To bee or not to bee, that is the question?

It certainly sounds interesting! Ive never even thought of it or know that much about it really, but the idea of free honey appeals to me!!

Is there a lot of exams etc? Not that I would ever keep bees myself (im !!!!!! scared of them, along with wasps, spiders, and moths!) but if it sounds like something you want to do, id definatley say go for it!

Jo xx

Lol! Bees are better than wasps! And spiders - well, I can cope with the teeny ones no bigger than my little fingernail, but we had a massive one in our bedroom the other week and it ran like Linford Christie. I got into bed and spotted it again, so boyf had to get out of bed and dispatch it. It was the size of my palm, I certainly cant cope with those! :eek: And I will still hate Moths for my entire life, the massive ones that attack you with big nasty eyes..... Yuck!

I'd probably be ok with bees though! I like the idea of lovely honey too... Yum!

Jo xx

Se999. I have sent you a PM about bee keeping. It's a great sideline to a smallholding.

The best way to get into it , is to learn off someone else. I have suggested looking for your local beekeeping association, and thus a local person who will show you the ropes. Most will as they are keen that other people take up the practise.
This will also lead to help with equipment and obtaining your first bees.
They pretty much look after them selves, but your do need to manage them etc.
I get my friend to extract my honey too as he has all the gear for that, saves me buying some expensive equipment for 1 day a year.
There is nothing to compare with fresh honey in the comb....

redlady_1 wrote: »

I am considering this and just wondered as this thread is over 5 years old, do any of you keep bees? Any handy tips you wish to share with us please?

Wow, redlady, I am glad you notice these things - I hadn't noticed AT ALL how old this thread was - I was just about to reply and say to se999 to pm me :rotfl:

My DH keeps bees. He has five hives and last May we had 35lbs of honey from them. We had fewer in September - probably because the summer was so wet. Lots of beekeepers around here have been having problems because of very cold winters and wet summers - DH has had to feed his constantly through the winter and has even put in warming plates into the hives - like you have for reptiles - which the Old School Beekeepers were very sniffy about, but at least his bees have all survived this winter!

In order to sell your honey, you have to have proper extraction equipment so we couldn't sell any of the honey we have produced thus far because we were using a galvanised extractor which no longer meets food safety standards (where is the roll eyes smilie when you want it????!!). So DH for his birthday got a stainless steel extractor which costs SHED LOADS of money and will certainly wipe out any profit for the next year or so - even though we got it in the sale. We still have plenty of honey for our own use of course, and I still give it to friends, although I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not even supposed to do that. But then, you'll probably all have seen best before dates on commercially produced honey which is just laughable as honey does not go bad - edible honey has been taken out of the pyramids, for crying out loud.

Pauses to breathe...

There are two tins of bits next to the woodburning stove which are there because DH was going to melt down the wax to make candles. They have been there for about six months. Our inglenook is eight feet wide and four feet deep, otherwise I would have flung them at his head before now but as it is I only notice them very occasionally. One of these days I will render the wax to get rid of all the bits of dead bee floating about in it and then I will make candles. Actually, with all this talk on the tough thread about that very subject, I might just do that now. I also want to make furniture polish and I have several recipes for that.... hmmm (lightbulb goes off in head...)

DH mentioned he'd always wanted to keep bees and two days later I saw an advert in the library for a beekeeping course; the following week my DD had a friend to play and I said to the mum, have you got a day off now that Elfine is here - she said, no, her DH was off with his bees; I mentioned my DH had just done a course. Half an hour later, the phone rang: her DH on the phone, could he speak to mine. They yakked for HOURS and then they went off and did bee things together.

Beekeepers LOVE to help other beekeepers. If you're interested, then just let your local beekeeping society know and they will welcome you with open arms.

Good morning,

While it is really nice to see Old Style members helping each other out, the forum has a rule against exchanging personal details. Sorry.

I'll quote the more formal reminder for you, and the rule it links to explains a little more:-

EXCHANGING PERSONAL DETAILS


Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: For legal reasons I have to discourage swapping, buying and selling on the forum (please see this rule). While it can be a very useful way of saving money it relies on a certain amount of trust between members and as such can cause problems (and has in the past). If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].