How many bee years are you upto?

[Murox]

It's Friday after a long week of work. The bottle is definitely the answer. That's what I'm going with anyway

Had mine last night after a sparsely attended association meeting.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I admit I’ve used the idea of bee hive years. Too many novice beekeepers want to be awarded some sort of master beekeeper designation. One of the stipulations might be keeping bees for 5 years. I didn’t think having one hive it the garden for 5 years is much in actual training. I felt if adopted, new beekeepers might be prompted to work with an established beekeeper for a period of time. Of course the idea was never adopted.

 

[Ely]

I admit I’ve used the idea of bee hive years. Too many novice beekeepers want to be awarded some sort of master beekeeper designation. One of the stipulations might be keeping bees for 5 years. I didn’t think having one hive it the garden for 5 years is much in actual training. I felt if adopted, new beekeepers might be prompted to work with an established beekeeper for a period of time. Of course the idea was never adopted.

A turning point in my beekeeping a few years back was following your advice on inspections and checking for swarm cells without taking out frames. It made things a lot quicker and easier.

 

[JamezF]

well it does have a chippy (under the Home Guard club) that does an amazing fish supper fried in beef dripping

It's probably all gentrified by now. Not that I've been back there in probably thirty years. Both sides of my family come from Scunthorpe. Probably the only reason I don't have webbed feet is that my mum was adopted.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It's probably all gentrified by now

I don't think you will ever find Scunthorpe and gentrified sharing the same sentence
I think I was last there a little before the 2012 olympics and it was still waiting at that time for news of the war in Japan.

 

[jarmo henttu]

Difference with 300 and 15 hive nursing?
Do you spend 4 minutes per hive or 30 minutes? And selling honey. .. not much to compare.

 

[rolande]

Well I can see where @Curly green finger's is coming from with this although I must admit that I can't really see where he was going!

The 'hive year' thing is definitely something which has been mentioned in passing in the past, I'm pretty sure on this forum too.

Does it prove anything? In itself, no, but if all things are equal in the sense that you keep fifty hives as well as you keep five then of course it'll have an impact on your beekeeping. We have a very short active season in the UK to the extent that practical beekeeping is pretty much limited to half the year in this respect it has to be a very difficult hobby in which to gain smooth, reactive skills .

Obviously, if you can't 'get it' then greater numbers will only sink you that bit quicker BUT those who are able to pick up practical ability will always benefit from doing more.

 

[oxnatbees]

Sounds like a load of nonsense and something you have just devised and made up.

It's quite a common concept

 

[beeguy]

I’m a couple months in

 

[Poly Hive]

I used the phrase in a beginners talk yesterday to illustrate how more hives can, note the can, offer more experience. Then of course there is Murray...

PH

 

[Worldsend]

Is t his thread the new cabin fever ?
Soon be springtime

 

[masterBK]

I went to my first beekeeping class aged 11 yrs in 1958 , got my first hive in 1959 and kept just two colonies until 1974 when I expanded rapidly up to 25 hives which I have been running ever since, all on double broods. Now aged 76 and with dodgy knees I am finding the lifting/carrying more difficult. I gave up migratory beekeeping over 10 yrs ago and have now I have reached the point where I need to cut back year on year, aiming to drop to 4 or 5 colonies to keep me and my immediate family in honey before reluctantly giving up completely when I can no longer stand, lift or become mentally incapacitated!

So every year since my first hive, I reckon to have learnt or tried something new regarding bees and beekeeping. I consider "problems in beekeeping" as "solution and learning opportunities". I learnt a lot about practical beekeeping not just from my own experiences or from books (although I read quite a few of those on the way to my NDB) but from conversations with or watching other beekeepers working their bees including Br Adam , Ron Brown, Beo Cooper, Alan Barber, David Allen, Ted Hooper, Karl Showler, Eric Milner, Geoff Hopkinson, Clive De Bruyn, Adrian Waring and many other lesser known"experts" most of whom are unfortunately are no longer with us.

 

[jarmo henttu]

I used the phrase in a beginners talk yesterday to illustrate how more hives can, note the can, offer more experience. Then of course there is Murray...

PH

I have found that if I have more hives, I need more buildings, more store space for all stuff and activity into them. It takes lots of money.

 

[Antipodes]

I have found that if I have more hives, I need more buildings, more store space for all stuff and activity into them. It takes lots of money.

You become an expert in storing stuff and spending money.