Total novice here go gentle.

[Alan Blundy]

Hi all
Looking to start up on my allotment in sheffield . No experience whatsoever , Been living on YouTube . If anyone local to Sheff/ Rotherham etc and wouldn’t mind me paying a visit to your setups that be great . Also equipment wise got nothing think looking at nationals in cedar but need suits , smokers the whole shabang . Looking forward to my beekeeping journey.

 

[Richard]

I would advise finding your local BBK association and get yourself on a beginners course. https://www.bbka.org.uk/find-beekeeping-near-you

As well as the course, you gain useful contacts that can offer advise when you need it.

I started this year, got my first colony in March, but started learning and planning about a year ago.

 

[Mint Bee]

Attempting to keep bees on allotments has seen forum members get mixed results and reactions. Good information available using the search function on the forum for you to come to a conclusion yourself. Get some experience handling bees with your local association as well as practical knowledge on keeping bees around other people. Good luck!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Been living on YouTube

Plenty of cow-pats there, but stick to Black Mountain Honey, Norfolk Honey Company and Gwenyn Gruffydd and you'll avoid stepping in them.

Get this book.

think looking at nationals in cedar

Cedar prices have rocketed in the last year; Abelo 11-frame poly is a modern hive far better suited to colony thermal efficiency, and the best National on the market. Don't buy anything until you've spent time in hives, as your dream may not match the reality.

Check allotment regs. and make sure to find a secluded spot - preferably on a hedge line - and build a 2m mesh screen to raise the line of flight. As a beginner I took over a deceased beekeeper's plot and I'm still there, but I curry favour by selling honey at 15% below market price, cut paths occasionally and have now been dragged onto the committee, so it need not end in tears.

 

[Swarm]

I'd steer clear of any yootoober offerings.

 

[drex]

Get to handle some bees before you splash out any cash. Not a good time to start as the colony has to build in strength to survive winter, when a lot of people lose their bees. Most associations run courses early in new year. Make contact now and go along to any apiary meetings when you will get to handle bees. Get reading books. If you don't know what you are looking at YT can be very misleading. This is a wonderful hobby. Enjoy but start slowly

 

[Alan Blundy]

Get to handle some bees before you splash out any cash. Not a good time to start as the colony has to build in strength to survive winter, when a lot of people lose their bees. Most associations run courses early in new year. Make contact now and go along to any apiary meetings when you will get to handle bees. Get reading books. If you don't know what you are looking at YT can be very misleading. This is a wonderful hobby. Enjoy but start slowly

Not gonna start till nxt spring going to go to meeting and book course before doing anything .

 

[pargyle]

Not gonna start till nxt spring going to go to meeting and book course before doing anything .

You have probably already realised that start up costs in beekeeping mount up .. hives are not cheap and you really do need at least two sets to cope with the possibility of swarming ... and in a good year you will never have enough supers. You may find that your association will find you some bees if you do the course with them and most associations have things like extractors that you can borrow or hire which will save you some money. Selling honey, if you are lucky, will add a few pounds to the coffers but don't expect to break even in the early years.

It's quite a commitment to make, weekly inspections, kit making and painting, learning on the job, extracting your crop, jarring up ... worrying what your bees are up to or what they are not doing, wondering where you are going to store everything ... evenings spent on here wondering at how little you know ...

It's a fabulous hobby and you will find that very rapidly you will have fewer friends apart from fellow beekeepers, as you will bore for England on bees and everything associated with them and only other beekeepers will associate with you. But ... there's always this forum when you can't find another beekeeper in person.

Good luck and welcome ... stick around and read a few threads on here - it's a friendly, helpful place with so much information that you will never find in the books.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's quite a commitment to make, weekly inspections,

@Alan Blundy and no summer holidays

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Plenty of cow-pats there, but stick to Black Mountain Honey, Norfolk Honey Company and Gwenyn Gruffydd and you'll avoid stepping in them.

Get this book.


Cedar prices have rocketed in the last year; Abelo 11-frame poly is a modern hive far better suited to colony thermal efficiency, and the best National on the market. Don't buy anything until you've spent time in hives, as your dream may not match the reality.

