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Thread: What I learned in my second year...

  1. #1
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    Default What I learned in my second year...

    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.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Good post Neil.

    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.
    Last night watching the footie with a mate I was boasting about how little I spend on my pay as you go mobile, which I charge with my credit card. I checked my statements today and sure enough I have only spent 60 quid on the mobile this year. Unfortunately I happened to notice that I have spent hundreds of pounds on bee stuff in the last few months. 3k Apiguard tub £85 for example.

    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.
    Neil, you must have duff polititicians around Bristol., Ok. Maybe not quite as Neandrathal as ours but surely worthy of smiling out from a nuc.

    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.
    Possibly my greatest claim to fame this year is no swarms emitted let alone a swarm lost. 4 colonies started making queen cells but I did an AS on two of them and removed the queen from two others which cramped their style. Mind you in the last two months I have had a lot of queens go missing but just a loss of one bee at a time.

    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.
    Very true. I learned a lot about Apideas from Mervyn Eddie this year as he manages about 75 and I was able to pick his brains when I left mine over to his apiary to get queens mated.

    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.
    Most noticible on beekeeping forums - some a lot worse than others.

    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.
    I don't like bee suits as they only draw attention to the fact that you have bees in the area. I just use a veil and I only put it on when noone is looking!
    I nearly nominated myself for the Darwin awards the day before yesterday. I had a colony to requeen, the one which ditched its queen last week, and I had to check a queen from an Apidea I had suspended between two frames in a roller cage. I nipped up at lunch time to see how things were going.
    I carefully put on my nitrile gloves, lifted the crown board a bit, and put in a puff ot two of smoke before removing it.
    I spread a couple of towels over the top of the frames to keep the heat in and the bees quiet.
    I pushed the frames forward to remove the roller to check the queen inside and at that point a bee flew out and stung me on the forehead.
    That's odd, I thought, I never get stung on the head.
    I looked over and saw my veil sitting on the lid of the neighbouring hive.
    I put it on pretty damn quick!

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    Most people ask me about stinging as tho' it's a big deal. "Ooh your so brave "playing" with those nasty stingy things".When I say i've kept bees for nearly 40 years, never wear gloves and actually don't feel stings for more than a couple of seconds - I get a look of disbelief .As for equipment,I've collected loads, a lot inherited from well meaning colleagues and a lot i've made for myself.Most of it is now obsolete to my current beekeeping practices-piles of floors 'cos I now use mesh floors, 16x10 brood bodies 'cos I now use National brood bodies and stacks of the wrong size 16x10 frames etc.etc. So have faith Nellie , like me you will never stop learning and you will eventually adopt your own calm gentle style of handling bees .
    Last edited by GRIZZLY; 07-11-2010 at 11:33 PM. Reason: cant spell

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    Don't worry about me, I'm having a whale of a time

    I know I'm bad winter away from having a huge pile of spares and that it'll come soon enough.

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    Don't worry about me, I'm having a whale of a time

    I know I'm bad winter away from having a huge pile of spares and that it'll come soon enough.

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    Just settling down after a marvellous meal (I was cooking he adds modestly) which involved 'boozy prunes' added to a stew, brought to that state by prolonged soaking in brandy. Is that why I seem to seeing double?!

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    I blame the dodgy forum admi.... oh.

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    Too many boozy prunes and pressing the delete key perhaps!!!

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    This thread was rather interesting and seriously educational, especially for me as much of it seems to apply to myself as well. BUT suddenly gavin steps in and lowers the tone considerably - prunes, booze and showing off about his cookery skills.
    Ah well - I guess we all have our weird moments !!!!!
    Last edited by POPZ; 11-11-2010 at 09:54 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    I don't like bee suits as they only draw attention to the fact that you have bees in the area. I just use a veil and I only put it on when noone is looking!
    I nearly nominated myself for the Darwin awards the day before yesterday. I had a colony to requeen, the one which ditched its queen last week, and I had to check a queen from an Apidea I had suspended between two frames in a roller cage. I nipped up at lunch time to see how things were going.
    I carefully put on my nitrile gloves, lifted the crown board a bit, and put in a puff ot two of smoke before removing it.
    I spread a couple of towels over the top of the frames to keep the heat in and the bees quiet.
    I pushed the frames forward to remove the roller to check the queen inside and at that point a bee flew out and stung me on the forehead.
    That's odd, I thought, I never get stung on the head.
    I looked over and saw my veil sitting on the lid of the neighbouring hive.
    I put it on pretty damn quick!
    I try not to be spotted too much, but word gets around pretty quickly. In some respects it's quite helpful. One of my apiaries is on land open to the public with no vehicle access so it's pretty hard to disguise a smoker on the way there or back and I do know that I have a veritable army of people watching over my hives who'll let me know if there's any trouble.

    And after a couple of minutes chatting about bees and flowers conversation inevitably turns to the wasp nest they have in the attic.

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