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chickenanne

I have bees!!!!!!

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Exciting!!!!

 

The only advice I can think of is don't think you have to keep checking - if bees are bringing in pollen then all is well........ (but you do need to check once a week once the season is in full swing!)

 

.....and, keep a little book recording what you do, dates, state of the hive etc.

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I know, I'm just so pleased! I was indecisive for ages then the option of a full colony came up and seemed ideal.

Think it will be difficult to not check them constantly: the guys doing the course likened constant checking to diggin up seeds to see if they'd germinated yet, so if I keep that vision in mind I should almost manage to restrian myself.

I am going to get a book to record everything in: I spent ages deciding between tacking a bit of paper to the underside of the roof and keep records on that, and a proper notebook. I think needing to check my notes would become an excuse to check the bees otherwise!

Now, do happybeekeeper floors fit a Smith hive.....?

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Good for you CA :clap: ! I've decided to use this year as my "getting veg patch etc up & running & concentrating on my chookles" year, and next year's project will hopefully be bees :dance: !

 

DH did :roll::doh: type of faces when I got my intro to bees book...I think he may just have a fit if I went further than reading this season!

 

I spoke to a friend yesterday, who had 6 sheep for her birthday.............. :think: ....now that would be an undertaking!

 

Sha x

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We could find a class & attend together....hee hee, always better to have a friend to go to unknown places with :dance::wink:

 

Sha x

 

Absolutely :D :D

 

I think the BKA do a course somewhere north of us ......... not very helpful......been a long day.......I want to say Wisborough Green but I'm sure there was another beginners day a bit nearer..........oh how I wish my brain would work properly sometimes :wink:

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Ahhh - the Law of Sod!

 

The one I had bookmarked was an 8 week course at Westergate School, so really easy for us both to get to....started 3rd March :anxious: !!! More of that Law again!

 

Maybe a call to the man on this list would be in order http://www.britishbee.org.uk/local_associations_about_us.php

 

.........but not til tomorrow morning at the earliest, I can't see him being very impressed at this time of night :wink: !!

 

 

Sleep well,

 

Sha x

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Ahhh - the Law of Sod!

 

The one I had bookmarked was an 8 week course at Westergate School, so really easy for us both to get to....started 3rd March :anxious: !!! More of that Law again!

 

isn't it always the way :roll::roll:

 

 

.........but not til tomorrow morning at the earliest, I can't see him being very impressed at this time of night :wink: !!

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

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If you manage to find a course run by your local beekeepers association (look on the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) website) then it's a fantastic source of contacts as well as information: ours even has a mentoring system which I'm sure will be incredibly handy.

And also a brilliant source of local bees (nucleus/nuc) which (apparantly) should be loads easier to keep than ones sent from a completely different area (climate, disease, etc).

 

I think most of the BBKA-affiliated courses seem to start Jan /Feb time for the theory, with hive visits later on when the weather is better :(

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I think most of the BBKA-affiliated courses seem to start Jan /Feb time for the theory, with hive visits later on when the weather is better :(

 

thanks for the info chickenanne :D :D :D

 

will remember to plan ahead and look later in the year for courses starting early next year :D :D

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Ooh congratulations, chickenanne! I'm :mrgreen: - I've got the last class of my beekeeping course on Thursday, and then there's a hive visit in April.

 

I've decided not to do it this year, I have a history of taking on too much so I'm trying to be sensible. Chickens, full-time job, choir, charity work and looking after the house and garden on my own means I don't have much spare time, and I've got quite an active social life on top of all that.

 

It's not the bees themselves, as I understand they only need checking every 9-10 days, but it's the point you made above about local associations - I would need the support and advice of my local bee-keeping association and I don't have time to go to the meetings at the moment. Maybe next year ... let us know how you get on!

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Well, I will have bees on 4th April!!!! Spent the weekend building a stand for the hive, and faffing about generally.

 

Olly, I have my last class tomorrow (Tuesday) which is the optimistic one: how to harvest your honey. Am glad they end with that and not the diseases.... I am beginning to get nervous about it, but no second thoughts yet.

 

And I gaurantee you'll all be sick hearing of them over the next few weeks!

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Ahhh - the Law of Sod!

 

The one I had bookmarked was an 8 week course at Westergate School, so really easy for us both to get to....started 3rd March :anxious: !!! More of that Law again!

 

isn't it always the way :roll::roll:

 

 

.........but not til tomorrow morning at the earliest, I can't see him being very impressed at this time of night :wink: !!

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

Weeeeeell, I rang him Pam....................and left a message!!

 

Have said that I and a friend (that's you Honey!!!), are interested in finding out more about bees & beekeeping with a view to probably next year getting our own, please call back!

 

I await his call with excitement :dance::dance:

 

I'm 2/3 of the way through my "Starting with Bees" book......

 

Sha x

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