Get prepared for keeping bees

Claire Waring looks at what you need to know before you become a hands on beekeeper.

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With your hives in place and having got kitted out with the essential gear, you will now be itching to get your bees. However, before you take the plunge, you really need to do some homework. Bees are living creatures and you are about to take responsibility for them. This step cannot be taken lightly. The slogan “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas” can be applied to bees too. OK, you may not keep bees for the rest of your life but beekeeping certainly should not be embarked on as a shortterm project.

As with any hobby, the more you know, the more interesting and enjoyable it will be and the more efficient you will be. As you learn about bees and their behaviour, I would be very surprised if you did not become fascinated by these insects and just want to learn more. And the more you learn and the more experience you gain, the better beekeeper you will be.

A CYCLICAL COLONY LIFE

In one sense, beekeeping is easy. If you keep your colonies strong and healthy and place them where they have access to large amounts of forage, provided the weather is favourable you will get good honey crops. However, as you are aware, there is more to it than this. Life in the bee colony is cyclical. In the winter, the colony is at its smallest, clustering in the hive and maintaining a pretty constant temperature in the centre regardless of the ambient temperature outside.

With increasing day length in spring, the queen raises her egg-laying rate and colony numbers start to increase.

Workers can begin foraging for pollen and nectar as flowers being to bloom.