voytech104

First days of beekeeping - only for beginners

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voytech104
, 25-07-2011 at 10:25 PM (5708 Views)
FOREWORD:

IF You are beginner looking to find out other first-time experiences - that's the blog for You.
IF You are beginner and fan of long-sometimes boring-stories - I hope its for You.
IF You are beginner and hate long stories - READ ONLY BOLDED PARTS
IF You are experienced beekeeper - DON'T READ IT - Unless You want to have some laugh.


24.07.2011

Day first

10:00 I`m arriving at the destination of my new apiary. Surprised by the owner who after short visit directed me to a place in his garden where I can locate my apiary. I was so happy. His first words on this Sunday were: ‘ Its not gonna happen’ pal... I heard only: insurance..., horses..., holden number... SEPA... blah, blah... Back to square one. Hive bought, nucleus on its way ready to be picked up 6pm this evening. What to do?!? So I drove from farmer to farmer asking around if I can keep honey bees on their field/farm. (I noticed that people are less scared if I say honeybees instead of beehives - must be some Hitchcock thing I cannot grasp.
And finally after driving for 2 hours I managed to find perfect location (i hope). Owners did have bees until couple of years ago that died after harsh winter. Reservoir 100 yards away, veg and flower nursery nearby. Very kind and heartwarming people allowed me to set up my nursery in young apple orchard. Next to it there are plum trees, cherrys... By the loch we have willows (for early spring forage). I`m so over the moon guys.
I set up my apiary on the south facing slope (very slight slope) of the terraing. Hives will be facing south. Raised on couple of runners.
6pm, I`m collecting bees. Lady who sold them to me, told me few pointers. How to drive with them. I leveled them off on my passenger seat, seat-belts on , Air-con off, roof-light open. You know what?, it was a great feeling, having heard them buzzing on my left hand side... It was about one hour drive so about half way through I thought - maybe some radio? BUT! What bees would like to hear?!? Capital? Smooth Radio? After some consideration I tuned to Radio BBC3. Tchaikovsky... Goood music but after a minute I thought to myself - Naaah, bees wont like it
I drove in silence to MY apiary, put the nuc on the stand and opened the entrance.... Yeah... it was supposed to be sneak peak to see if they are there as well not only at the top... dozens of the flew out and few started circling around my bare head... I thought - yep, that`s me for today. Enough socialising


25.07.2011

Day second

Couldn't sleep most of the morning. Didn`t need alarm to wake me up... All I could think of was my bees... How they felt during their first night in. Good dreams about honey?
Obviously I`m joking... I guess.
Came round to visit them 7:00am, geared up. Occasional hat and veil set, on top of jumper. Rubber builder`s gloves, safety shoes (with trousers tucked well). I havent been stung this year and I want to keep it this way as long as I can took off roof, lifted travelling screen up and set this aside. Put crown board on, got my feeder in with the syrup in, put the roof back on. All in all under 30 seconds. Some of the ‘sleepyheads’’ on the travelling screen woke up. It must have been hard for them cause they were raging!
Put travelling mesh next to the entrance so remaining bees can go back and I was on my way happy as a bunny.
Most of the day I was still thinking about bees... Not this way, of course not
Visited my bees again 3:30, 24 degrees Celsius, sunshine. Came closer and noticed every 3rd/4th bee coming back with huge amount of off white pollen. I mean like 2mm on each leg. Beautiful. And then I looked and saw cover of my feeder on the side of the hive. Instantly I had a vision about hundreds of bees drowned in the syrup
Lifted the roof and saw 1 bee desperately trying to escape from syrup... Rescue operation took about a 30 seconds but it was full success
If anyone experienced who takes care of bees reads that I`ll never be able to look into their eyes Anyhow, I watched the bees flying in and out the hive and notice one particular direction of flight. North-east towards the field of quite tall, spike/coned shaped stem with a lot of pinky flowers on around. Any idea what is this flower? Maybe white pollen comes from that? Looks in shape like foxglove (whole flower), but the flowers itself (petals) are traditional in shape.
For next year I need to note:
Forage I noticed this week:
* 2-3 week of lime tree flowering,
* Those pinky tall flowers
* Bushes with yellow flowers (again no clue what they are)
Tomorrow I`m going to hive my nucleus. Hopefully they settled in in their new location. I`m going to do that as per instructions after two days of having them in new location, midday (when most of workers is in the field). I`ll put new hive in exactly the same location as nucleus, facing the same way. I didn't bring new hive to site yet - in case bees where taking it as a point of reference and don't want to confuse them. Fingers crossed and probably sleepless night.

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Comments

  1. gavin's Avatar
    Excellent! I just love your enthusiasm! Sorry ... I'm probably what you'd call an experienced beekeeper but I peeked anyway.

    The pink spires may be rosebay willowherb and the pollen loads from that are browny- to blue-grey. **correction, just blue-grey** Ask Jon nicely and he may show you a picture. The cherries, plums, apples and even willow is just like the forage my bees have. They will really benefit from it in early spring.
    Updated 25-07-2011 at 10:59 PM by gavin
  2. Trog's Avatar
    Very enjoyable. If you post photos of the mystery flowers, I'll try and tell you what they are!
  3. Jon's Avatar
    voytech104 you need to be wary of Scottish folk who call you pal. I reckon that is a bad sign mate!
  4. Jon's Avatar
    Tall and pink will be rosebay willowherb.

    Yellow bushes are probably whin.

    Whitish pollen I would guess is from clover at this time of year, possibly bramble depending upon how white your white is.
  5. voytech104's Avatar
    I`m taking the day of tomorrow, so I`ll pop in with my camera and try to take few good photos of bees, surroundings, forage. I hope that blog become more interesting and beneficial for beginners like me.
  6. gavin's Avatar
    White clover is usually brown when carried by bees in their handbags.
  7. Jon's Avatar
    Brown or browny white! Can be a wee bit greenish as well unless I am mistaking it for some other pollen which is quite possible.

    This is rosebay willowherb.

  8. voytech104's Avatar
    Thats exactly what it is there! And this bee with hunger in its eyes answers my question 'is this a forage for my bees'
  9. voytech104's Avatar
    Is whin (gorse) - provide good forage for bees ?
  10. Jon's Avatar
    Whin/gorse is not a major source but they will collect pollen if no other options, usually in early spring.

    At the moment your main sources are likely to be bramble, clover, and rosebay willowherb.
    Other secondary sources in my area are birds's foot trefoil, privet, poppy, marigold and other stuff which people grow in their gardens.
    Brassicas allowed to run to seed are also attractive to bees. Autumn flowering raspberry is just starting and they like that as well. And I forgot to mention himalayan balsam which grows usually in damp ground near waterways and can be a major source of both nectar and pollen. The bees come back to the colony coated with white pollen on their abdomens.
    Updated 25-07-2011 at 11:20 PM by Jon
  11. Neonach's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon
    Whin/gorse is not a major source but they will collect pollen if no other options, usually in early spring.
    In the west coast island of XXXX, one large apiary is sited right next to a very extensive area of dense gorse. The bee traffic there in late May was something to experience - you could hardly hear yourself think for the noise of bees, and the sight of the bees going to and fro like standing next to a motorway. The gorse flowers for months (almost all year - though clearly mainly May/June) and as gorse is very hardy it is a fairly dependable source in upland areas (where there is gorse). I wish there was more gorse here in my group of islands!