Beekeeping- Harder than it looks

For my 60th birthday a few years ago now, I was given a Honey Bee flow hive.  I had been convinced by my son David that keeping bees was easy and the honey was delicious.  So suited and booted I was off and David gave me  some of his bees.  A flow hive is a new form of keeping bees.  Traditionalists hate them, but newbys love them.  The bees are unaware of you collecting the honey.  The base of the hive is a traditional set up where the bees make the honeycomb themselves but the upper part is a clever design that is made and can be unlocked using a key.  The bees use the hexagonal artificial comb and cap the honey off.  The key dislodges the comb and the honey flows out, as can be seen in the above picture.


Well to be honest beekeeping is not as easy as it looks.  To be a beekeeper you have to have certain requirements.  Firstly not to be afraid of bees.  Well my husband Martin doesn’t like 'the stingy little b’s.'  I, on the other hand show no fear.  So I did most of the inspections, which have to be regular to check on the bees health, they can get nasty bugs like Varoa mites that attack new lava, you also have to check the queen is still around and laying eggs and watch the activity to avoid swarming. 


Yes, during swarming season you have to be a bit savvy or the bees will outgrow the hive and the queen will take some workers and go and look for another home.  

The first season I had the bees, despite my regular examinations, one morning there was a very loud buzzing noise coming from the top of the garden where the bees lived.  I was just going out to Tragos but the large swarm of bees flying around needed my immediate attention.  My biggest fear was that they would find their new home in a neighbours chimney or wall cavity.  My neighbour Karen lives next door and they were heading to her garden so I leapt over the wall.  However, they kept on flying, I knew that the first flight of a swarm usually isn’t very far from the original hive.    They seemed to stop in the next garden, it belonged to a new neighbour I hadn’t met yet.  So slightly panicking I got suited up and took my skep with me.  

I put the skep (a traditional basket for bees) near the swarm that had settled on a wall.  Once the queen is inside the rest of the swarm will follow her.  I managed to eventually collect the swarm and put them in a new hive.  Panic over.  The queen had left a new queen behind so I now had two hives.  I also met my new neighbour who probably wondered what she had moved in next to.

The last of the honey is usually harvested at the end of the summer.  Usually when winter comes the bees settle down. They throw the male drones out and the girls don't leave the hive until the spring and warmer weather arrives.  We have to make sure we have left them enough honey, keep them dry and sheltered and also feed them on sugar syrup. 

It was an interesting hobby, but unfortunately a few years ago, after a very wet and cold winter, all our bees died.  It is always a risk over the winter time.  Last winter was particularly bad and many experienced beekeepers lost their hives.  David included, but he has just restocked and is ready to go again.  We used to give our honey  away to friends and neighbours, but David and his wife Tara sell theirs and give the money to charity.




 

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