Any bee keepers here?

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

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I've been thinking about keeping bees. It seems like a pleasant thing to do. Is it a question of painting a box white and lobbing some bees at it, or is it more involved than that?

Any pointers/info from any keepers? Ta.
 
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I can think of nothing worse than housing those devilishly scary creatures in my back garden :p

I may or may not have an ever so slight phobia of them :p
 
Bees are great. It's wasps I can't stand.

I've had bees land on me, have a scuttle about then sod off again. Never been stung by one.
 
I would love to. They are really sensitive to disease though and although you don't have the normal pet responsibilities like feeding them, they do take a fair amount of upkeep and it can take a year or more to get them properly sorted.
 
OCUK hate wasps because they remind them of people on the dole. They serve absolutely no purpose and are prone to violence. Whereas Bees might have a tendency to violence, but at least they have a job with purpose and contribute to nature.
 
Parents keep bees and think there is quite a bit too it, you have to feed the bees, check the bees, swarms, lost queens, plenty of other stuff. Kind of like a pet really. You will need to go to bee clubs also. Bees are a big deal.
 
jsmoke said:
Parents keep bees and think there is quite a bit too it, you have to feed the bees, check the bees, swarms, lost queens, plenty of other stuff. Kind of like a pet really. You will need to go to bee clubs also. Bees are a big deal.
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Not to mention having to count all the bees once a week
 
jsmoke said:
Parents keep bees and think there is quite a bit too it, you have to feed the bees, check the bees, swarms, lost queens, plenty of other stuff. Kind of like a pet really. You will need to go to bee clubs also. Bees are a big deal.
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I thought that the one rule of bee club, is that you don't talk about bee club?
 
jsmoke said:
Well I was never involved with the bees, just picked bits up here and there and there seemed to bee quite a few things to do...

You need to take them walkies every day..
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It's never a good idea to get involved with a bee, it always ends in heartbreak
 
Barry McFungus Pants said:
I've been thinking about keeping bees. It seems like a pleasant thing to do. Is it a question of painting a box white and lobbing some bees at it, or is it more involved than that?
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My mother used to keep bees. I hated them. But yes, there's a bit more to it than that. You'll need to add on boxes called Supers full of blank frames so the bees can store the honey they collect - and you can then take it from them. You'll need to feed them in winter. You'll need assorted paraphernalia like a bee suit, a smoker to pacify the bees, and extraction equipment. You need to monitor the hives for diseases and parasites. But it was indeed a leisurely hobby: I think my mother spent at most a day a month on it with about 8 hives, apart from when it came to extracting the honey and then she got my brother and I to do the heavy lifting and work.

Make sure you are tested for bee and honey allergies. You will get stung.

Once you're settled, with several hives, you may find yourself very popular with local farmers, but avoid sites with oil seed rape nearby. Bees love it but the resulting honey is vile.

Oh yes, if you're carrying bees in your car and put up a sign to that effect and you'll find that everyone keeps well clear of you!
 
My father is a bee keeper. I have helped him over the last couple of seasons.

Initial outlay can be expensive, depends if your just keeping them to help population or keeping to harvest.
 
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