Bee keeping!

[Gav 1,708]

As we are surrounded by heather and in the process of clearing a good size bit of land for veg and a poly tunnel for next spring, we have got the idea of maybe trying to keep a hive of bee's for honey and pollination, we have got a few books but it looks very complicated and expensive setting up!

 

I was wondering if any one has had experience in bee keeping?

 

Is it some thing you need a lot of experience before hand or would it be ok to just jump in and crack on with it?

 

How well do bee's travel, as we are offshore, can they travel via the postal service?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[Guest fight the ban]

me old mans got 100 hives, i know jack shit, but could ask him what you want to know. i do know you can make a very rich living out of them up to £400 a hive.

[moxy 617]

I dont personally keep bees, I just help out with other peoples!! So ive had a fair bit of hands on experience with them.

 

A question is do you like heather honey?? Im not too keen myself, a bit too grainy.

 

You will have to consider the exposure to the elements and if the summer is too grim and your bees dont get out enough, you will be feeding them and not getting a harvest.

 

Most in my local association are having a bad season this year.

 

I know you can get queens via post but im sure the postal service would raise a few eyebrows with a reasonable sized colony buzzing away inside a box in the back of the van, LOL. Definately an interesting thought.

 

PM me and i can reccomend some good reading.

 

[mackem 27,204]

Its something thats actually started to interest me lately,there are apiary courses you can do throughout the country,if you get a hive do a thread Gav as,if I can buy an acre of land locally its something I intend to take up

[DUCKWING 302]

FUNNILY ENOUGH MACKEM ,

 

SAME HERE ................ A GUY A FEW HOUSES DOWN KEPT THEM YRS AGO AND I HELPED HIM OUT , RECENTLY I STOPPED OVER AT A MATES HOUSE ON ROUTE ........ AND HE HAD STARTED UP IN BEES , HE HAD A REALLY BAD YEAR THIS YEAR AND LOST TEN HIVES , KINDA GOT THE INTERST GOING AGAIN TALKING TO HIM ............. HOWEVER ....... HES HAD TO SHIFT THE HIVES INTO A MATES WOOD AS THEY KEPT ATTACKING HIS CHICKENS ! , HE LOST A DOZEN IN A WEEK ...... DEFINATE NO , NO HERE ............. BUT MAYBE IF I HAD THE USE OF A WOOD ? .......... YOU NEVER KNOW !

 

ALL THE BEST

 

DUCKWING

[Gav 1,708]

Thanks guys for the answers so far.

 

I know they expect to see the honey supplies in this country, gone by December! That will force the price up to silly money, as if its not expensive enough already.

 

We get a lot of tourists here in summer and were looking to supplying Hebridean heather honey, so far we know of no one here doing it as yet, so could be a good money spinner. We have no shortage of blooming heather too.

 

Did anyone watch the programme last week about the wild honey cutters in Nepal? It was amazing, you can read about it HERE. We were already talking about keeping bee's before this was shown.

 

There is also a lot of concern in the UK at the moment about honey bee's being wiped out altogether, more HERE.

[mackem 27,204]

I saw the nepalese one,its part of the Anapurna range Gav,I did the Anapurna circuit years ago,never saw any honey though,Honey is expensive,I wonder how a typical hive would thrive in the tropics?You could always stick some Fair-trade ecologically-friendly zero-carbon-footprint we-wipe-our-bees-bums-afterwards sort of label on for the bunny hugging vegans,that should add at least a tenner onto the price,say the jars recyclable as well,and the old,sick,and infirm bees are pensioned off to a insect-retirement-home in Kew Gardens

To be honest though bees really ARE fascinating,did you see the HFW program a few months back?Some teenage kid in inner-london is keeping a few hives on his roof,honey he produces is going for a fair old bit

[Gav 1,708]

I saw the nepalese one,its part of the Anapurna range Gav,I did the Anapurna circuit years ago,never saw any honey though,Honey is expensive,I wonder how a typical hive would thrive in the tropics?You could always stick some Fair-trade ecologically-friendly zero-carbon-footprint we-wipe-our-bees-bums-afterwards sort of label on for the bunny hugging vegans,that should add at least a tenner onto the price,say the jars recyclable as well,and the old,sick,and infirm bees are pensioned off to a insect-retirement-home in Kew Gardens

To be honest though bees really ARE fascinating,did you see the HFW program a few months back?Some teenage kid in inner-london is keeping a few hives on his roof,honey he produces is going for a fair old bit

 

:rofl: :clapper: :clapper: you just made me spit my dinner out all over the monitor

 

Never saw the program, I think I have heard a few stories about a similar thing though.

[DUCKWING 302]

WELL LADS ,

 

 

ITS FUNNY BUT ONE GUY I WAS TALKING TO AT A FAIR THREE YRS AGO WAS SAYING HE HAS HIVES ON THE ROOF OF HIS MATES FACTORY IN LONDON AND THE HIVES PRODUCED FAR MORE HONEY THAN THE ONES HE HAD IN THE COUNTRYSIDE WHERE HE LIVED ........ APPARENTLY THE ABUNDANCE OF FLOWERS IN THE GARDENS WAS THE REASON ...........

 

 

ALL THE BEST

 

DUCKWING

[mackem 27,204]

Thats exactly the reason given for the amount of honey the hives were producing

[talpa 55]

I have National hives and have had a couple of good years but lost the bees overwinter (poor summer and too much Varroa), and have not managed to get swarms this year.

It is fascinating watching them, and oh so nice having something else that you (they) provide for yourself.

I would strongly recommend having a look here - http://www.biobees.com/forum/forum-3.html

They have much excellent advice, there is a hive you build yourself without too much skill neeeded and simplifies Beekeeping, with a slant to the more natural approach. Chandlers book is worth getting too. His whole ethos seems to make sense and is a path I will take as I hope to increase my hives and have less problems with Varroa. Many people have lost bees this year, they are starving due to bad weather and some have had to resort to winter feeding regimes.

 

If you fancy keeping bees do it I waited years before I took the plunge. If you can find someone local to you that keeps bees they are often pleased to help and having a mentor is invaluable, you learn from their mistakes, that so often cost them lots in time and or money but you get for free.

Good luck with it.

Talpa

[mackem 27,204]

Thanks Talpa,if I manage to find an affordable plot of land locally I intend to get a hive or two,the local allotments dont allow them,but your right,fascinating subject to be honest

[Gav 1,708]

Thanks talpa, good link that, I just got lost for an hour browsing through.

 

Another useful link moxy sent me amongst others is https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/ Thanks again for that one moxy mate

 

Hopefully by next summer we will be able to get something together here.

[shepp 2,285]

Thanks Talpa,if I manage to find an affordable plot of land locally I intend to get a hive or two,the local allotments dont allow them,but your right,fascinating subject to be honest

 

A friend of mine has a hive for sale, she has one in her garden and others on a local farm and allotment. You can have one in a garden, you just fence it off and the bees fly straight up and away.

The town or city honey is better than country honey because of the large variety of flowers they can collect from.

Did you get a chinese take-away tonight, thought i see a guy who could of been you minus the early 80s mullet perm

[mackem 27,204]

I eat Chinese or Thai most nights Shepp,wouldnt buy it though,I have been behind the scenes in a few restaurants including some local ones The mullet is no more,replaced with a skin-head due to the ravages of time Well,not really,Antimos No2 shaved over it