The Bees are coming!!

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The Bees are coming!!
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Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 6:56 am Post subject: The Bees are coming!!
Our nucleus of bees are about ready and we can collect them next Friday evening, dusk time!! Exciting and a tad scary at the same time. I think we're ready... got all the kit, let the farmer know we're about to start, frantically re-reading the books Any words of advice? Prefer to panic before the event not during...

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 7:06 am Post subject:
Good luck and stay calm. The recent warm weather will mean there's plenty of food for them about.

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 7:15 am Post subject:
Good luck - you'll be fine (says she who has never kept a bee in her life ) - but you will be and so will they be - now have you got names for them all yet

sally_in_wales
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Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 7:44 am Post subject:
Just remember to accept no nonsense when you line them up for their weekly inspection. You want all their shoes polished and collecting baskets ready or there will be trouble! Seriously though, the weather is great for bees at the moment, ours are busy as anything and I'm sure yours will settle in just fine

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 7:50 am Post subject:

bernie-woman wrote:

Good luck - you'll be fine (says she who has never kept a bee in her life

) - but you will be and so will they be - now have you got names for them all yet

well open to suggestions of course

But the Fiddlesticks Honey Co-operative as a collective name seemed a good start. We are going to name the queen however (cos that's us

) and were musing on the lines of calling her Rhiannon after the celtic legend of Rhiannon and the White Horse. Since White Horse hill is a local landmark.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 8:04 am Post subject:
I'm sure you will Mrs F but please keep us up to date with how things progress. I think you have interesting times ahead.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35058
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 8:31 am Post subject:
Fantastic. I'll be very interested to hear how you get on. I went to our local beekeepers soc with Alison on Tuesday and really enjoyed it. I've had a couple of offers of places I could keep a hive or two, but I've a lot of learning before I would feel ready to get a hive. Did you take lessons?

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 8:48 am Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

Fantastic. I'll be very interested to hear how you get on. I went to our local beekeepers soc with Alison on Tuesday and really enjoyed it. I've had a couple of offers of places I could keep a hive or two, but I've a lot of learning before I would feel ready to get a hive. Did you take lessons?

we went on an intensive two day course late last summer. First day theory, 2nd day in hives.

We've about 4 beekeeping books, have joined our local beekeeping assoc and get the Beecraft mag. Tim has introduced himself to the village beekeeper and Tim knows someone from his radio hobby who is a beekeeper who lives not far from here. So we've plenty of local support if we get stuck. And I can have a panic on here as well.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 8:50 am Post subject:
I have a sense that it helps that Tim and I are doing this together. What one person failed to pick up from the course/books should have been caught by the other. I'm not sure I could do this on my own necessarily.

sally_in_wales
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Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 9:08 am Post subject:
Look, if I can keep bees, you will have no problems at all. We muddle through as seems appropriate (doing it by the book just got us into a mess here) and they still stay in the garden and make honey which they even sometimes share with us, so you will do great

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 9:17 am Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Look, if I can keep bees, you will have no problems at all. We muddle through as seems appropriate (doing it by the book just got us into a mess here) and they still stay in the garden and make honey which they even sometimes share with us, so you will do great

Sally - Do you have them in your own garden? If so how large is it ? what do the neighbours think?

I'm about to enrol on a 6 week course on beekeeping with my local association and my main worry is that I'll get all fired up ready to have some bees but then won't be about to site them anywhere

Our garden is about 110ft long, 20ft wide - slap bang in the middle of suburbia and the bottom of the garden is planned to be where I site the chooks and the bees this year - I do have a possible alternate site for the bees but I haven't got around to discussing it with the person concerned yet (MIL's boyfriend)

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 9:31 am Post subject:

Jocorlos----although my bees are now in Wales I've kept them in a fairly small back garden with no problems----we just added trellising to raise the hight of the fence and thereby their flight path so they keep away from neighbours/passers by. The one thing I've learnt from bitter experience is always to check [ AND DOUBLE CHECK] I've everything I need in my bee box and I know exactly what I'm going to be doing before I open the hive----bees are great---all mine have come through the winter well and are working like little demons

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 9:32 am Post subject:
Jocorless. I once saw bees being kept in the middle of surburbia. The hives were on a flat roof which put the bees flight path well above the heads of the surounding public.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 9:35 am Post subject:
Thanks guys - that helps alot

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 07 10:42 am Post subject:
Hope we'll be able to come and visit them when they're settled Silly question, but how do you know which way their flight path will be?

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