Any Beekeepers?

[MrsBertBibby]

Are there any beekeepers on here? I start a theory course next week, and wondered if anyone on here has bees.

Ooo DH is very keen on the idea of bees. Can I ask two stupid questions?

1. We live in woodland, do you have to have lots of flowers around? Would we need to plant bee roads to make sure they had enough to get from garden to garden (few acres between gardens around here)
2. Roughly how much of a time commitment would they be?

Trees are full of flowers! Bees fly a 3km radius so they'd be fine. Hollow trees in woods is their natural habitat.

The time commitment for a hive or two is an hour a week once you're set up. Sometimes a bit more with extraction or disease or swarm control.

Lots of bee places do great taster days, try one out.

Thanks OP, I just wondered whether if you have a couple of hives there was a minimum level of nearby food sources required so that they don't decide to up and find a better spot. Some of the trees do of course have flowers at certain times of the year but this is primarily dense oak and birch woodland.

I think I'll book him on a course for fathers day.

You can actually get honey from trees that don't flower - including oaks! In winter there's virtually no time commitment because you don't do inspections. Find your local beekeeping association - they may well have apiary visits or bee/honey events over the summer.

She was 15 Una - so a wee bit older than your ds But tbh she does most of the manipulation & pretty much all the heavy lifting, I just hold the smoker & make unhelpful suggestions.

I would have thought any age from 6-7ish depending on the child they'd be able to suit up & join in.

The people doing my training run courses for primary school kids, including a bit of hands on stuff.

We had our second hive in the house for a while and DS loved taking out the frames to examine so he's definitely getting ready! He got quite sad when our queen died. I think the key factors will be when we can find a bee suit big enough and when he's consistently biddable enough to be safe.

I should probably clarify that the second hive isn't occupied yet....

How are your bees settling in MrsB? How did the AS go Sadik?

We have done our first honey harvest. 25 jars!