I recently had a significant birthday and all the lovely people in my village donated money and bought me a complete beekeeping kit – what an amazing present! The only thing I did know about beekeeping at that time was a) that I had always want to do it since I was a little girl breeding earwigs in a eggbox and b) that there must be a lot to learn before anyone would let me loose on actual living bees!
The first thing I did was phone a very nice lady at the West Sussex Beekeepers Association who told me that I would need to learn a lot about bees and get used to handling them, even before splashing out on my own beehive – oops too late for that then!
I started the beginners course at the Sussex Apiary – about an hour a week during the evening. I put on my bee suit, very flattering for the older lady, and strode into the clearing in the woods like a astronaut taking his first step onto the moon. Unfortunately, I was the only one who had kitted up and I was greeted by a crowd of amused would be beekeepers looking on at this slightly eccentric figure which was me. But what a great crowd they turned out to be – a colourful assortment of strangers from all walks of life all intent on keeping bees! One amongst the assortment was Big Jim, a smiley fellow who greeted me warmly. His enthusiasm for keeping bees was infectious! His only problem, and this was another big thing about him, was that he had nowhere to site his two hives and was about to take delivery of two nuc’s – if you are a beekeeper, you will know what I mean, if you are not, go to wikipedia
Anyway, you’ve guessed it, we both thought it would be a good idea for Jim to put his hives at my place.
The nuc’s arrived with instructions to stand well back and pull the bungs out…. which we did! Possibly one or less bees flew out of the opening we had created. Not the great buzz and flight that we had anticipated. A couple of days later we lifted the frames into the two hives. Here’s the next thing I learnt pretty quick – colonies have their own personalities. One of the hives is lovely with lots of furry bees going about their business and the other one, well they are what we call the angry ones. I’ve already been chased down the garden and stung on the leg – just for opening up the hive. More smoke next time!
So, here we are at the beginning of the great bee adventure! Look out for more blogs on the subject – bet you can’t wait to hear what Adam the wasp man had to say when he came to destroy the nest!
Wax
The first thing I did was phone a very nice lady at the West Sussex Beekeepers Association who told me that I would need to learn a lot about bees and get used to handling them, even before splashing out on my own beehive – oops too late for that then!
I started the beginners course at the Sussex Apiary – about an hour a week during the evening. I put on my bee suit, very flattering for the older lady, and strode into the clearing in the woods like a astronaut taking his first step onto the moon. Unfortunately, I was the only one who had kitted up and I was greeted by a crowd of amused would be beekeepers looking on at this slightly eccentric figure which was me. But what a great crowd they turned out to be – a colourful assortment of strangers from all walks of life all intent on keeping bees! One amongst the assortment was Big Jim, a smiley fellow who greeted me warmly. His enthusiasm for keeping bees was infectious! His only problem, and this was another big thing about him, was that he had nowhere to site his two hives and was about to take delivery of two nuc’s – if you are a beekeeper, you will know what I mean, if you are not, go to wikipedia
Anyway, you’ve guessed it, we both thought it would be a good idea for Jim to put his hives at my place.
The nuc’s arrived with instructions to stand well back and pull the bungs out…. which we did! Possibly one or less bees flew out of the opening we had created. Not the great buzz and flight that we had anticipated. A couple of days later we lifted the frames into the two hives. Here’s the next thing I learnt pretty quick – colonies have their own personalities. One of the hives is lovely with lots of furry bees going about their business and the other one, well they are what we call the angry ones. I’ve already been chased down the garden and stung on the leg – just for opening up the hive. More smoke next time!
So, here we are at the beginning of the great bee adventure! Look out for more blogs on the subject – bet you can’t wait to hear what Adam the wasp man had to say when he came to destroy the nest!
Wax
