Obtaining bees in Kent

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Julie in Ash

New Bee
Joined
Jul 6, 2018
Messages
78
Reaction score
2
Location
East Kent, near Sandwich.
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
2
Hi there. So I was here last year generally soaking up the ambience and learning a trick or two. Much debate was had about hive types which caused much jollity. Anyway I am all set to begin and this is officially my first year. I joined my local association, however because I am on the very edge of their catchment area, there was not a mentor for me. Efforts are ongoing to persuade one of the existing mentors to take me on as an additional student, but no luck so far. I am though being offered free loan of a National hive for my first year.

Having no mentor means no access to a special “mates rates” nuc of health screened bees at a cost of £75 which are usually offered to new beginners by our association. (Mentors supply the bees). The association apiary itself suffered losses this winter so no bees there for me either, although I do think they will try and sort me out something if my search is still fruitless after a couple of months.

Ergo, my best chance of getting bees earlier is to catch a swarm. I simply do not have the finances to pay a commercial supplier price for bees I may well end up doing something stupid to. I have two swarm traps out near wild colonies, which are visited by scout bees, but the colonies have swarmed at least once so far and snubbed my traps.

I have my name down on the swarm list at my association, but so do about 20 others. What I want to ask is this... I am in East Kent (not far from Bee Equipment who used to be Mann Lake). Does anyone know of any other local swarm lists I can get my name on? I know I must be patient and it’s early days etc. Just feeling pre-match nerves and really want to get cracking.
 
Good luck Julie.

I would wonder though that they had losses this Winter past as it was probably the easiest wintering season for many years.

Ho hum...

PH
 
Good luck Julie.

I would wonder though that they had losses this Winter past as it was probably the easiest wintering season for many years.

Ho hum...

PH

The match sticks self combusted
 
Good luck Julie.

I would wonder though that they had losses this Winter past as it was probably the easiest wintering season for many years.

Ho hum...

PH

I heard a few people lost hives through starvation. A couple due to suspected varroa problems. At the association apiary, the Dracula hive survived but a couple of smaller, weak nucs expired due to varroa. ( Not keen to have a Dracula split! ) Like a lot of associations I guess, the committee is small and experienced but there are large numbers of people with less than 3 years in. Hence the losses I guess. One person lost 3 of 5 to starvation. So I have to wait my turn.
 
I have my name down on the swarm list at my association, but so do about 20 others..

Do something different. When I was in your situation I contacted local tourist info/councils and got my name and telephone number publicised.
Great initially, but eventually far too many phone calls. So be warned.
 
Put your name down with the police always used to get a few calls from them. I suggest if you get called to a high street you have an experienced beer with you though
 
Put your name down with the police always used to get a few calls from them. I suggest if you get called to a high street you have an experienced beer with you though

That would be an "old ale" then? :)
Hopefully from Shepherd Neame.
 
Last edited:
Lol.....beek...the best bit of kit to take with you when collecting a swarm is one of those mist sprayers. Give them a good spray/mist on arrival to prevent them taking off before you get your gear out and ideal for preventing others taking flight when banging or scooping into any box
 
Last edited:
It is very difficult here in Tas to get bees. Demand far outstrips supply. We do have "gumtree" here in Australia which is very popular. Anything like that in the UK?
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-free+bee+swarms/k0

We do have Gumtree and I see there’s a few nucs for sale, sadly none reasonably near and again a bit too strong a price for me at this stage when taking into account the petrol to go collect them. I expect to pay if offered a nuc of course, but I can’t stretch the budget that far when I have to buy so many other things.

I am actually excited about the prospect of going out to collect a swarm if I get the chance. Great tip about spraying them, hadn’t thought of that.
 
Hi Julie, if you search "bee swarm" on gumtree in Tasmania you see loads of ads for free swarm collection. Likewise on gumtree uk there are plenty if you search...... "bee swarm" , "England".....but if I search "bee swarm", "Kent" I can't see any ads for free swarm removal. I was thinking perhaps you could place an ad there saying you will collect them free of charge in Kent.....
 
Hi there, ive just done an artificial swarm. Im not interested in increasing my colonies. I would be happy to create a nuc up once the virgin has mated i planned to recombine and hated the idea of squishing a beautiful buckfast. If you can get to dorset theyre yours. Im not interested in money for them perhaps frames/foundation replacement costs. Anyway a point to consider if interested is mine are on commercials. Just PM me if interested.
 
Hi there, ive just done an artificial swarm. Im not interested in increasing my colonies. I would be happy to create a nuc up once the virgin has mated i planned to recombine and hated the idea of squishing a beautiful buckfast. If you can get to dorset theyre yours. Im not interested in money for them perhaps frames/foundation replacement costs. Anyway a point to consider if interested is mine are on commercials. Just PM me if interested.

That’s a very kind and generous offer and yes I will PM you. xx
 
Back
Top