Nobody tells you...

[Firefly]

...when you take up the gentle craft of beekeeping that within a couple of years you will be struggling across an overgrown, matted and tangled grass field, in the dark, carrying a 50kg receptacle containing 30,000 insects, 29,000 of which can sting

Worse: Nobody tells you that you will consider this entirely rational and reasonable behaviour

 

[Galaxy55]

Oh! the joys of bee-keeping

 

[Finman]

...when you take up the gentle craft of beekeeping that within a couple of years you will be struggling across an overgrown, matted and tangled grass field, in the dark, carrying a 50kg receptacle containing 30,000 insects, 29,000 of which can sting

Worse: Nobody tells you that you will consider this entirely rational and reasonable behaviour

You have 3 hives. Wait that you have 700 hives.

 

[Nige.Coll]

I'm lucky I can drive right upto mine

 

[Firefly]

You have 3 hives. Wait that you have 700 hives.

He he

That's another story - and another thing they do not tell you!

I had three hives at the start of the season, and three hives is what I want, so how come yesterday I found myself inspecting seven colonies?!

(Plus four more for absent friends)

 

[Dishmop]

...when you take up the gentle craft of beekeeping that within a couple of years you will be struggling across an overgrown, matted and tangled grass field, in the dark, carrying a 50kg receptacle containing 30,000 insects, 29,000 of which can sting

Worse: Nobody tells you that you will consider this entirely rational and reasonable behaviour

Could be worse.

You could be stuck indoors decorating and putting up shelves.......

 

[MuswellMetro]

SWMBO now knows that if i say at 8:00am, i am just popping out to look at the Bees, that i might be home for Tea-time but problably not

 

[ratcatcher]

lol, after picking up a very big swarm last week, took a bb and super to house it, then transferring it into the landy along with my mrs, to take over our woods, half way there my wife says, there's a bee flying around in the back, theres 2,theres 3,theres 4, we ended up with 10, all windows open, air con on full blast, to keep them to the back, arrive safely without any troubles

 

[aberreef]

Spot on

Bees should also come with a stress warning. This is the only hobby I can think of where participants lay awake all night worrying and have a constant feeling of dread about what the little sods are up to

It's all worth it to see their cute little faces and waggy bums though

 

[abm]

Ive recently bought a fishing trolley to move boxes around.

had 2 swarms at home and recieved a sting on the face whilst merely glancing at 1 box, after my face settled down it was decided (the wife) that they had to go.

ahhh i'll use my new trolley, so loaded 2 hives, trolley, stands .....

got to the chosen farm, i had a short strech to the chosen patch...

decided to get all the gear on site first then do the hives in separate manouvers last....

stands, tools, veil all strapped on and away i set off... 20ft later the trolley was on its side.... so i still ended up hawking them across by hand !!

oh and i was stung..... nettles only this time though.

 

[REDWOOD]

Lucky me only one field

 

[YorkshireBees]

...when you take up the gentle craft of beekeeping that within a couple of years you will be struggling across an overgrown, matted and tangled grass field, in the dark, carrying a 50kg receptacle containing 30,000 insects, 29,000 of which can sting

Worse: Nobody tells you that you will consider this entirely rational and reasonable behaviour

With experience comes the knowledge to only choose / accept sites that have vehicle access almost right up to the hives!

Been there, done that and got the sweaty bee suit!

 

[Pendragon]

With experience comes the knowledge to only choose / accept sites that have vehicle access almost right up to the hives!

Lol! If only I had done it.

 

[Firefly]

With experience comes the knowledge to only choose / accept sites that have vehicle access almost right up to the hives!

Been there, done that and got the sweaty bee suit!

This little episode had quite a few worthwhile lessons actually. The hives were not actually mine, but a friends - who asked me if I could put them up in my apiary "for a couple of weeks" in mid-March (lesson #1!)

Because they were supposedly short term visitors in catchy weather, I chose to put them 100m along the track to the apiary rather than in the apiary itself (which can get a bit boggy) 200m further on. Sound reasoning until two sleepy March colonies become two large hyper-active June colonies and become really quite intimidating to the families and villagers who share my apiary-cum-field and are forced to pass within 15m of them (lesson #2)

Through a series of Hoffnung-like mishaps, both hives still had two nearly full supers on them - hence the 50kg load (lesson #3)

Arriving unannounced in a large, unfamiliar van at 9pm in a sleepy Cotswold village, driving off road to the bottom of a track and starting loading up did actually arouse a few suspicions and got us reported to someone who keeps an eye on the place (good!!! - but lesson #4 nevertheless)

The cross-country humping and heaving was actually at my friends apiary which is their permanent home and it is in fact possible to drive up to the apiary gate, so it was only a 20 or 30 yard carry really. But it would have been a whole lot easier if the grass had been strimmed (lesson #5)

Although both I and my bees love my apiary, I'm quite envious of the place we took them to. Sheltered by trees from the south west winds; secluded and off the beaten track without being isolated; a few hundred acres of organic farmland to play in; edge of town gardens within easy flying distance - really a small piece of paradise

So it may have been mad, but it was a thoroughly worthwhile exercise, in the process of which I learned all the above, and what travel screens look like. I was also generously given a couple of now-surplus hive stands for my pains, because he has constructed what he calls "old man hive stands" (fixed to short posts) out of pairs of half-pallets on the site; more food for thought

 

[Ben90]

...when you take up the gentle craft of beekeeping that within a couple of years you will be struggling across an overgrown, matted and tangled grass field, in the dark, carrying a 50kg receptacle containing 30,000 insects, 29,000 of which can sting

Worse: Nobody tells you that you will consider this entirely rational and reasonable behaviour

I carried a nuc across an entire suburb in May. People heard some buzzing from inside and gave me a wide berth.