Novices - What lessons have you learned in the 2011?

[enrico]

especially when it is spelt right!

 

[MuswellMetro]

Sign up a beginner to my BKA and BKA course before you mentor them ~( and his wife), and give them a free hive ..........otherwise they go off and join the adjacent association and take their course as it is cheaper by £10............and they still want to be mentored

 

[mystil]

Don't ever, ever put your hand up at an association meeting. You will have volunteered for something.

Hmmm I wish you would have told me sooner! Both myself and my hubby put our hand up and now are doing all sorts of things! Very enjoyable though.

My lessons: Dont assume that you have killed off all the swarm cells, there WILL be more somewhere. Shake all frames (except the one cell you want to keep).

Always have plenty of equipment, you never know when you will need it.

Dont wash your Veil in the washing machine if someone tells you too.

If people disagree on the right way to do something it probably does not matter which way you do it, at the end of the day the bees do as they please anyway.

 

[Robbie & Jans Bees]

I have learned that bee keeping is the most enjoyable thing I have ever done running a business being under pressure 24/7 its just nice to open the hive and watch nature at work wonderfull.

robbie

 

[ROACHMAN]

.

Buy twice as many frames/ supers etc than you think you need this time of year whilst the sales are on.

You will probably need them but if you dont you can always sell off any surplus to other beeks or on ebay for a profit

 

[wondervet]

never assume that any job you're going to do in the apiary is so minor that a veil is unnecessary.

 

[Ely]

I now need to know how to extract a super full of honey that has solidified

Buy an old chest freezer that doesn't work. Put in a light bulb (Lit of course!) put in your super and bobs your uncle. Soft runny honey!!!! May need a bit of tweeking but t works!
E

Hi, thanks. Would that work with any enclosed warm space?

 

[The Riviera Kid]

My lessons: Dont assume that you have killed off all the swarm cells, there WILL be more somewhere.

I learned this the hard way too

 

[iball]

never assume that any job you're going to do in the apiary is so minor that a veil is unnecessary.

 

[CB008]

I am a year 2 beekeeper who has had a very, very eventful second year although 116lbs of honey is a nice reward. I keep extensive records including a section for lessons which I thought that I would share.
• It is the numbers of frames of brood that counts – 8 in a national is a crowd as I found out when they left
• A great deal can happen in one week in exceptional weather (yes – another swarm)
• If you bung a swarm back then you need to use a QE underneath for a day or so (bye - bye)
• If you live in the far South then a single national is simply not big enough (yup – off they go again)
• You never have enough spare equipment – got that swarm now where do I put it ?
• Placid bees can have an off day – complacency knocked for six on this one!
• Even when you have not seen a Varroa in months it is surprising what a good dose of Api will bring down
• The varroa tray needs something sticky on it !
• It looks very pretty in the garden to have a line of identical hives next to each other but what am I doing to assist the virgin to get the right hive on the way back from her first foray – is that why I had laying workers on 2 occasions
• Dealing with laying workers is heartbreaking – I really should have sprayed them and the other workers from the adjacent hive that the flying bees went back to
• Bees NEVER, EVER read the books

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Found out the hard way (4 times) that you can need a lot of patience when introducing queens

 

[MuswellMetro]

That my Bees have not read the book that says the Demaree swarm control method is supposed to stop them swarming

 

[enrico]

Ely, It needs to be quite warm!! It is surprising how warm an old 60 watt bulb makes a sealed chest freezer. The other way is to use a greenhouse propogater heater, preferably with a thermostat and insulate the super with bubble wrap.
You just have to think outside the box! Warm enough to melt the honey but not warm enough to melt the wax. Long and steady is the key. It may take a week!
E

 

[WelshPaul]

Learning that in your first year of keeping bees, don't volunteer for anything. Started by doing my beginners course volunteered for a few things at the local association. Now I've ended up being, librarian, fund raising officer and on a sub committee for finding new land. Lol but love every minute of it.

 

[Poggle]

When you buy your first hive and nuc and are told that they wont swarm this year and that there is no need to put a super on as they will take up the rest of the summer (July, August, September) laying eggs and bringing in food for the winter. Do NOT believe them!

When you wander down to the allotment with no suit, no smoker, no tools no nothing and it is 28 degrees August at one thirty in the afternoon........That is when the buggers will swarm......
When you wander down the allotment in September in 28 degrees of heat WITH your suit on and sweating like a pig, this is when the same hive will swarm again.....................

Do not listen to local "experts" "Ar John, moi 'usban 'e troid ter do bees n them all dies them did so it be norra good oidear ter do thum dan 'ere loik"

"My ole daaad, 'im jus wore is cap when im done 'is bees Jock, ne'er got stung unce him dibn't"

Bees CANNOT read.
Bees do what THEY want to do, generally enmasse.
Bees know far more about the weather than I/we do.

Any nutter who says "'ere Jock, gies a look inta the 'ive loik then mate?" can do it whilst I am at dinner.

Bees are more intelligent than wot I is like innit.

The friend who says airily " Oh, don't worry John, you will only have one hive this year" is deluded.

Wasps are the skinheads of the insect world.

Wasps are just as dumb as crabs are.

Anyone who says " I am an expert in bee management" needs help......FAST!!

I am still learning and still loving it

 

[Spadaman]

Do not listen to local "experts" "Ar John, moi 'usban 'e troid ter do bees n them all dies them did so it be norra good oidear ter do thum dan 'ere loik"

"My ole daaad, 'im jus wore is cap when im done 'is bees Jock, ne'er got stung unce him dibn't"

Love the Daarset arccent!! you got neighbours loik mine!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

When you wander down to the allotment with no suit, no smoker, no tools no nothing and it is 28 degrees August at one thirty in the afternoon........That is when the buggers will swarm......

Indeed!!! You can get them into a nuc box (had an empty one in the apiary) with no beesuit
Though I wouldn't do it again and wouldn't recommend anybody else try.

 

[Poggle]

Indeed!!! You can get them into a nuc box (had an empty one in the apiary) with no beesuit
Though I wouldn't do it again and wouldn't recommend anybody else try.

Lousie and I did the first swarm ourselves. That was an eye opener. The next swarm one of our club members came out and showed me his way of doing it........Another eye opener. I didn't realise that they were so docile they can be taken from the area by hand and thrown into the nuc box!!
BUT, Edward did say that doing it with no suit might be difficult

 

[Poggle]

Love the Daarset arccent!! you got neighbours loik mine!!

Nah mate, oi gorra village full of dem tha' taks loik tha' mate. One lady had the temerity to inquire why after 30 years I had not changed my soft highland accent to a Dorset one................She was smiled at politely.

 

[margob99]

1. Don't show off to admiring fans when trying to transfer a colony from one brood box to another. You will pay for the ego trip somehow, someway, somewhere, some-lost-queen-or-other

2. Keep things clean or you will have a disgusting clean-up job to do when the wax moth sets in