Check allotment regs. and make sure to find a secluded spot - preferably on a hedge line - and build a 2m mesh screen to raise the line of flight. As a beginner I took over a deceased beekeeper's plot and I'm still there, but I curry favour by selling honey at 15% below market price, cut paths occasionally and have now been dragged onto the committee, so it need not end in tears.

Damien at Abelo is a very good contact. Once you've gained some knowledge, hopefully via proper training a visit to Abelo is well worth the effort. I'd just add that the shop is like an Aladdins Cave. Best if you go with a mentor until you know which bits you HAVE TO HAVE and which bits can wait a while.
My suggested start up list
Beesuit/jacket (Damien sells Lyson kit which I like)
Marigold long cuff gloves or similar
J type hive tool
An 11 frame Mark 1 polyhive with deep roof, queen excluder and a couple of supers plus frames and foundation for all.
If you're going into winter with a colony two Apilife Var sachets (saves using an eke), plus a round rapid feeder.
Start buying sugar now where its on offer
When spring comes around having a spare nuc is good policy (more is better)
Keep the faith

 

[Alan Blundy]

Damien at Abelo is a very good contact. Once you've gained some knowledge, hopefully via proper training a visit to Abelo is well worth the effort. I'd just add that the shop is like an Aladdins Cave. Best if you go with a mentor until you know which bits you HAVE TO HAVE and which bits can wait a while.
My suggested start up list
Beesuit/jacket (Damien sells Lyson kit which I like)
Marigold long cuff gloves or similar
J type hive tool
An 11 frame Mark 1 polyhive with deep roof, queen excluder and a couple of supers plus frames and foundation for all.
If you're going into winter with a colony two Apilife Var sachets (saves using an eke), plus a round rapid feeder.
Start buying sugar now where its on offer
When spring comes around having a spare nuc is good policy (more is better)
Keep the faith

Thx looks like I need a mentor . Anyone sheffield /rotherham plz get in touch

 

[drex]

I agree, you can never have enough nucs. Simple to make from scrap wood

 

[ericbeaumont]

looks like I need a mentor

Not necessarily: following the habits and ways of another can lead the innocent astray.

Trick is to accept advice - it will be given freely by every beekeeper you meet - and distil it all to make your own decision. That way, failure and success is yours, and failure is how you will learn quickest.

 

[Sutty]

Get a good understanding of the development of each caste and the reasons bees behave as they do, and with a bit of thought you can usually work out what's going on, though it's not always obvious! Working backwards from what you see sometimes helps.

 

[Chris Hancock]

Mistakes are the most impressive way to learn, but working alongside an experienced beekeeper will give you more understanding, and then you will find your own ways to handle things, but it saves a lot of heartbreak to listen... Don't worry, we will all make mistakes, as bees keep throwing up challenges!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

when I was on the WBKA stall yesterday, talking to Dan Baxter about the quality of beekeeping (Especially BKA quality) I had to pop over to the observation hive as it had been left unattended for five minutes and someone wanted her child to see the bees - when I got back the subject naturally drifted towards observation hives and Dan quickly mentioned that the hive at the spring fair wasn't very good, I'd thought the same at the time actually - it was very weak and (it was an Ulster hive) the only bees on the observation frame were just a couple of handfuls trying to cover the brood, the one up in Builth at the moment wasn't overly impressive either considering it's July.

 

[thorn]

Plenty of cow-pats there, but stick to Black Mountain Honey, Norfolk Honey Company and Gwenyn Gruffydd and you'll avoid stepping in them.

Get this book.


Cedar prices have rocketed in the last year; Abelo 11-frame poly is a modern hive far better suited to colony thermal efficiency, and the best National on the market. Don't buy anything until you've spent time in hives, as your dream may not match the reality.

Check allotment regs. and make sure to find a secluded spot - preferably on a hedge line - and build a 2m mesh screen to raise the line of flight. As a beginner I took over a deceased beekeeper's plot and I'm still there, but I curry favour by selling honey at 15% below market price, cut paths occasionally and have now been dragged onto the committee, so it need not end in tears.

I've got a screen I can sell you from my time on an allotment. There was a flow on and the bees headed straight across the nearest plot at head height, most unnerving for the plot holder, who got stung on several occasions by bees getting tangled in her hair. The screen arrived too late. She'd already whipped up an anti-hive faction.