Mad question - Has anyone ever thought about keeping bees?

Madwelsh

Madwelsh

Madwelsh

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Anyone on here interested, or actually already keeps bees? I'm hoping to start an introduction to bee-keeping course the last friday of this month. I've always been interested in nature, and despite living in Brum, I think I have a reasonable sized garden to keep them. I'm also interested about people's thoughts who don't keep bees, and also if they had a neighbour that did! There are bonuses, like free honey etc, and the chances of mad swarm attack are really not like Hollywood suggests.

Just wondering what the general consensus is, if a neighbour kept bees would you guys have a problem, or if you had kids would you be worried etc? My garden is like 15m wide and obviously I wouldn't have them next to the fence!
 
No, I have not thought of it, although now you mention it, I am sure it is a fantastic and rewarding hobby.... I would suggest you read up on the subject material with a combination of google and youtube, I bet there is lots of information out there and if you do eventually take the plunge it would make for a fantastic thread!

Now buzz off! ;)
 
rubberduck said:
No, I have not thought of it, although now you mention it, I am sure it is a fantastic and rewarding hobby.... I would suggest you read up on the subject material with a combination of google and youtube, I bet there is lots of information out there and if you do eventually take the plunge it would make for a fantastic thread!

Now buzz off! ;)
Click to expand...
no honey for you then :)
 
My fiancée is currently attending bee keeping classes :)

Think it's about 8 week or something.

It sounds like they keep up with traditions quite a bit. She'll get a mentor at the end of it that she can call to ask questions and who will come along to help at various times of the year.

Supposedly people who keep bees (and their families) can develop allergies to them if kept nearby which is why they're quite often kept away from the house.

But yeah, good luck, not sure when ours will be arriving or where she's planning on keeping them - letting her take the lead, I'll just eat the honey :)
 
i've just started a course as well, got a hive last summer but waiting to do the course before i get them. Its worth doing a taster session first, then do a course if one of the local bee keeping societies run one.

The taster will give you an idea if you can handle having the bees around you - a hive of 60,000 bees flying up around you when you open it is damn intimidating, could see it putting people off very quickly & the course gives you a wealth of information and more importantly local contacts who can help & look after your bees while your on holiday.

Books wise apparently Guide to Bees & Honey by Ted Hooper is very good.

my WBC hive (yet to be painted):
sXxypmil.jpg
 
Ignorant question potential.

Does this make relaxing in your garden a thing of the past?
 
nar, bees are pretty chill generally, if you start ******* them off they sure they'll fight back.

They generally don't gather nectar close to their hive so won't be all over your garden unless they swarm, but in reality they feed themselves up with honey before they swarm so they are dozy at that point.
 
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I'd love to and got as far as applying for permission from the council when I had my allotment but then I had to give up the allotment due to time commitments and I don't think my tiny terrace garden is really ideal. If I ever get to the top of the waiting list for the allotments at the end of my road then I will certainly consider applying again It seems like a great hobby ad is good or the environment too.
 
Wow, genuinely amazed at the demographic on these forums, thought I'd be shot down! I'll be sure to check that book out Sil, thanks for the headsup. I'm always one who notices things like birds nests, wasps nests etc, a few years back we had a swarm land in a shrub, managed to google a guy to come and collect.
I have to say that I will be filling my trousers when it comes to live handling, but meh, been stung plenty in the past so not too worried. Worst sting of all? My uncle owns a plant nursery and used to work up there in the holidays, was shifting a nice heavy wheelbarrow and brushed against some flowers, big mistake, it seems a bumblebee fell off straight down my welly!!! Oh my god was that painful, must have been stung 20 times near the shin!!! I took the boot off at which point the bumble flew off, my leg swelled like twice the size lol.
I'm just wondering what the people at my local association are like, the chap I spoke to on the phone was very enthusiastic and told me a few 'young uns' were part of the club already so I should be fine. Nice to see I'm not the only one considering this, most of my mates said I was nuts, but they would still support me by eating the honey. One web resource I found was this site http://www.dave-cushman.net/ , seems quite knowledgeable, but so far from what I'm reading, every colony has it's own character and this varies from area to area too. Oh well I'll just bite the bullet and go for it, if it turns out I can't hack it, then at least I'll know.
 
Several people at work do it and also sell honey, beeswax and stuff.
All of them keep their hives a fair distance away from their houses, usually by making deals with local landowners who understand the environmental benefits of having the things buzzing around.

As a non-beekeeper myself, as well as having a wife who is petrified or/allergic to them... I'm certainly NIMBY about it but would morally support your endeavour, suggest you make similar agreements with landowners, and welcome any honey/mead that came my way.
 
My dad keeps bees and has done for several years now.

Used to have two hives in the back garden, which I would estimate was 20x10m (not lived there for a while now) on a fairly built up estate but with huge woods nearby. Tended to be fine however lots went to the next door neighbours pond to drink which annoyed them a bit, although they were bad neighbours anyway. One of the hives ended up swarming and taking up residence in a tree a few houses down the road. He ended up moving them after that, one on to a guy's land from his "bee club" and another to his work which was on an industrial estate. He's moved now and keeps 2 much smaller hives in a smaller back garden on a small rural terrace as well as several large hives scattered around various places :p. He has no complaints although one of the neighbours has young kids so they keep an eye out.

Handling them is good fun and the whole hobby is extremely interesting and rewarding. Its something I will almost certainly take up when I get my own place.

Plus the honey is absolutely fantastic.

Oh and he combined it with another hobby of woodworking and built all his own hives, which look very much like Siliconslave's above.
 
I'd love to have bees and have thought about it for years, but didn't think it was really practical living in the middle of a city. Even though I do have a decent sized garden, I'm not sure the neighbours would be too pleased with bees buzzing around all summer.
 
It's something Id love to do but I just don't live in a suitable property at all as I have no garden but it's certainly something I will look to doing if I ever move to a more suitable place for sure.
 
I'm still quite shocked by the reaction here tbh, I've always been interested in nature, catching and keeping slow worms and lizards, dug out a pond and got newts and tadpoles for it. Insects have always fascinated me, I kept stick insects for years, used to supply a few local schools with them! I'm just hoping I don't bottle it!!!

I had a rather interesting time younger chasing my mates through a forest with bracken everywhere in the clearings, what we all didn't realize was one of us crashing through the old bracken stomped a wasps nest that was suspended just above the floor! They chased us and stung us a few times, they even stung my mates dog! We ran maybe 300 metres down a lane and they still kept coming! I'm thinking that noise of many wings will trigger memories for me, I only got stung a couple of times, but by god I would have done Usain Bolt over them 300 yards, we all would have, the noise was so loud and so threatening. I laugh now, but at the age of 12 I think that was the first time I genuinely feared I was going to get seriously hurt. You know the feeling, where the nape of your neck starts to prickle and that stomach churn starts, just remembering it now I have chills hehe!

I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm good with creepy crawlies, I'm thinking once I get my workshop done I might even keep some chilean rose or something for a bit of fun.
 
so - finished the last of my bee course in West Norfolk (missing 2/5 of the practicals unfortunately) but the hive is all setup and waiting to get my nuc (swarm) at the beginning of June all going well!

how do you overclock this mofo?
NMjihTl.jpg
 
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