How is running a club apiary different?

[smallbee]

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?

 

[smallbee]

I was also thinking of starting to encourage people to stop in the nearby cafe after any apiary visits. We don't have any social space at the club apiary, but I think it would be really useful to sit with people, maybe review photos of the frames at leisure to digest what was seen.

 

[Sutty]

I would definitely requeen that hive ASAP, I wouldn't count your 3m defensive rule as normal either - I can (almost always) stand 2-3 feet in front of my hives and be ignored. Beginners should be working with docile bees as far as possible, at least to start with.

 

[smallbee]

Yep, it's my absolute number 1 priority, as soon as there's drones about next season and the potential for mating weather.

This apiary is going into the next season with one known spicy colony and two late swarms that are largely unknown quantities. Far from ideal, and I'll be making sure that we don't go into 2026 that way.

Hopefully one or both of the swarms will be reasonably behaved in the spring, and hopefully the combination of spring flow plus splitting down will calm the grumpy bees until some new genetics can kick in. I'll certainly be assessing matters before any beginners go near the hives; if things are bad I'll have to look into getting some more docile bees from somewhere else for demonstrations.

My own hives at home are more like yours, Sutty, I can hang out quite near the entrances without getting buzzed, as long as I'm out of the flight lines (bees tend to get caught in my hair then).

I would definitely requeen that hive ASAP, I wouldn't count your 3m defensive rule as normal either - I can (almost always) stand 2-3 feet in front of my hives and be ignored. Beginners should be working with docile bees as far as possible, at least to start with.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Firstly, make sure you have an agreement with the committee as to who runs the apiary. As apiary manager you need free rein to arrange and control the site, if you are going to have multiple 'teachers' they still need to consult/agree with you before any significant intervention in each colony, you need to set out firm ground rules - they will probably all get ignored after a while but at least then you can justify your actions on your resignation letter.
First of all accept that each colony is going to be fiddled about with so to have two colonies solely dedicated to production is a dream, but that doesn't make the colonies won't make honey - but does mean you have to have oversight and control of each colony so that they don't get messed about too much.
Aim to have half a dozen or more colonies so that at least some can be 'rested' or taken out of the teaching round if needed - some will swarm, requeen themselves at inconvenient times etc. so they will need a break.
teaching hives need to be on single stands and spaced far enough apart so that you can have learners grouped around three sides, or to demonstrate a pagden if/when you find QCs.

manage the rest of the apiary to generate as many nucs as practical

splitting and splitting again ad infinitum you will find in the end you will have an apiary full of mediocre colonies, your 'chosen' hives will seldom perform as you wish so be prepared again to change plans/objectives for each colony as things change.
I would definitely make up a few Demaree boards as with that system you can Demaree the strongest colonies, but as soon as the top box has capped QC's split it into three or four nucs (thus leaving them with just a single brood again) and you'll probably find that those colonies will also return a decent honey crop.
It's a teaching apiary so don't tolerate hot colonies, be ruthless in requeening tetchy or poor performing colonies.
Be prepared to be challenged by the usual 'experts' who will swan up to the apiary when it suits them (usually after you've done the hard work) and just cause chaos as 'they know best'.
Just before I took over the association apiary it had been reduced to three or four pathetic colonies as the four 'mentors' in charge of the apiary had just gone in to whatever colony, pulled out a frame of brood to 'help' the colony they were in charge of, not told anyone, then the next idiot would come along and do exactly the same thing, there was no joined up thinking, no liaison and no supervision of beginners when they were allowed to inspect 'on their own.
The final straw for me was, after being begged to take over the apiary with a promise that I ran it without interference and to my rules, and Redwood and I transformed the apiary from a sad collection of dwindling colonies to a thriving productive apiary which paid for itself from honey sales as well as supplying cheap nucs to our beginners, all of a sudden one person used to swan in last minute Sunday morning after I had set up and prepared everything for the beginners, would open a few hives as he saw fit then ignored all instruction when things needed rectifying, then buggered off for his Sunday dinner at 1130 leaving me and Paul to tidy up and lock up.
So be warned......................

 

[drex]

I admire your ambitions. I took over a neglected club apiary last year. I am experienced. My first task was to sort out and clean up equipment that was to be kept as some was very tatty and some filthy. Then I sorted out apiary layout and gave grass and hedges a good trim. Come the season, I then went through colonies and took out old manky combs and put in fresh foundation. I keep meticulous colony records as hives are probably inspected by different people each time. When I inspect I particularly make scores on temperament and calmness on comb, so that I can then decide which to use for queen rearing. I insist on high hygiene standards, as I have noted some can be quite slapdash, and get lots of different people in the apiary
I suggest you do not set too many objectives each season.
JBM posted while I was writing. I cannot agree more that you need total overall control ( with good feedback to committee). I too have had problems with people swanning in and messing things up.

