My interest started 40 years ago when I took a two day
course in beekeeping while at university.
Only in the last year have I been in a position to do anything about it.
On the news there are often horror stories, which may be
exaggerated, about bee numbers rapidly decreasing. Einstein thought if the bees became extinct
mankind would rapidly run out of food; I thought that maybe I could do my bit
to save the planet. I did some research on
the internet, checked that my immediate family were not allergic to bee venom,
and decided to take the plunge. My wife is still convinced that the bees in
true Tom and Jerry style will form into a perfect arrowhead formation and chase
her around the farm before stinging her behind! Fortunately for me this has yet to happen.
Having contacted several local suppliers, I went to the Beetradex.
Everyone that I spoke to recommended joining
my local association, so I ordered a beginner’s set up and contacted NEWBKA via
the website. With wonderful timing this
was just after the beginners’ course had finished. However, I was able to
attend Chris Broad’s taster sessions at Webb’s.
Alex invited me to the Avoncroft apiary meetings and put me in touch
with David Perks who sold me a hive with bees. I was off and running.
At the apiary meetings in the spring it was obvious that the
bee numbers were steadily increasing. I learnt about eggs, brood and stores and
what a queen bee looked like. Back home
my bee numbers were not increasing and I couldn’t see any new eggs or find the
queen on the brood box frames. Discussing
this at Avoncroft we reached the conclusion that the queen had either died or
escaped, although there were no signs of any queen cells being made. I bought a new queen and introduced her into
the hive. After two days I went to open
the cage that she was supplied in and found that she had been killed. The introduction of a pretender to the queen’s
crown had clearly upset the resident queen and had the effect of jump starting
her back into egg production. The
numbers in my colony then dramatically increased and I was back on the road again.
Flushed with success, I set up my second hive as a trap hive for any local
swarms.
With more bad timing this took place at the end of May just
before the June dip and I had no honey from the oil seed rape crops. In fact when I inspected the hive I only ever
saw about 30 bees in the super which was odd. In the summer the Avoncroft hives were
producing lots of honey, while in my hive it looked as though the bees couldn’t
find their way into the super. Alex gave
me two frames that he had recently extracted honey from, to try to remind my colony
what they should be doing. For the
second time in the year this jump started the hive into action and I was able
to add a second super to help store the honey that now magically appeared. The trap hive was still unoccupied.
In September I extracted honey from one super leaving the
other for the bees to use as stores, and carried out a varroa treatment. The bees produced 13lbs of honey which I was
delighted with for a first season. The
trap hive was still unoccupied and I have yet to find the queen in the brood
box. However, she has done what bees
have been doing for millions of years and produced a viable colony, and honey
for extraction despite my efforts to help. I would like to thank everyone in the
association who has given me friendship, help and advice over the year without
which I am sure my efforts would have come to nothing. I have learnt a huge amount in a short time;
the most important thing being if it looks odd ask someone or if it’s going
well let the bees get on with it. This
winter I am going to take the beginners’ course and next season I hope to be
able to find my elusive queen. The trap hive is still empty.