Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Good luck trying to work out which one is which though....... ....do you have a theme for the names ? Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 We have my MIL staying with us so the queen is going to be called Mary after her! The nighttime routine is now shut the birds up and count them, call the cats in and count them, and go and say goodnight to the bees! I'm just going to make up some feed and give it to them. As luck would have it these are the bees I helped my neighbour inspect about 6 weeks ago so I do feel a bit like they are my bees of fate. I've also just read in my bee book that swarms landing on apple trees at a nice get-atable height is reasonably rare - so I think we were very lucky indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Congratulations Daphne, I should hear in the next day or two if I am going to be lucky enough to get a colony from our group secretary, who is sadly giving up bees, due to anaphylaxis (sp) not because they've had enough of them!! They are assessing each hive & seeing who they would be suitable for on their list of potential new owners. Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowcloud Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Good luck Olly - post a picture when it's done! My bees seem very happy, numbers building now but not spotted the queen yet.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 There was a sign up on a lamp-post round the corner just that said "Apiary Meeting" and had an arrow on it. I pointed at it to Mom + she said why don't you go + thought it was an aviary meeting "Oh bees ... " I didn't know we had any local bees apart from in Sutton Park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Hi snowcloud, is your queen marked? makes her lots easier to spot! And essential if you need to do an AS..... I see mine about once in every two visits, so don't have a great hit rate myself.... Wild Mum, were you one of the Chosen Few for a colony? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I haven't heard yet..........am starting to get very nervous ! If I'm not I will probably heave a sigh of relief in some respects and carry on with my original plan of learn theory this year, get a colony next. If I am one of the Chosen Ones I will get overexcited & panic for a few days...and badger everyone on here with silly questions !!!! Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowcloud Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 'fraid my queen is not marked - she is au naturel and therefore a bit more tricky to spot... I shall have a real determined look for her next time, so far been more concerned about not bothering them too much so they would settle in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I know just what you mean: mine was marked but most of the time I didn't really look as figured if there's brood, then there's a queen. Then one day, there was no brood. And one supercedure cell..... which fortunately eventually became a laying queen. I was in two minds about marking as they're not "supposed" to have big dots of paint "in the wild" as it were. But then the thought of attempting to find an unmarked queen in a colony full of bees...I marked but didn't clip. Am not sure which I'll do with the new queen, am tempted to go for the advice of expereinced beek's and do both this time. Wild Mum: good luck! They're probably overwhelmed with people who're interested, and trying to figure out who is a good distance for mentors etc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Having acquired our colony in a rather unorthodox way, yesterday I had an inspection from my mentor who was happy with all he saw - in fact from 7.00 am till 7.00 pm there was a procession of me, OH, MIL, the bees' former owner, my co-owner all trooping up to see them (but not opening the hive obviously) at various times. We are going to inspect the hive at the weekend and double check we can see the queen - we are all assuming she is in there, but "Ooops, word censored!"ody has actually spotted her!! But the best thing was my mentor also keeps hens for eggs, day olds for meat, goslings/geese for meat and guarding, sheep, horses, thinking about pigs.....so he's a good person to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaches Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Here's our new (well, old) hive in the garden ...... I can't stop running up to have a look. The metal thing is a dog guard to stop the dogs running into the hive by mistake. I'm just praying the bees will stay!! Fi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaches Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Oh, and here's a picture of the swarm on the board climbing up to the hive yesterday afternoon.... They were very well behaved. We fed them a water:sugar solution and now just have to hope they like life in our part of Richmond..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Great to hear about your new bees Daphne and Peaches! - good luck with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Great picture! Does anyone on here have their bees and chickens in the same area of the garden - are there likely to be any problems i.e. chickens trying to eat crawling bees? I know when I went to visit an apiary there were some bees on the ground around it, as well as flying in and out. Not that I have any bees yet still hoping a swarm will come in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaches Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Don't give up hope, Olly! We got ours at the weekend. It helped we were actually doing the Intro to Beekeeping course and so surrounded by other bee keepers, so that ups the chances. I've definitely heard of people keeping chickens and bees together without any problems, but no direct experience myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Lovely looking garden Peaches - I wish I'd thought to take some pictures of it all, but I was just far too excited! Olly - my hive is well away from the chickens but as they are able to free range I expect they will find it in time. I did shut them in when I was trying to get the feeder into the empty super - which was lucky a I managed to shake about 500 bees onto the grass! The cats have already been to sniff the box but they wandered away without any excitement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Well I'm back from our latest beekeeping meeting, very interesting with a panel of 4 very experienced beekeepers all giving very different advice on the same subjects thrown at them from the audience!!! I have been offered a full colony or nucs, with the option of a secondhand hive too. I'm going to visit the couple tomorrow to talk sensibly with them about the whole subject - I went shopping this morning & I do now have a jacket & veil and my own hive tool & smoker too! I'll wear the jacket with a pair of ex-army waterproof trousers which have straps to tighten around my boots. At least even if I don't go forward with bees this year, I shall be able to visit other hives safely, and have several lovely people offering to show me their hives & be at the end of the phone if I need them. I am thoroughly confused now...do I go through with the "get 'em & learn as I go" route or wait 'til next year when I will have gained some experience? I'm just worried that the bees may suffer under my inexperienced hands. Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 I don't think the bees would suffer - even if you did nothing at all.....they would just do their own thing! Our bees are doing their own thing at the moment as I've been trying to sort out Hospice care for a close relative.....we were going to go through the hive on Sunday and just couldn't. We look each day to make sure there is activity and we should get to it tomorrow..... I'd say 'go for it' - and you'll be in a good place at the start of next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I'd say go for it too. I've found the local bee community 10 times more helpful than the local poultry community - they're all SO interested in the minutest details. My course was 2 hours x 10 weeks and I skipped 2 sessions (4 hours on bee diseases anyone!!) I found it hard to retain much as absolutely everything was new, including the language. Since I've been fiddling about with hives I won't say its all fallen into place but a combo of my bee book for reference, actually doing things, and neighbour chats (convenient but I could just ring my mentor or anybody else in local BBKA) means I feel I'm coping. I know I have/will be asking Qs about things we've covered - but its not until you have to do it for real that you realise what it is you need to know! And, really keeping bees can't be rocket science; a bit like keeping hens - there are problems but not insurmountable ones. So, if you're feeling keen and fairly confident I would go for it - you've obviously got excellent support there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaches Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I'd say go for it too. Partly because, if you are like me, the theory suddenly comes alive when you see bees in action. My OH is different and understands things from reading books, attending lectures, etc, but I'm a bit more basic than that. Plus, as they keep saying to me, bees don't read books. And on the beekeeping community: I left a bottle of wine for the kind member who not only collected the swarm, put it in a box and dropped it off to me on her way to work, and she sent me a text to say "thank you" for that! They are a very nice bunch of people. And that leads me to the point ... once you get going with bees you start to feel like you belong and are a real live bee keeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I'd say go for it - there's only so much you can learn from books/other people's hives. You can't sit the first-level BBKA course until you've had a hive for a couple of years, and that (I assume) is because the best way to learn is hands-on. What's the worst that could happen? I'm still hoping for the call to say I can have a swarm! I made up about eight frames on Monday night, the first one took me half-an-hour to make (experienced bee-keepers are permitted to fall on the floor laughing at this point), the last one took about five minutes! I think I ought to make up a super as well, the DIY skills required to make the brood box were so taxing that I didn't get round to doing the rest of it. I will post some pics when I get round to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 The big things that can go wrong are: a) Swarms: initimidating for neighbours and passers by, and can deceide to take up residence in next-doors chimney /cavity wall /other nightmare inaccessible place. It happens, even to experienced beek's, but IMO beekeepers are absolutely morally obliged to do what they can to prevent this. b) Reportable diseases which you could miss: highly contagious things like AFB and EFB and you can be fined for not reporting them. If your bees get foul brood bee inspectors can insist that the colony is destroyed (seal hive, pour petrol in, dig hole and burn the lot, though if you join BBKA then you would be insured for the ££ loss). AFB and EFB are rare though - you just need to be certain you could spot them or at least be sure that you would no there was a serious issue and be able to get experienced help urgently. c) Passing diseases to neighbouring beekeepers - e.g. varroa needs to be treated when there is no brood, so you have to hit that window - but the consequences of this probably isn't as much of a problem as (a) and (b). It's pretty anti-social to have bees if you're unable or unwilling to recognise problems like these, either through neglect or ignorance... BUT you have done a course, read about it, and have willing help at hand, so why not go for it? It sounds like you're in a pretty good position to start out! If I were you I'd try and get a nuc of local bees. It's so much easier to see whats going on and control a smaller number of bees, you learn from building the numbers up, and they won't initially be as initimadating to deal with as a full colony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I'm back! I've had a very long chat with the lovely couple who are selling up and next week they will do their inspections and choose me a nuc and a hive which we will arrange to be transferred to my garden when everything is in place . The queen is apparently one from their "training stock" so hopefully is of a kind & gentle strain . They will check her next week to ensure she is producing lots of lovely brood etc. They don't want to set me up with a weak or "challenging" nuc nor a colony as 40,000 bees is a lot for any newbie to deal with !!! My mentor joked last night that he's waited til he was retired & slowing down before he started to get noticed by & phone calls from "younger women"...bless him he's got nearly 60 years experience of bees but is rather too shaky to be able to manage his own hives on his own now I still intend to do the training course when the next one is running, but I'll just be able to put the practical & theory knowledge together in the opposite order to most of the other students !! I bought myself a couple of big paving slabs to site the hives on, just got to lug them across the garden & position them....maybe I'll wait for DH to get back from his sailing trip to do that!! Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedusA Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 My hive kit arrived from Thornes yesterday. I was like a kid at Christmas.! I've put together everything I need to begin with (and only managed to mash one finger with the hammer ), just waiting for bees now. Our Apiary Manager has some nucs he's been growing on, so hopefully soon it will be complete with bees. Re chickens and bees - I've had advice that siting the bees in the garden, but with their flight path facing away from the chicken run, should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaches Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Exciting, isn't it? Keep us posted, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
