[Pol]

I have had a lovely day with a beekeeper and his bee's now I am hooked, going to my first beekeeping meeting in 3 weeks time, now I am look for an hive or for OH to make me one and yep he is hooked too

[Chrysalis]

Oh I am sooo jealous.   :tongue2:My OH and I want bees, but the local course was overbooked again and they only run it once a year... you'd think with such over-subscription the local beekeepers would put two or three courses on, but hey! This is Staffordshire and we don't do change 

Keep us posted as to your endeavours, C

[Pol]

I have been looking for a course for weeks and waiting for them to get back to me, so till they get back to me I have been asking the others on the allotments if they would mind if I put a bee hive on my allotments after a have been on a course and Tony one of the new allotment holder said he had a friend who had been a beekeeper for over 40 years and he would love talking about bee's so I asked if he would mind taking to me about beekeeper so this morning I give Eric a call at about 10.00 am and he said he was I free today so we went to look at the bee's and all his hive  wow  he has them in his garden on a golf course at a farm and in friends garden, It was 5.00pm when we got home, he is taking us to the meeting in 3 weeks time and say he will be able to give us the bee's to start our hive when we are ready

[massa]

is it the rotherham bee keepers assosiation meeting Pol? if it is i went to the last one, they are every 3rd wednesday in the month and they were really helpful as like you i am wanting to keep bees and am in the process of gathering information about how to look after them

[Pol]

Hi Massa,
Yes its the Rotherham one, will you be going to the next meeting?

[massa]

yeah i should be! they are also opening up their apiary to the public who have an intrest in keeping bees this saturday. I will be going to that, its in thrybergh country park at 10am. Im sure that it will be ok to put it on an open forum as it is advertised to the public already.

[Pol]

I am just up the road from Thrybergh Country Park. We may pop in before we go to Lincolnshire to do some bee shopping at Thonre's   just looking

[massa]

i was looking at the thornes catalogue they do some starter packs that look good but they can be pricey, they sell alot of second hand stuff at the bee keepers assosiation so it may be best to look there before you buy anything.

[Pol]

yes it is abit pricey, we are out that way on Sat with friend so going for a look. Eric the beekeeper I was with on Sat makes his own he is going to give the plans to my OH for him to make ours

[ANHBUC]

yes it is abit pricey, we are out that way on Sat with friend so going for a look. Eric the beekeeper I was with on Sat makes his own he is going to give the plans to my OH for him to make ours

Pol you might like to take a look at these websites www.biobees.com the top bar hive looks quite easy to make.  Click on the BBC Life in a cottage garden with Carol Klein link.

Here is a link to download free instructions for making a top bar hive www.lulu.com/product/ebook/how-to-build-a-top-bar-hive/6288193 

[Pol]

Thanks ANHBUC, I did watched Carol Klein not sure if I am going with top bar or the Langstroth, I do like the Langstroth

[massa]

I looked into the top bar hive's as they are cheaper to make and and provide a more natural environment for the bee's (there is a lot of information about these if you search the barefoot beekeeper) but i have been advised not to start with these as a beginer due to them being more difficult to manage. National bee hives seem to be the most popular and the one recomended by most.

[ANHBUC]

Thanks ANHBUC, I did watched Carol Klein not sure if I am going with top bar or the Langstroth, I do like the Langstroth

Keep us up to date on how you are doing.  This will probably be my next project but am hoping to move house this year so will take the time to investigate and read others experiences.

[Pol]

Thanks ANHBUC, I did watched Carol Klein not sure if I am going with top bar or the Langstroth, I do like the Langstroth

Keep us up to date on how you are doing.  This will probably be my next project but am hoping to move house this year so will take the time to investigate and read others experiences.

I will ANHBUC

[amckeen]

I have just received a budget starter kit from Thornes that includes a full National hive (with frames and wax); tunic and hood; gloves; smoker (with 2 cartridges); hive tool; and feed bucket for £200.  The hive is 'second' quality but I spotted no problems with it when building it up on Thursday (I thought it was good to construct it so I got a feel for how a hive is put together).

£200 is a lot less than the cost of the parts as the 'full' quality hives alone are more than that.  The only niggle was the delivery time as it was almost 2 months from when I ordered it, and the 'bees on a budget' kits are only available online.

I did a starter course last year, being lucky enough to get on via a lottery draw at the association, and now need to get my apiary area enclosed on the allotment before hopefully getting the bees in the next month or two.

It is a fascinating addiction even before getting the bees so good luck with it all.