young, and decided to do something about it.

This was just before the media frenzy, and had only heard they were in decline.

I read a book, and was a little nervous, but the good peeps on this forum gave me confidence, so got myself some bees.

Whilst looking after my neighbours chickens, I noticed an old WBC hive and when he returned we started chatting bees. It turned out he kept bees for years and he also gave me confidence. (my neighbour is Somerford Steve on this forum)

A year and a month later, my daughter also has her own hive and through buying a few more, catching swarms and a couple of splits, we are now up to 13 colony's. (not including a very large colony of rescued bumblebees)

I did not did not do it for the honey (although it IS a delicious by-product!), I did it for the bees and the land. With a good team of pollenators, it may be my imagination, but the land and the hedgerows look healthier and am sure there are more flowers and fruits on the hedgerows and in turn, more wildlife.
I Have also noticed that I am a lot more aware of my surroundings and am spotting plants and flowers I never knew existed.

It makes me extremely happy if I am tinkering on the farm to be pleasently distracted by a honeybee servicing a wild flower. Some of the elderly neighbours to the farm have also said how nice it is to see honeybees in their gardens.
The last year, I have had some very happy moments, sad moments with realisation that I had lost a hive, exciting when catching a swarm, painful when getting stung twice on the back of the neck and nervous when I realise I am looking through a hole in the hood of my suit whilst inspecting... all in all it has been completely worth it and a great experience :hat:
 

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