What does beekeeping mean to you?

[whoosling]

About to start on my second year and I think it mainly means trying to keep bees going strong in this ever increasing polluted world rather than the honey crop,can't survive without these hardworking creatures. Also hours of painic and worry that it's all going ok, I'm not doing something wrong, buying countless pairs of rubber gloves (never had any before beekeeping) spending a fortune on sugar and spending hours on this addictive forum which has been so supportive of my silly questions. The joy on sunny days like this of seeing the ladies out and about looking wonderful.

 

[Ely]

Took up beekeeping to help with clinical depression.

Oh boy....naive isn't the word.

 

[Finman]

.
honey and money

 

[BobsBees]

Hobby +

To learn how an insect can survive together 70,000+ in the Summer. Plus learn how we can help in any small way, the return is a few hundred jars of Honey. Hard work but a super Hobby.
Its something we humans can't do, unless we are at WAR.
Bob.

 

[DontWorryBeeHappy]

Last year it meant spending hundreds of pounds on gear for a very few jars of honey. Gear that I probably dont need but bought anyway.

It meant stress worrying as my wife tried to catch her first swarm, one that decided to leave home while I was unexpectedly rushed into hospital. Coaching on how to catch a swarm over a mobile phone, that's not the way I had envisaged teaching her how to catch a swarm but bless her she did and it is now quietly sitting in my garden as healthy as I could wish

It meant lots of attempts to start making my own kit to save money, even though in reality it costs much more to make than buy pre made! (But in truth I knew that all along. I just like to tinker and make things in my garage.)

Most of all it meant hours of enjoyment in my garden staring, for no logical reason, at bees coming and going out of the hives in my garden. Somehow those quiet moments of contemplation made it all worth while. to my little lady friends for hours of pleasure just sitting whiling away the hours in the Summer.

 

[BobsBees]

DontWorryBeeHappy

 

[oliver90owner]

An interesting hobby. Was planning on expanding (into retirement) but now contracting, unfortunately. Not intending to give it up, though.

 

[Black Comb]

An interesting hobby. Metlots of nice people.
You can operate at lots of different levels.
Plenty of different challenges if you choose.
A nice balance between practical and theoretical.

 

[peteinwilts]

Before the media frenzy, due to realising there were no honey bees pollinating the flowers in the fields. (I am a bit of a tree hugger)
the honey and the money are nice byproducts

 

[Mint Bee]

Took up beekeeping to help with clinical depression.

Oh boy....naive isn't the word.

Helps mine................some of time!

 

[REDWOOD]

It's hard to put my finger on one thing but I think JBM sums it up in his signature

 

[Walrus]

Getting out into the countryside (out apiary), reading obsessively about our 6 legged friends, shared time with my eldest daughter who helps, trying to do the right thing for the bees but half the time probably getting it wrong, angsting about queens, sense of wonder, something to talk about to most people as they all seem interested, lots of building/assembling in the shed, increased consumption of honey but no sales yet, rapidly decreasing bank balance, need for bigger car, insane desire to get more and more colonies!

 

[whoosling]

Before the media frenzy, due to realising there were no honey bees pollinating the flowers in the fields. (I am a bit of a tree hugger)
the honey and the money are nice byproducts

 

[whoosling]

lovely answers one and all

 

[Queens59]

Sanity. Forced into retirement after a 'common' op went wrong and left me unable to function for any 24 hrs without pain. I felt my brain dying so took up a hobby I had always wanted - beekeeping - to save my brain. It usually works, but none of the books tell you that bees lead to their own sort of insanity...

 

[Cazza]

Pleasure.
Cazza

 

[madasafish]

Fascinating hobby with sense of achievement if - sorry when - it goes right.

Meet loads of nice people in flesh.

 

[Ddogs]

The interference of all senses .

Smell, of the honey,propolis and wax mixed with cedar.
Sight ,of the girls doing their stuff and the intricacies of the body of the hive .
Sound , of the buzz of summer and the crack of propolis when parting the boxes.
Taste, of the labours.
Pain ,of the sting and subsequent swelling.
Worries, of doing what is right for the creatures.
Pleasure ,when all is good.

 

[cork beek]

Its an interesting hobby, there is always something going on making me think. Is the Queen laying, if not, why not, if she is, is it a good pattern. Is the hive a nice quiet one or not, What to do with QC’s, make up nuc etc. Putting the supers on and seeing them getting filled up. I also really enjoy making supers/nucs etc anything really that can be made for a hive, ill give it a go

But what i like the most is just watching them coming and going from the hive, its kinda mesmerising really to think that they are all doing their own little thing and not worrying about anything else (until the hive is opened )

 

[onymee]

well up to now I have never kept bees although I've always wanted to. It wasn't possible before as the only place I have to keep a hive or two is where the goats were kept in the past. However, now I have no more goats, I plan to turn the old goat paddock into a veggie plot with polytunnel. So, what it means to me is that I get to learn about another species,give myself another skill and produce honey too. Plus of course not forgetting that I get to buy new clothes and dress up like a spaceman
I'm a woman and buying any new clothes gives me a buzz