New chap in Chester

[taurus]

Hello!

After many years of looking at courses and finding they were all at times I couldn't do I have found that the Wirral group are running a course on Friday evenings which is my day off - so I've asked for my name to be put down for it. Plus someone has kindly offered to allow me to look over their shoulder.

I've read the Haynes introduction book & Warre's 'Beekeeping for all' (not sure I could make sense of all of it though) as well as quite a lot the internet of course.

I've ordered copies of Bees at the Bottom of the Garden & Barefoot Beekeeping. Beekeepers seem to have quite a diverse range of ideas how to go about it!

We have a large south facing garden with a sheltered spot on the west side (ie facing east). We're only a stones throw from the Meadows in Chester, which is a protected flood plain.

I'll no doubt be browsing a lot on here - but I'm not rushing into anything. I'm not too bad with my hands so I'd like to try my hand at making a hive, but my workspace is mainly geared to mending old cars rather than woodwork so it would need to be reasonably simple. I'm thinking it's probably best to start with a bought hive and get some experience before trying to build one from scratch.

The username comes from a model aircraft I built and flew in vintage aerobatic competitions - the Taurus.

Paul.

 

[enrico]

Welcome Taurus, I am down the border a bit to you, good luck with everything. You will get times of mild panic and you will find that bees can make a grown man cry but apart from that 99 per cent of it is amazing. After 30plus years I am still learning!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

welcome - now's the time to shop about - I think Thornes have still got their online sale going so you can go half way, buy flatpack kit ('second quality' but nothing at all wrong with it, it's what most sensible people go for) Or if you fancy going to one of the conventions you can pick cheap stuff up there.
Hayne's manual is a good start, maybe you could proress then to 'Bees and Honey' by Ted Hooper or 'Practical Beekeeping' by Clive de Bruyn - steer well clear of the ramblings of the mad monk Warre and you should be all right

 

[madasafish]

from another former model aircraft maker.

 

[enrico]

Keep the heat gun you used for shrinking the plane covers, it is ideal for uncapping frames!!!
E

 

[bpmurray]

Welcome - you may yet regret jumping in

Since you're so interested in reading about the subject, you should try "Guide to Bees and Honey" by Ted Hooper: this is regarded as the bible by many here.

 

[BeeJayBee]

We have a large south facing garden with a sheltered spot on the west side (ie facing east). We're only a stones throw from the Meadows in Chester, which is a protected flood plain.

I'll no doubt be browsing a lot on here - but I'm not rushing into anything. I'm not too bad with my hands so I'd like to try my hand at making a hive, but my workspace is mainly geared to mending old cars rather than woodwork so it would need to be reasonably simple. I'm thinking it's probably best to start with a bought hive and get some experience before trying to build one from scratch.

Welcome, you live in a lovely place.

- but I'm not rushing into anything. I'm not too bad with my hands so I'd like to try my hand at making a hive, but my workspace is mainly geared to mending old cars rather than woodwork so it would need to be reasonably simple. I'm thinking it's probably best to start with a bought hive and get some experience before trying to build one from scratch

Take your time and don't buy anything until you've handled bees and seen, and used, the different types of hive you can buy or make.

Remember that if you ask two beekeepers a question you're likely to get at least three or four different answers!

Take a stroll through the information pages on Beebase, which is the National Bee Unit site.
Advice for New Beekeepers http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?sectionid=70
Advisory Leaflets, Training Manuals & Fact Sheets http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167

 

[taurus]

Thanks for the welcome. I'll look at those links and the mention of Ted Hooper's book reminds me that I have an unused book token from Christmas lying around somewhere.

When I used to train people to fly model aircraft my first advice was "don't buy anything until you've got to know a few club members". The difference between those who took that advice and those who didn't was amazing. The latter usually ended their first session with everything going home in a bin bag and we never saw them again. So apart from a bee suit I'm not spending anything until I've been on a course.

Just reading around this forum it is clear beekeepers have a diversity of views, some held with a degree of passion, so I guess it's a case of discerning whose advice you go with.

Anyway, just sent off the form for the course with the Wirral branch and the membership for the Cheshire Assoc. I know it won't be easy, a friend has kept bees for years and recently lost all of them.

 

[Brian Bush]

Hi Taurus
Welcome to the forum.
Pay heed to JBM he is right about Warre the mad monk. He believed it was the duty of French peasants to keep bees in a different way just to be different to the |Anglo Saxons i.e. the English and Americans who he disliked because we fought so well alongside the French in WW1

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

 

[taurus]

I must confess that I tried reading Br Warre's book and found it hard to see how it worked.

 

[dodzylla]

Welcomee!

 

[taurus]

I have found a mentor (through here) and am doing the local practical course, having spoken with my mentor I am going to see them tomorrow to sort out some bees - so since today is a day off and the weather is lovely I've been gardening all day and then I thought I'd prepare the hive.

A few days ago - just for fun - I put a nuc on top of my shed, so I went to take it down to transfer the frames into the hive, and as I reached up this happened........

She has been in and out for past hour or so. Which was a good excuse to open a beer and sit and watch.

 

[taurus]

Sat in the sun drinking beer watching a regular procession of them checking things out. Might not come to anything but it beats working.

 

[psafloyd]

Sat in the sun drinking beer watching a regular procession of them checking things out. Might not come to anything but it beats working.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Sat in the sun drinking beer watching a regular procession of them checking things out. Might not come to anything but it beats working.

Could be today or tomorrow or next week or they might go elsewhere
Great fun.

 

[taurus]

And so it begins.....

My mentor kindly delivered a double brood yesterday. After driving 40+ miles they were let out and started bringing in pollen within 10 minutes.

They had a very busy day collecting all kinds of coloured pollen. We have lime trees along the road and willows down by the river, plus a wealth of gardens and open meadows.

They must have been exhausted by bed time because when I went out to tuck them up they were all snoring loudly.

 

[taurus]

Today we moved them from the two poly brood boxes into my cedar ones. I was expecting them to raise some form of objection but they didn't seem at all bothered. I didn't need the smoker at all.

Of course the queen hid herself until frame 21 out of 22 - but she's certainly been busy. Loads of drones in there and a few play cups (empty).

I just need to persuade them to go up into the super now - they don't seem interested despite both BBs being chock full of brood and stores.