I've signed up for a beekeeping course in Keele University in May. I'm so excited! Unfortunately the timing is poor - the course finishes on 27th May and as I understand it the best time to get started with bees is early in the spring. Do I wait until after the course and then try to get a hive and some bees even though it's not the ideal time? Or do I jump in the deep end and get bees and hive before the course, and learn what I'm doing as I go along?I've ordered the recommended pre-course reading books from Amazon, so I'll be able to make a more informed decision after I've read those. If any Bean Sprouts readers are better informed than me (Stoney, didn't you have bees a while back?) I'd appreciate your expertise.
8 comments:
My skin's gone all icy... I'm not a fan of bees and wasps. More wasps than bees, but bees still push that 'freeze in terror' button. Good luck matey, you're a braver Bean Sprout than I :)
p.s. Last time I was at Keele University was for some roleplaying convention in 1985. Blimey.
hb - www.wildburro.co.uk
jump in at the deep end thats the best way then you can bring up all your problems on the course
This is a fanastic book...
Ted Hooper: Bees and Honey
I brought with me my hive tools and suit but as yet to get some hives, perhaps next year?
I do recommend using latex gloves, anything else seemed too cumbersome. Being more dexterous, the bees get less agitated. Although the stings go through, they are easy to remove.
Good luck
And I quoteth: "Although the stings go through"
Head Burro's bumhole twitches in panic as he reaches for a brown paper bag to breathe into...
I know I'm soft but, in my defense, I not scared of much in life - just a lot of the insect kingdom, too many legs/eyes/stalks/mouth parts/stings in my opinion.
hb - www.wildburro.co.uk
Good on you! I'd love to try bee-keeping too, but when we don't live so close to the neighbours that we can hear them walk upstairs ;)
Anyone around the allotment know about bee-keeping? Is there a UK club ... bet there is ...
Back when I was a teen-ager, we (my grandfather, father, and uncle) decided to raise some bees. We just read the books and did it.
Of course, it was easier back then. There are some new diseases out that need to be addressed -- in North America, anyhow. I have no idea what pests your bees will have to deal with.
I've kept bees and am a huge fan. They really make a place come to life in a way that you can't grasp until you have tens of thousands of them working every available bloom.
I have to be fully kitted up as I'm seriously allergic to bee stings. It doesn't stop me though and once I can get a couple of colonies I'll be off again. (Last year's late cold snap caught our colonies out as they'd just started to fly.)
John Seymour said something along the lines of "the best way to learn how to keep a cow is to get one." Have an adventure!
I have 'Starting with Bees' somewhere if you want to borrow it?
Post a Comment