hello

[jiff]

hello bee people, my name is jiff, i have no bees and no idea of keeping bees, i was into field sports for manny years and recently decided to hand the garden back to the wife, so the B.O.P are gone the ferrets are gone i still have a dog, i would like to keep some bees and produce some honey, however i wounder how intrusive they are, do they need to be segregated, so that the dog cannot upset the hive, and if people come round say for a bbq is it going to get complicated, best wishes to you all i lookforward to finding out more.

 

[enrico]

My advice...... Don't keep them in the garden, a full hive has 60,000 odd bees, they have bad days too and people and bees don't mix. If you have a serious interest look for a nice quiet piece of farmland to keep them on, gets you out of the house and you will have no problems with the BBQ!
E

 

[itma]

Much depends on your garden.
If anyone has called it 'small' - ever - you aren't going to have room for anything else apart from bees, and would probably bother the neighbours as well.
You can keep bees in a garden - BUT - you need separation and you need to push the bees up above head height with fence, hedge, trellis+mesh or whatever.

After a couple of stings, all except the thickest of dogs recognise bees and are bl**dy careful. Even the greyhound has worked out that its only OK to go into that corner of the garden in the dark or very early morning!

I'd suggest that you look up your local beekeeping association. They will probably try and widely publish 'swarm' contacts - from there you are probably only a phone call or two away.
Go to a meeting ASAP (before autumn!) and see real bees close up.

An "out apiary" could even mean regular country walks for the dog! It does demand a bit more organisation though ...

 

[sail819]

Much depends on your garden.
If anyone has called it 'small' - ever - you aren't going to have room for anything else apart from bees, and would probably bother the neighbours as well.
You can keep bees in a garden - BUT - you need separation and you need to push the bees up above head height with fence, hedge, trellis+mesh or whatever.

After a couple of stings, all except the thickest of dogs recognise bees and are bl**dy careful. Even the greyhound has worked out that its only OK to go into that corner of the garden in the dark or very early morning!

I'd suggest that you look up your local beekeeping association. They will probably try and widely publish 'swarm' contacts - from there you are probably only a phone call or two away.
Go to a meeting ASAP (before autumn!) and see real bees close up.

An "out apiary" could even mean regular country walks for the dog! It does demand a bit more organisation though ...

Fully agree with the above:

 

[islayhawk]

Hi Jiff I feel I have a lot in common with you. I too was into Field Sports. BOP died three months ago. Gave the Ferrets away after that. Still have the Whippet - he's getting old and Vet thinks he might have kidney trouble. Always wanted to do Bees but BOP took an awful lot of my time.
I too know nothing but have a mentor and I will read everything I can as well as taking advice from all the good people on this forum
Good luck

islayhawk

 

[Luminos]

 

[pargyle]

My usual advice ... do your homework VERY thoroughly before you even think about getting a hive of bees ... join an association, do the beginners course, spend nothing until you are absolutely sure it's what you want.

Good place to start is here:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14770

Big welcome though ... very useful and friendly (well - most of the time) forum ...

 

[Polyanwood]

Welcome jiff. What is B.O.P?

 

[Rob den Dekker]

According to the internet, either a border outpost or a bird of prey.