Who are the Vine's Resident Beekeepers?

[noviceveggrower]

Hi, I would love to keep bees but we are in rented at the moment. But I do have wild bees at my allotment. It is high up in a tree where a branch had been years ago there is a hole now and they are in there. Fantastic watching them just sat there with a cup of tea and seeing them come and go.

[Jakejakeyjakejake]

So I was planning on doing a bee keeping course for my birthday saving till next yr then getting a hive and colony . How ever at the allotment the other day I was in formed by the chairman that there was a polystyrene hive four supers all frames for ten pound who could refuse there is however one small problem I've noted life in the hive bees traveling in and out this isn't so much a problem it just means I'm in at the deep end so my only real question ATM is that the previous owners have just thrown it together with shallow super on the bottom and the brood box on top with queen divider between the two it's going to need a huge clean just from slightly lifting the lid ( no suit yet ) I can set full wax covered frames . What to do ?

[alldigging]

Get hold of the bee haynes manual.

And get a suit.
And then a smoker, hive tool and someone to help you who knows a bit about bees.

[pigletwillie]

My tutor always said to keep at least two colonies for if you only have one and lose it during the winter you are no longer a bee keeper.

Just had my first chance to look at my bees today and they are doing fine. got them last year but it was late in the season so my main aim was to get them through a highland winter. When I kept them before, in England, I decided that I would feed as little as possible and allow the colony to keep enough of their own honey to see them through the winter. My reason was that it must be better for them than refined sugar. Still following that principle and today I recon that I could have taken at least 20lb last year and they would still have had enough stores.
Didn't intend to look for the queen today but there she was on the second frame I took out, surrounded by a frame full of eggs. So everything went back together gently and carefully. I can tick the box that says they have survived a highland winter and are well on to increasing in size.
My plan for this year is to divide the colony as a swarm prevention measure and go into next winter with at least two healthy colonies.

[pigletwillie]

I have an out apiary at the local farm and will be moving my three home hives there in due course as its a much better location. The weekend was spent putting up fence posts and wire to keep the young calves grazing in the same field out.

[Garfy45]

Small hive beetle

Hi all thought I would spread the news on SHB as received the news today

[alldigging]

Small Hive Beetle Detected in South West Italy - British Beekeepers Association (BBKA)

[hamamelis]

I got my first nuc at the start of the month

National hive, on my allotment in Bristol. They're looking good so far!

[kathyd]

We got our first bees this year too, around the end of April. We're using a top bar hive, but are starting to think a more standard design might have been easier for newbies... The bees have gone through 2-3weeks of bad weather just as they arrived, a hornet in the nest (dead when we found it, but very unhappy bees!), possible poisoning, an extended drought leading to a dearth of nectar leading to robbing, and now we don't know whether they have a queen or not because we can't find any eggs or young larvae or brood! What a start! However, they have a lovely temperament, and they seem to be foraging and happy, so people have said we may have a virgin or recently-mated queen in there ... we're putting a test frame in next week to find out, hope they're right!

[Madasafish]

My hives contracted American Foul Brood mid April - I found it, notified the Bee Inspector (notification is compulsory) - and destroyed four out of my five colonies using petrol. All frames were burned and the insides of hive scorched to kill disease spores. Standstill order placed so I could not move bees or hives out.

Down to one hive then, but by careful encouragement of swarming(!) now up to four and just given all clear by Bee Inspector subject to an inspection in 2016. Standstill order raised.

Not an experience I wish to repeat.

Worth registering on Beebase if you have not done so - free and you get warnings of local disease outbreaks. Bee Inspectors are usually very helpful - mine certainly was.


(There have been five outbreaks within a 10km radius in 2015)

[mothhawk]

How awful, what bad luck, Madasafish

You've done well to increase your stock again so well. Hope they stay healthy and you stay clear of AFB. Who can tell where the bees bring it home from though?

[muddled]

Blimey Madasafish!

I think you can safely call yourself an expert Beek now...well done you!

I haven't had bees for the last couple of years but i'm talking with a gentleman who has a small orchard not too far from me (about 11 miles)
Early days but I am quietly optimistic.....pollination was low this summer apparently

[Madasafish]

How awful, what bad luck, Madasafish

You've done well to increase your stock again so well. Hope they stay healthy and you stay clear of AFB. Who can tell where the bees bring it home from though?

The Bee Inspector (a very nice lady) said that she had discovered two abandonned hives "very close to me" full of AFB - and obvious immediately you looked at the combs..

The only beekeeper I know of that close is the National Trust at Biddulph Grange - 400 meters across the fields . Apparently the beekeeper responsible for the hives left and they now have two new beekeepers. That does NOT mean it was their hives. The Bee Inspector would not tell me - she is sworn to keep details confidential.

There are local beekeepers locally.. but I don't know them...

[hawthorns]

1st summer as a novice beekeeper I have 2 hives 1 standard with a small colony the other a 14 x 12 with a good sized colony. Very lucky to have a excellent mentor showing me the ropes after I did the beekeeping course last winter.

[mrsbusy]

Hi - I have 2 Warre hives in the garden - which I made at a hive building day organised by Oxfordshire branch of natural beekeepers. I had a small cast in July in one and then a very large feral swarm in the other about a month later. The feral bees did not want to stay and altho I got them back once the second time I could not follow them so I let them go. Then the cast were robbed - wonder who by !!! and were too weak to defend themselves; then they were bothered by wasps and they too decided to move on! So that was my first year as a beekeeper. But I do have a very nice bait hive now with some lovely empty comb which I am going to put out a bit later on. I also have my name down for a nuc from the South Chiltern Beekers Group. I took a theory and practical course at Berkshire College of Agriculture before I decided to try my hand at home.