Moggs
Field Bee
I am a novice beekeeper. A newbeek in the first year of my bees managing me. What started very tentatively in May has become something of an absorbing hobby, shall we say. In fact, it has been a sharp experiential learning curve and, on the whole, quite a positive one.
There have been trials and tribulations along the way and as some of you will have noted, these have involved quite a wide cross-section of challenges, taking in artificial swarms, queenlessness, recombining, treatments, the honey harvest and so on. I see myself as being quite privileged to have accommodated all of this in the first year as I now move forward toward the winter with perhaps four strong colonies (though we haven't bedded them down yet of course).
Now, to the point of this post. With hindsight (which we all know is a wonderful thing) I cannot for the life of me see how I could have accomplished this without the laborious preparations commencing around this time last year. Indeed, even with a highly-respected winter training course under my belt and the (at least partial) absorption of the advice contained within several good books, I started in the field feeling decidedly under-prepared.
There is no doubt that this year's experiences have consolidated so much of that prior preparation and I feel quite comfortable now that I have grasped the basics. But that is all it is. I can but hope that the bees may not need to be as forgiving as we move into the second season but that presupposes that this year's work has been successful and on that, time will tell!
I am quite intrigued then, when I hear of people who have been able to 'jump in at the deep end' (perhaps as a result of recent 'bee-mania') and who successfully maintain these complicated creatures, sometimes without so much as a passing reference to the vast and comprehensive range of guidance that is so widely available. Are they extremely fortunate or have I perhaps just experienced a year's worth of 'testy' bees?
I suspect that I know the answer to that question. My point is that, in the sure and certain knowledge that there is so much to learn (and much of that can only be by experience with bees) it is vital to secure a really good foundation, afforded either by a good training course or under the mentorship of an experienced 'keeper. There is no doubt that this forum serves as a wealth of good advice but I heartily recommend a more formal 'apprenticeship', as I said, with the benefit of hindsight.
I for one, will be re-reading the work of Ted Hooper and quite a few more to while away the darker nights.
Interested to hear of other newbs' experiences...
There have been trials and tribulations along the way and as some of you will have noted, these have involved quite a wide cross-section of challenges, taking in artificial swarms, queenlessness, recombining, treatments, the honey harvest and so on. I see myself as being quite privileged to have accommodated all of this in the first year as I now move forward toward the winter with perhaps four strong colonies (though we haven't bedded them down yet of course).
Now, to the point of this post. With hindsight (which we all know is a wonderful thing) I cannot for the life of me see how I could have accomplished this without the laborious preparations commencing around this time last year. Indeed, even with a highly-respected winter training course under my belt and the (at least partial) absorption of the advice contained within several good books, I started in the field feeling decidedly under-prepared.
There is no doubt that this year's experiences have consolidated so much of that prior preparation and I feel quite comfortable now that I have grasped the basics. But that is all it is. I can but hope that the bees may not need to be as forgiving as we move into the second season but that presupposes that this year's work has been successful and on that, time will tell!
I am quite intrigued then, when I hear of people who have been able to 'jump in at the deep end' (perhaps as a result of recent 'bee-mania') and who successfully maintain these complicated creatures, sometimes without so much as a passing reference to the vast and comprehensive range of guidance that is so widely available. Are they extremely fortunate or have I perhaps just experienced a year's worth of 'testy' bees?
I suspect that I know the answer to that question. My point is that, in the sure and certain knowledge that there is so much to learn (and much of that can only be by experience with bees) it is vital to secure a really good foundation, afforded either by a good training course or under the mentorship of an experienced 'keeper. There is no doubt that this forum serves as a wealth of good advice but I heartily recommend a more formal 'apprenticeship', as I said, with the benefit of hindsight.
I for one, will be re-reading the work of Ted Hooper and quite a few more to while away the darker nights.
Interested to hear of other newbs' experiences...
Got my hive about end of June and they have been my total focus of attention since: real train-spotter time. Still almost as excited as the day I got them, can't wait to increase next year. 
