As a follow up to this, I think it's now late enough in the year to follow it up with what I think I've learned this year.


1) I still don't have enough bloody kit.
I spent a small fortune this year on more hives, extra thingies to finagle the boondoggle, supers, nails, oh so many nails, frames and other shenanigans and I still didn't have enough kit.

2) Buy, steal, Make or pay Jon to make you a couple of Nucs.
To repeat the mantra from around these parts: "There is little in beekeeping that cannot be solved by putting something into, or taking something out of a Nuc". I have one, I could have done with at least 3 at one point.

3) My bees also read every beekeeping forum and are aware of what advice over and above what's in the books I'm likely to receive.
So they're doing something different again!

4) You will still lose a swarm.
This time it will be just about when you're patting yourself on the back for not having lost a swarm.

5) Don't over exert yourself (or your store of kit).
It's better to look after 3 colonies well than try to go to 5,6,7+ hives and struggle when things go a bit pear shaped because you haven't got enough kit or experience to cope. At one point I had two "spare" Nucs that I was considering either giving to someone else or making into colonies myself. In the end I used them both to deal with unforseen problems in other colonies.

6) If you get a chance to shadow a more experienced beekeeper, take it.
I spent a day with a seasonal and ex seasonal inspector going through around 40-50 colonies between us. I learned more on that day than I have done before or since. I got tips and advice on just about every aspect of my beekeeping from how I used my hive tool, how I moved over open hives, just what it was that I was looking at and why it was like that, how to cut down my inspection times, what records I actually need to keep and so on.

7) Don't be afraid to ask.
The same SBI was doing my basic assessment and we found European Foul Brood in the hive. As there were several other hives in the apiary and I was already "exposed" I asked if they wanted a hand taking notes, bagging frames and doing all the other gubbins. Not the most fun by any stretch of the imagination, but incredibly useful.

8) When inspecting don't look for what is right, look for what is wrong.
Might be different for other people, but when I'm looking for what I want to see ("Bright, white and curled up tight") I find it easy to miss what I don't. This year I learned to look for what I don't want to see instead. Sounds obvious and I do it every day for a living as a data analyst but sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. I had to learn it for my day job too.

9) There's a lot of bollocks spouted in beekeeping. By a lot of people, some of whom should know better.
The hard part is spotting it and understanding why it's being spouted.

10) Idealism gives way to pragmatism.
Your bees and your neighbour's bees for that matter don't give a fig roll what you believe, they just want to get on with it. Don't be afraid to be flexible if it means helping them to do that.

11) The education programmes on offer are well worth the time.
They make you think, they make you read, they make you consider alternatives. Even if you don't actually want to do the exams, get your hands on the syllabus material and work through it, it'll make you a better (informed) beekeeper.

12) The first pot of honey is bloody lovely.
And it's all yours! all the rest belongs to Mum, great aunt mildred, everyone else who ever knew you kept bees and anyone who sees a pot of your honey. And what you do manage to sell wont even put a dent in what you've spent so far.

13) If you wander around in a bee suit people will stop you to ask questions.... mostly about wasps.
You might think you're only in it for the bees, everyone else will expect you to know about anything stripey with 6 legs, what plants are best, how bad CCD is in America, killer bees, swarms and honey, but mostly they'll ask you about wasps.

14) If you buy an extractor now, after the first use you'll already be planning on how to convince the Mrs that a 22 frame, motorised, Radial extractor instead of the 4 frame tangential one you bought at the time would look nice in the living room.