IN INTRODUCTION TO BEEKEEPING

Keeping bees is a popular hobby and with a little bit of time spent learning the basics it can be a hobby rewarded with lovely honey as well as plenty of other additional side lines including making soaps, balms and candles.

Choosing a hive

There are many options for hives and this can be confusing for new beekeepers. Essentially, the bees require a safe weatherproof home that can be expanded as their colony grows, providing space for both bees and honey. What is important is that you decide on what hive type you want and stick to it as for many different hives the components are not compatible. Changing from one hive type to another is expensive and therefore a little thought before you begin will save you money in the long run.

The National Hive

This is the most popular hive type in the UK and for most of us, serves us well. It is not the largest hive available but in areas of the UK where we are using the native honey bee, Apis mellifera mellifera, the size of the box is perfectly adequate for the size of the colony that this bee creates.

Beekeepers who are using more prolific bees may opt for larger hive types such as the ‘Commercial’ hive as this can accommodate the larger colony sizes. It comes down to where you are located, what type of bee you will be keeping and your local environment. For those of us on the western side of the UK, the National hive is a good option.

The honey bee colony

A hive of bees is made up of many thousands of worker bees, a few hundred drones or male bees and one queen. The queen is an egg laying machine producing new bees that will become workers. These workers gather all the food and water required by the colony to raise their young and keep them through the winter when there are no flowers to gather nectar from. Honey bees are unusual in that they will gather more food stores than they actually need and that is what we take advantage of.

How do bees make honey?

Why do bees swarm?