Bee Keeping

At school I was always fascinated by the world of the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) and how these creatures could live such a well organized life.  While working at a nursery (tomatoes in summer and chrysanthemums in winter) I spotted a heap of scrap wood on a rubbish heap and recognizing this as a bee hive I begged it from the proprietor. I spent some time scrubbing it clean at home and then didn't know what to do with it !  Fortunately for me an experienced beekeeper had recently moved into the village and set me up with some bees and this one hive quickly expanded into 16 following the purchase of an entire apiary from the widow of a deceased beekeeper.

I continued at this level until tertiary education took over when unfortunately the bees and all equipment had to go and it wasn't until 23 years later that the opportunity arose for me to re-enter the beekeepers world.

In my second life as a beekeeper I started out with one colony and through various means built up to a total of 6 and had almost reached the position where the sale of surplus honey had cancelled out my capital outlay when regrettably I (or rather my bees) became another statistic in the advance of the Varroa parasite. All the bees perished . After a "fallow" year I started up again in 2001 and since then fortunes have been varied but now that I can devote more time to the craft the outlook is a little rosier. I recommend that anyone interested in beekeeping as a hobby should first make contact with their local association (most counties have one) or contact the British Bee Keepers Association

Alternatively, e-mail me via the address on the Home page and I will offer any advice I can.  If you already keep bees and just want to have a chat then please get in touch.

For my own interest I have produced a PowerPoint presentation on Bees and Beekeeping and some of the images will eventually be placed on this page.

2008

Wet and relatively mild winter followed by a cold Spring did not help the bees and together with nasty viruses carried by the Varroa mite I entered a new season with 4 colonies only. This year has got to be better!!

Here is a gallery of some of my beekeeping photographs - click on the thumbnail to enlarge the picture then click on your back button to return to the page.

 

My Apiary This is my main apiary, I have another one about four miles away used for queen rearing. The object on the right is a solar wax extractor - it is simply a double glazed insulated box into which I throw old combs, odd pieces of wax etc. where they are melted by the heat of the sun (not working terribly well this year!) Later I can refine the wax for sale.	Bees at hive entrance. Notice the worker bee near the top of the picture with its load of pollen.	Bees at entrance(2) The bee second from the bottom is a Drone (male)	Swarm on fence post The collection of this swarm presented me with a challenge!	Swarm on fence post (2) After I had coaxed the bees into a skep they had a change of heart and returned to the hive!	Nature's wonder A freshly made comb filled with unripe honey (and all made in total darkness)	Sealed comb Sealed comb ready to be extracted by the beekeeper. Note the patch of pollen in the centre/bottom; the bees obviously haven't read the script as they aren't supposed to store it here!	Queen Bee A young queen on a comb surrounded by her attendants
Bees on Comb The capped cells contain a developing bee; just left of centre you can see one about to emerge.	Bees on Comb 2 This is a fairly new comb, bottom left shows part of the sheet of wax "foundation" the beekeepers give to the bees for comb building.	Pollen Stored in Comb Bees collect and store pollen for food; just left of centre you will see pellets of pollen that have just been brought in by a bee and not yet packed into the cell.	More Bees on Comb 3 Worker bees covering cells containg worker brood (developing bees in various stages).	Bees on Comb 4 I have dislodged some of the bees to show more clearly the capped brood cells.

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Page updated: 07 September 2008