London beekeeper’s assistant

[tommoh]

Hi all,
I’m very much the junior partner in a pair of North London beekeepers, doing the lifting shifting and spinning while my wife does quality control. She has been a beekeeper for about ten years and I’ve assisted all this time. We have three hives at the moment but have been up to five at one point. My wife does a podcast about her experiences but I won’t link to that before I’ve got my feet under the table here as it might look like blatant advertising. Hoping to get a few technical tips on here as that’s my department.

 

[Amari]

Hi all,
I’m very much the junior partner in a pair of North London beekeepers, doing the lifting shifting and spinning while my wife does quality control. She has been a beekeeper for about ten years and I’ve assisted all this time. We have three hives at the moment but have been up to five at one point. My wife does a podcast about her experiences but I won’t link to that before I’ve got my feet under the table here as it might look like blatant advertising. Hoping to get a few technical tips on here as that’s my department.

Welcome Tommoh! I guess there re many similar partnerships on this forum - in particular one of our moderators, @Erichalfbee, deploys her partner in all sorts of Herculean physical tasks in her apiary. Fortunately my wife keeps her distance and her main role is to spend the takings from my honey-sales box at the local famers' market......
I find it difficult to imagine a couple who can amicably share the actual beekeeping.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I find it difficult to imagine a couple who amicably share the actual beekeeping.

Most of the time.
Hive tools have been drawn on a few occasions.

 

[tommoh]

I hear you. The nearest we have ever come to a divorce (honestly true) is trying to get a hive to a new position on our allotment in the pitch dark.

 

[Amari]

I hear you. The nearest we have ever come to a divorce (honestly true) is trying to get a hive to a new position on our allotment in the pitch dark.

I've found bees become very aggressive if disturbed after dark. Many years ago (1974!) I moved from Hants to Cheshire. The removal men agreed to take my two hives in their van so I had to close and strap the hives the evening before. Inevitably it had been a busy day, everything was packed including bee suit, gloves, torch etc. No worries - but in the dark I bodged closing up and got badly stung on my hands and face.
Outcome: 36 hours later I was due to meet my new colleagues-to-be for informal drinks. What appeared was a creature with a puffy face and grossly swollen eyelids.........

 

[Kaz]

I hear you. The nearest we have ever come to a divorce (honestly true) is trying to get a hive to a new position on our allotment in the pitch dark.

Yep, that does it . I also have to deploy my husband's lifting skills from time to time. He doesn't get involved in any other aspects of beekeeping, only moving hives or heavy supers (and then only if they are stacked too high) due to his nasty reactions to stings ( and I'm not referring to the swearing!)