smallbee
New Bee
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2024
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 15
- Location
- Ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 3
For some context, I am a pretty new beekeeper in a small association. I have been helping in the club apiary, which unfortunately has been more than a little unloved in recent years.
I am interested in the thoughts here on how a club apiary should be run differently to one's own apiary.
I've ordered the Roger Patterson Teaching Apiary book (which has just arrived as I've been writing this post) but thought it'd be interesting to pose the question here as well.
Let's take it as read that basic husbandry will be taken care of: monitoring and treating for varroa, monitoring during season for other diseases, monitoring for queen issues, feeding if required, swarm management, cycling out old comb, maintaining equipment, top insulation, entrance reducers, etc.
Equipment at the apiary is pretty standardised already (all Nationals). I want to chuck out and replace some very antique floors, but most of the rest of it is fine IMO.
The layout is a bit tricky, the space is cramped and currently the colonies are quite bunched up at one end of the space. I am thinking to try and move things around (3 feet at a time, heh) so that it'll be easier to demonstrate things to small groups. There are currently several double/triple stands - not all occupied. I was thinking of replacing these with all single stands, to make more room around the hives.
One of the big things I think needs to be done is to requeen one of the hives which I have found a bit spicy. This is not due to too many overly-intrusive inspections, they were hardly touched between May and August, when I observed this behaviour. They sting when well outside of the normal ~3m defensive boundary, and they follow.
I also believe the apiary should be managed more to make nice nuc colonies for the beginners. To kill two birds with one stone, one of the first jobs I have in mind in spring, when they build up, is going to be to split that spicy colony into 3 or 4 nucs (depending on size), with the queenless splits all getting a capped QC from a nicer colony (I have a nice one whose queen has a beautiful brood pattern). Once those are mated, I'd also replace the original queen, probably. Nobody has any idea of her age, but I'd guess she's a 2024 as nobody was doing any swarm control this year (this will change in 2025).
My thought was to aim to maintain two full sized production colonies in order to have a honey harvest for the owner of the land the hives are on, as a way to demonstrate extraction, and so that the new members see what full colonies should look like. Then after that, manage the rest of the apiary to generate as many nucs as practical, with these being sold to beginners when they feel ready to have them. We don't have too many nuc boxes currently, so that'll be some equipment on the shopping list, but we have sufficient funds. Is two full colonies too few? I'd expect we will have around 15 beginners on the course each year.
A couple of years before I joined, there was queen rearing, and we have a bunch of kit (nicot system and apideas). Would be great to get that going again, and it fits well with the aim to generate a lot of nuc colonies, but it might be a bit much to take on next year unless one of the more experienced members can be coaxed into leading that effort. Also, we have no proven good genetics in the apiary currently (just two 2024 caught swarms plus the spicy colony), so it couldn't be the first thing we do unless we acquire a decent colony. Might be a 2026 plan, after I get to grips with the apiary generally and make my queen rearing mistakes in my own garden apiary.
The other thing I am trying to wrap my head around is how best to get more people involved in the club apiary so it is actually serving the purpose of being a resource for the newer beekeepers, rather than being a burden for those who already have their own bees, with beginners invited up occasionally. Is it crazy to think about getting the current year's joiners, and any previous years who don't yet have bees doing inspections independently, after they've demonstrated competence? Should we have a chore list, maybe in a google doc or something?
I am interested in the thoughts here on how a club apiary should be run differently to one's own apiary.
I've ordered the Roger Patterson Teaching Apiary book (which has just arrived as I've been writing this post) but thought it'd be interesting to pose the question here as well.
Let's take it as read that basic husbandry will be taken care of: monitoring and treating for varroa, monitoring during season for other diseases, monitoring for queen issues, feeding if required, swarm management, cycling out old comb, maintaining equipment, top insulation, entrance reducers, etc.
Equipment at the apiary is pretty standardised already (all Nationals). I want to chuck out and replace some very antique floors, but most of the rest of it is fine IMO.
The layout is a bit tricky, the space is cramped and currently the colonies are quite bunched up at one end of the space. I am thinking to try and move things around (3 feet at a time, heh) so that it'll be easier to demonstrate things to small groups. There are currently several double/triple stands - not all occupied. I was thinking of replacing these with all single stands, to make more room around the hives.
One of the big things I think needs to be done is to requeen one of the hives which I have found a bit spicy. This is not due to too many overly-intrusive inspections, they were hardly touched between May and August, when I observed this behaviour. They sting when well outside of the normal ~3m defensive boundary, and they follow.
I also believe the apiary should be managed more to make nice nuc colonies for the beginners. To kill two birds with one stone, one of the first jobs I have in mind in spring, when they build up, is going to be to split that spicy colony into 3 or 4 nucs (depending on size), with the queenless splits all getting a capped QC from a nicer colony (I have a nice one whose queen has a beautiful brood pattern). Once those are mated, I'd also replace the original queen, probably. Nobody has any idea of her age, but I'd guess she's a 2024 as nobody was doing any swarm control this year (this will change in 2025).
My thought was to aim to maintain two full sized production colonies in order to have a honey harvest for the owner of the land the hives are on, as a way to demonstrate extraction, and so that the new members see what full colonies should look like. Then after that, manage the rest of the apiary to generate as many nucs as practical, with these being sold to beginners when they feel ready to have them. We don't have too many nuc boxes currently, so that'll be some equipment on the shopping list, but we have sufficient funds. Is two full colonies too few? I'd expect we will have around 15 beginners on the course each year.
A couple of years before I joined, there was queen rearing, and we have a bunch of kit (nicot system and apideas). Would be great to get that going again, and it fits well with the aim to generate a lot of nuc colonies, but it might be a bit much to take on next year unless one of the more experienced members can be coaxed into leading that effort. Also, we have no proven good genetics in the apiary currently (just two 2024 caught swarms plus the spicy colony), so it couldn't be the first thing we do unless we acquire a decent colony. Might be a 2026 plan, after I get to grips with the apiary generally and make my queen rearing mistakes in my own garden apiary.
The other thing I am trying to wrap my head around is how best to get more people involved in the club apiary so it is actually serving the purpose of being a resource for the newer beekeepers, rather than being a burden for those who already have their own bees, with beginners invited up occasionally. Is it crazy to think about getting the current year's joiners, and any previous years who don't yet have bees doing inspections independently, after they've demonstrated competence? Should we have a chore list, maybe in a google doc or something?
Last edited: