There's a burgeoning curiosity in beekeeping and I am usually requested how you start. Listed here are my prime ten tips.
1. Join your native beekeeping association. They're a mine of knowledge and if you're genuinely excited by maintaining bees they will be solely too pleased to talk to you. (If your interest is barely general then I recommend the web or Alan Champion's e-book 'Bees at the backside of the garden') Beekeeping isn't simple and can take up significant time at particular times of the year. So talk to beekeepers and hearken to what they are saying, assessing if beekeeping may be accommodated in your lifestyle.
2. Do not rush to make the decision. Take time to learn what is concerned, the time commitment and the equipment required. I was contacted in the beginning of the yr with the question 'I've just been given a hive of bees, what do I do now?' Not the way in which to begin beekeeping!!! Jumping in at the deep-end is not to be really helpful as I doubt you could be taught sufficiently quickly to keep up with the bees. You might be likely to make every error in the books, and perhaps even invent a few of your own. Beekeepers are individualists and so if you ask three beekeepers the identical question you will get not less than 4 solutions and maybe more. Take time to develop into snug with the language.
3. Go on a course. Many beekeeping associations now run programs for newbie's and they are an excellent introduction to beekeeping. You study the basics and sufficient data to get you thru the first year.
4. Get a mentor that can assist you by means of the primary year. Get to know a neighborhood beekeeper and ask in the event you may watch him manipulate his bees. The local affiliation could be an ideal help. Beekeeping seems easy on the floor but soon will get complicated. An area supply of recommendation at occasions of panic could be invaluable, and will help to avoid the panics within the first place.
5. Preferably start with new equipment at first. It is an expense, but avoids a whole lot of potential problems. If you buy second hand ensure you know the provenance of the gear and that it comes from a healthy source. By no means purchase frames or used foundation.
6. Begin small with a 4 frame nucleus or swarm. That method your knowledge will develop with the bees. Again be sure you know the provenance of the bees. Colonies of bees are briefly supply and some persons are selling very dodgy colonies which are not disease free.
7. Buy the minimal of apparatus at first. Take advice; see what the locals are using. The catalogues are packed with the most recent gizmos and 'essential' gadgets, a lot of which you'll not need - at the least at first. Go to a major beekeeping convention such because the Spring Convention of the British Beekeepers Affiliation at Stone Leigh. Listen to the displays and look round the suppliers of equipment. Take your mentor and he can clarify it all.
8. Try to watch as many beekeepers as attainable manipulating their bees. Beekeeping is actually a sensible interest and the more experience you can get of bees the faster you will learn. (One by no means stops studying in beekeeping)
9. Hold your beekeeping so simple as potential in the first year. I all the time advise new beekeepers that the one goals in the first yr are to keep the bees in the hive and to finish the year with a healthy colony able to survive the winter. Anything additional is a bonus.
10. Enjoy your beekeeping!
1. Join your native beekeeping association. They're a mine of knowledge and if you're genuinely excited by maintaining bees they will be solely too pleased to talk to you. (If your interest is barely general then I recommend the web or Alan Champion's e-book 'Bees at the backside of the garden') Beekeeping isn't simple and can take up significant time at particular times of the year. So talk to beekeepers and hearken to what they are saying, assessing if beekeeping may be accommodated in your lifestyle.
2. Do not rush to make the decision. Take time to learn what is concerned, the time commitment and the equipment required. I was contacted in the beginning of the yr with the question 'I've just been given a hive of bees, what do I do now?' Not the way in which to begin beekeeping!!! Jumping in at the deep-end is not to be really helpful as I doubt you could be taught sufficiently quickly to keep up with the bees. You might be likely to make every error in the books, and perhaps even invent a few of your own. Beekeepers are individualists and so if you ask three beekeepers the identical question you will get not less than 4 solutions and maybe more. Take time to develop into snug with the language.
3. Go on a course. Many beekeeping associations now run programs for newbie's and they are an excellent introduction to beekeeping. You study the basics and sufficient data to get you thru the first year.
4. Get a mentor that can assist you by means of the primary year. Get to know a neighborhood beekeeper and ask in the event you may watch him manipulate his bees. The local affiliation could be an ideal help. Beekeeping seems easy on the floor but soon will get complicated. An area supply of recommendation at occasions of panic could be invaluable, and will help to avoid the panics within the first place.
5. Preferably start with new equipment at first. It is an expense, but avoids a whole lot of potential problems. If you buy second hand ensure you know the provenance of the gear and that it comes from a healthy source. By no means purchase frames or used foundation.
6. Begin small with a 4 frame nucleus or swarm. That method your knowledge will develop with the bees. Again be sure you know the provenance of the bees. Colonies of bees are briefly supply and some persons are selling very dodgy colonies which are not disease free.
7. Buy the minimal of apparatus at first. Take advice; see what the locals are using. The catalogues are packed with the most recent gizmos and 'essential' gadgets, a lot of which you'll not need - at the least at first. Go to a major beekeeping convention such because the Spring Convention of the British Beekeepers Affiliation at Stone Leigh. Listen to the displays and look round the suppliers of equipment. Take your mentor and he can clarify it all.
8. Try to watch as many beekeepers as attainable manipulating their bees. Beekeeping is actually a sensible interest and the more experience you can get of bees the faster you will learn. (One by no means stops studying in beekeeping)
9. Hold your beekeeping so simple as potential in the first year. I all the time advise new beekeepers that the one goals in the first yr are to keep the bees in the hive and to finish the year with a healthy colony able to survive the winter. Anything additional is a bonus.
10. Enjoy your beekeeping!
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