BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Trying to get into bee keeping

  • Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
 #1578  by Treemansi
 22 Dec 2018, 20:48
Hi everyone,

I am new to this but am very very keen to get into bee keeping and any advice direction would be much,y appreciated. I am a tree surgeon by trade and love the outdoors and am amazed by how much bees do to our planet and would love to have my own hives and help in there conservation. I love just outside Leicester and would be really pleased if anyone local to me could offer any advice or may be some mentoring in order for me to get into bee keeping the right way and learn as much as possible.
Thank you Simon
 #1579  by Chrisbarlow
 22 Dec 2018, 22:15
beekeeping is fantastic, you`ll love it.
how best to get in, good question.

my suggestion would be try and find a local beekeeper who would mentor you (as your query implies) you could attend some of you local association meetings to identify one, failing that, contact one of your local beekeeping associations to see what courses they run and attend one (and then try and hook up with a local beekeeper you meet there to mentor you post course.)

these folks might be able to help. https://lrbka.org/
 #1581  by Patrick
 23 Dec 2018, 09:26
Sound advice from Chris, if you check out the BBKA website there is a link called “beekeeping near you” which will help you find your local association.

It is really worth finding a beginners course (usually half a dozen or so evening meetings and then doing some summer practical hands on visits with live bees. Beekeepers are a friendly bunch and will be happy to help you with advice.

I know it is tempting to just buy a hive online and order some bees and get on with it, but it really is worth doing as Chris advises to make sure your beekeeping is as successful and fun as possible. It’s a great hobby but can be a bit of a challenge to know what is going sometimes - it’s one of the things which keeps us doing it!

Welcome to the Forum and if there are things you wonder about as you find out more don’t hesitate to post a question on here. I have yet to meet the beekeeper who knew it all, but probably a few that thought they were getting pretty close....😂😂😀
 #1582  by AdamD
 23 Dec 2018, 13:59
You really need to know what you are doing - or have a fair idea at least, so read books and see if there is a course you can find locally; often associations run beginners courses and some will assign a mentor to a new student, although this can be quite hit and miss by all accounts. Searching the internet may allow you to find decent local beekeepers who can supply you with a nuc - and some are happy to give some telephone advice if you have the odd question too, which the larger suppliers won't be able to do.
 #1602  by Treemansi
 31 Dec 2018, 17:33
That’s fab thank you have contacted the Rutland bee keeping association but have heard nothing back but understand it’s xmas 😂😂 will contact them in the new year but thanks for everyone’s advice and positive feedback.
 #1806  by Jim Norfolk
 31 Jan 2019, 10:28
You need to start with membership of your local beekeepers association and join their training course. https://www.bbka.org.uk/find-beekeeping-near-you . Depending where you are these courses may already be booked up for this year. There is so much basic information needed to start that it is very hard to start on your own. Local associations also usually provide mentoring help. They also should be able to organise suitable bees for you at a much lower cost than commercial suppliers charge.

Equipment
Apart from bees which can cost anything up to £200 or even more, you will need a hive of some sort; second hand wood from around £100 or for the same sort of money you might find a polystyrene hive in one of the suppliers sales. You also need a good beesuit upto £100. It really isn't worth buying cheap they don't last and they can let bees in. BB Wear or Sherrif. Essential smaller items of equipment include smoker and hive tool. More costs when you get some honey, extractor, filters, jars etc. More costs for disease prevention control and feeding for winter. You could easily spend £500 to £1000 in your first year depending on how you are able to keep costs down.
 #1807  by Cable_Fairy
 31 Jan 2019, 11:36
I started last year and did the introductory course with the local bee keepers. They run a shop where I got most of the equipment and more importantly their local bees. It cost just over £400 but then there is always the little extras which keep adding up, extra frames and foundation, winter feed etc. Then late in the year I got a second brood, so the £400 almost doubled, (a WBC hive which is almost twice as much as a National). Now I am looking at this year and have another shopping list of £???, so I am being extra nice to "her indoors".
 #1808  by Patrick
 31 Jan 2019, 13:45
As Jim says, it is not just the what but also the where - from.

If using an internet search engine it is easy to find suppliers that offer deceptively cheap products that look pretty similar in the pictures to what is offered more expensively by the more frequently encountered suppliers. Unfortunately there are some suppliers who are not beekeepers themselves who make equipment the deficiencies of which only become apparent once they are put to use. Typically this is using cheaper materials instead of cedar for hives etc.
The problem when you are starting out is that you may not realise this and instead assume the fault lies with you, when you struggle to do what is considered quite routine by others. Even just taking frames out of the hive to inspect requires accurate spacing and suitable runners, bad spacing and poor frame lug supports make it a trial every time that results in a frustrated beekeeper and grumpy bees.

Likewise be a little wary of buying or even being given DIY equipment or stuff made from recycled materials, particularly if it is less than new. It is a delight to make and use your own stuff along the way, but the results often seen at bee auctions etc can often have hidden drawbacks not present in the standard commercial product.

You often see advice against using second hand equipment, but once properly cleaned it can be fine. If you are buying secondhand you can often pick up great deals but take a more experienced beekeeper with you to view before agreeing amounts and don't rely on the expereinced beekeeper to "know" a fair price. Some folk are delusional about the worth of used equipment, compared to how much they may have paid for it or the new cost now.

If in doubt, walk away and buy new. Most commercial producers also do a line in seconds for a substantial discount. Often well worth it if you don't mind the odd knot and certainly good value for bulk purchases.
 #1813  by AdamD
 31 Jan 2019, 19:13
It's very annoying for a new beekeeper who buys a brood box and then wants to get frames and foundation only to find that a brood box takes 11 or 12 frames and they are sold in packs of 10! However they will definitely be used over time.
You can quite possibly borrow or hire an extractor from your association which saves on cost.

Ebay smokers are fine but may only last a few years.
I have bought a number of items from ebay; A home made brood box that didn't have one side parallel with any other and would not lie flat which I had to dismantle and re-build. A WBC where the lifts not match up with any others. A bee brush that I never use. Also plenty of good stuff so it's not all bad!
I echo the need for a good bee suit; I use mine quite a lot and it has survived a lot of abuse; however cheap ones won't necessarily last very long but could be OK if you assume that if you do enjoy beekeeping you'll want a better one in due course.