 

[smallbee]

Thanks jenkinsbrynmair, a lot of food for thought there. The 'fiddling' is a definite hazard, but in recent times the only fiddling has been done by me. If I can get the place thriving a bit more then it'll probably become more of a problem, so I expect it will be a sign of something going right, as well as a pain

I need to walk a fine line, particularly with being pretty new - I really do need to use the expertise of the more senior association members, and I need to keep them on-side - but I am indeed the person who should be coordinating things and making the management decisions. Someone's going to call me bossy before 2025 is out, I'm sure of it - I'm a woman, and shortarsed and babyfaced to boot, so that's nothing very new.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

hopefully the combination of spring flow plus splitting down will calm the grumpy bees until some new genetics can kick in.

don't depend on luck and crossed fingers, requeen at the first opportunity, if you insist on splitting, don't depend on them requeening themselves - introduce bought in queens.
a bunch of weak nucs is not going to make an ideal teaching apiary, you need strong colonies.
I never opened the teaching apiary to beginners until the hives could withstand the hammering that teaching hives get. If I thought that some of the second year students who still wanted to come to the lessons were competent enough, I would ask them to come along to help getting the colonies built up.
Hoping to build up a teaching apiary with caught swarms is a recipe for disaster

 

[smallbee]

drex: thank you for your words of advice. I've already been prepping fresh frames and things for 2025, and vegetation and so on is trimmed.
With respect to hygiene standards, do you mean visitors washing gloves and hive tools and so on, or something else?

I have no ambitions really, I just want the apiary to work well, which it currently isn't. I'm not the best person for the job, but I'm the best person who is willing to do it, I think.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Someone's going to call me bossy before 2025 is out, I'm sure of it - I'm a woman, and shortarsed and babyfaced to boot

I know both SWMBO and I share a common Irish ancestor, but it looks like I've found her long lost twin!!

 

[smallbee]

don't depend on luck and crossed fingers, requeen at the first opportunity, if you insist on splitting, don't depend on them requeening themselves - introduce bought in queens.

You are dead right. I should just order queens for earliest collection in spring and not faff with trying to raise them.
They'll have to be AMM and not imported, so probably cannot be that early, though. The association does have the money for this. Don't know why I didn't think of that. I will have to learn NOT to apply my own scrappy DIY ethos to this problem.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I keep meticulous colony records as hives are probably inspected by different people each time.

yes, I had a separate folder for each hive with the apiary checklist in there which I've shared here before, each inspection, one beginner was in charge of the checklist and would fill it in as we inspected.
I always turned up at the teaching apiary an hour before anyone else, have a quick mooch around, maybe pop a crownboard on a hive I wanted peace to sort something, then read through each inspection folder and made a 'to do' list to hand to the mentor with the file of the hive I wanted them to inspect.

 

[smallbee]

That is gold JBM, thank you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

another thing, our apiary was long and thin so the bottom area was partitioned off with a few fencing panels separating the training area from all the nucs and any hot colonies (we had 'the feral beekeeper' who had 'grandfather rights' to use the apiary, his bees were a collection of the vilest little monsters known to man, carefully bred from any old swarm he could collect)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've attached the record card I used

 

[smallbee]

another thing, our apiary was long and thin so the bottom area was partitioned off with a few fencing panels separating the training area from all the nucs and any hot colonies (we had 'the feral beekeeper' who had 'grandfather rights' to use the apiary, his bees were a collection of the vilest little monsters known to man, carefully bred from any old swarm he could collect)

So you would move any colonies that developed poor behaviour into that area?
It's only the association bees at ours, but it is also long and thin, so having an area for problem hives is a definite possibility.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So you would move any colonies that developed poor behaviour into that area?

yes, if it looked to be something more than a temporary mood swing down they would go to the area we renamed Soweto due to the absolutely dire condition of the feral beekeeper's hives (one hive actually disintegrated as we were moving it to a new stand!!)
Don't worry about the three foot rule, it doesn't matter much if the colony was potentially doing the green mile, just move them.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

I've only helped out at the club apiary a few times this year. Organised on WhatsApp (#edit named "Beginners Beekeeping Group") or Facebook on a Saturday afternoon. Apiary manager and one experienced beek there each time directing the inspections. I worry I'm doing things differently from the way they teach them. #edit Useful to have standard and 14x12 Nationals and WBC. I know I don't want to move to 14x12. People give kit to the club. Perhaps you have to say no sometimes.
People on the beginners course seem to drop away soon after finishing the course.

You sound very ambitious, what with nucs for beginners and queen rearing and production colonies and . . . and.
When I started 8 years ago the club didn't have a club apiary and before I got my own colony I'd only handled a couple of frames in a super. Just doing the full inspection of a brood box is a major step for a beginner. In recent years there has been a push for beginners to do the BBKA Basic Assessment. Syllabus online. Setting up an apiary to run this level of skill would be good to start. ?

On Facebook I see that another local club has tea and biscuits after the session. I wish. We'd be sipping tea through the veil with our lot! You get followed back to the cars 50 metres along a track between high hedges!! We need to have more tolerant bees. We have a dozen big strong colonies that produce way more than mine which could be a bit intimidating for a beginner.

I think the apiary manager can get stuck with a lot of work. Get someone else to organize a honey extraction session or box/frame building session.
Good luck.

 

[smallbee]

Thanks for the thoughts, Parsonage Bees!

I'm in Ireland so no BBKA syllabus here - but the two rival Irish beekeepers associations do something that's probably similar and very much doable. It's just the skills to do a basic inspection - identiying hive parts, opening and closing hives, handling frames, describing what's on them.

I think you're right that colonies can be too big and strong in a club apiary. I think I'd aim to keep them in a single national brood box plus supers (max of 3 maybe). Double brood seems fairly rare over here anyway.

Taking on the apiary grunt work is how I ended up here
Definitely a good plan to try and involve others in the chores.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'm in Ireland so no BBKA syllabus here

lucky you.