Your highlights of the season.

[Curly green finger's]

Evening all, as the season is coming to a close what has been the highlights of your beekeeping season.
Quite a few for me so I will only write about four

1. Grafting for the first time.
2.starting new employment as a bf, and having the biggest colonys I've ever had for honey production.
3. Lying down in the Heather and watching a Heather flow on the moors while eating comb honey.
4. Yet to happen but I'm over excited, travelling to London to sell honey and have a stall, can't wait to talk to folk about honey samples and honey bee's and the little businesses I'm growing for my employer and myself.
Thanks
C. G. F

 

[mbc]

My highlight of the season was undoubtedly the days my 17 year old worked with me, showed enthusiasm and aptitude for the first time, filled me with hope for succession and a lifting of some of the gruelling work load.
I'm trying to keep a lid on my excitement about it and stealing myself for the disappointment when he decides to go to uni rather than joining me.

 

[TomH]

Ohh, nice idea for a thread Curly.

Very much a beginners twist to mine, but I would say the best bits have been:

1. A 'proper' honey harvest, using an extractor and a heather press. Feel like an actual beekeeper now as usually the first thing people say when in comes up in conversation is 'ohh do you get any honey?' Now I have plenty of jars to prove it...
2. Meeting new people and setting up out apiaries. Even if the first thing one of the farmers said to me was 'you're too young to be a beekeeper!' (I'm 31 by the way)
3. Being more connected to nature. I definitely notice what flowering, pay more attention to the weather and shift in seasons, all because of the bees (or worrying about them and what I haven't done yet!)
4. Every day is a school day. Always been a bit of a geek, and there's certainly plenty to learn in beekeeping.

 

[pnkemp]

Tasting my first honey, catching my first swarm from a tree.

 

[enrico]

Eating my millionth pot of honey, retrieving my millionth swarm, it never stops, the last is as exciting as the first!
E

 

[Jimmy]

Selling half of my 2021 harvest in bulk without advertising; jar sales stabilising at a level that I can supply.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The tree box swarmed twice and we got both of them. They are a barometer of the colony inside and both healthy and vibrant. Tiny black bees. They are still on the potting shed roof and ok to inspect ….. for now while they are still small

 

[drdrday]

• Grafting for the first time, with a 70% success rate and going on to get three mated queens
• Catching my first ever swarm, and then another two later that same weekend
• The fact that I get to try all over again next year, and maybe get things to go a little more as planned (I know I'm delusional that this will ever happen, but hope springs eternal )

 

[Murox]

The joy of catching a good flow just right, all the new comb drawn and a good crop of the lightest most delicate honey I have ever encountered.

 

[GuyNir]

- Working better with the bees, knowing more.
- Mentoring a lady in the village.
- Charging more for my honey & it’s actually selling quicker
- Making mead for the first time
- Looking forward to making soft set soon using my new Abelo creaming machine.

 

[Wilco]

There have been many.

-Increasing the proportion of self built hives and hive parts I use gives me a bit of pride.
-Managing to rescue a little bit of the OSR crop before the weather turned.
-Managing the colonies so they didn't swarm when I was away during two weeks of nice weather in June.
-Getting my first proper heather crop even though only testing the site.
-Meeting some of you lot plus chatting/reading on here and learning more as a result.
-Getting stung less, partly linked to switching to 'Marigolds'.
-My wife being a nutter and 'helping' with an inspection with no PPE (I do not encourage this, please don't do it, it's not worth the risk- it was just nice that she got involved in something I enjoy, even if only for a few minutes).
-Breeding some nice queens.
-Putting together a basic intro to bees video presentation for work, followed by a live inspection via Zoom!
-Being able to pay forward some of the kindness shown to me, on to others who are starting out. Consequently seeing their joy and excitement at keeping bees.
-My girls saying they want bee suits for Christmas. This one makes me very excited for next season.

The weather's been weird but it's been a good year.

 

[StephenT]

4. Yet to happen but I'm over excited, travelling to London to sell honey and have a stall, can't wait to talk to folk about honey samples and honey bee's and the little businesses I'm growing for my employer and myself.

When and where as would be good to pop over, say Hi and buy a jar of your Heather Honey?

 

[E&MBees]

Surviving a very difficult second year of beekeeping. I’m definitely older and wiser, but still have lots to learn. Looking forward to more highs than lows next year. I must also thank my mentor as with out their patience and encouragement, I think this year would have been almost impossible.

 

[madasafish]

Managed to get a reasonable honey crop despite horrible Spring weather and go into Autumn with strong colonies.

Rest is a succession of successes and failures which just about balance out.

 

[spiderplantman]

Uniting a Q- colony on 14x12 frames with a Q+ colony on Commercial frames using a Hamilton converter. Sounds like a small thing, but it was more fun than I expected and worked like a charm. That and the really warm reception our labels got at farmers markets. That was a high point too.

Wish we could have had a bit more honey out of the hives, but something is better than nothing. Onwards and upwards!

 

[Curly green finger's]

When and where as would be good to pop over, say Hi and buy a jar of your Heather Honey?

Pm me and I'll send you details

 

[Moobee]

Getting my first hive from last year through the winter successfully
Being able to spot unmarked queens on my own and mark and clip them
Seeing QCs in my hive for the first time
Expanding to 3 hives

onward and upward!

 

[elainemary]

Evening all, as the season is coming to a close what has been the highlights of your beekeeping season.
Quite a few for me so I will only write about four

1. Grafting for the first time.
2.starting new employment as a bf, and having the biggest colonys I've ever had for honey production.
3. Lying down in the Heather and watching a Heather flow on the moors while eating comb honey.
4. Yet to happen but I'm over excited, travelling to London to sell honey and have a stall, can't wait to talk to folk about honey samples and honey bee's and the little businesses I'm growing for my employer and myself.
Thanks
C. G. F

Love your enthusiasm. You deserve every success
My top 3 highlights and ‘firsts’ are
- Taking a colony onto the heather moor, making my first cut comb and sections
- Grafting and using the Cloakboard method to create 10 new queens to improve my stock and sell on to beginners
- Reaching a significant birthday and receiving a wonderful surprise and v apt cake from my lovely family

 

[StephenT]

3rd year of beekeeping.
- successfully brought all 3 hives through winter in good health and strength.
- managed to collect a swarm about 20 feet up the neighbours plum tree despite not liking going up ladders.
- passed my BBKA basic assessment
- 70kg of honey and sold it all within about 4 weeks (at a good price)
- got 10 supers with drawn comb for next year.
- ended summer with 3 hives and a nuc despite our mistakes and a couple of queens failing to mate.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Passing and getting my DASH accreditation.