Looking to keep bees in Cambridgeshire.

[dangerdawes]

Hi! I'm Leigh, I'm 24 from Cambridgeshire and I'm busy gathering lots on information on keeping bees.

Wondering whether a BHS poly hive would be a good place to start or a 7horne bees on a budget cedar hive. Or do I need a nuc box which I then transfer to a hive at a later stage?

Very excited to start whilst the weather is nice before it gets too cold.

Great resources here, feels very close knit and friendly.

 

[dangerdawes]

Third post, just so I can start PM'ing!

 

[Luminos]

dangerdawes

 

[BeeJayBee]

I'd go for the poly hive.

 

[Rob den Dekker]

Hi mate,

I started beekeeping in Cambridge last June. First step is to join the CBKA and sign up for the beginners course.

In the meantime, order Ted Hooper's Guide to Bees and Honey and start reading that.

Good luck!

 

[cafemonkey]

Our weird world


welcome to our weird world lol

 

[dangerdawes]

Thank you for the warm welcomes!

I've not got much further looking for Poly hives, I've seen the thread that's ongoing but it doesn't seem very conclusive at the moment.

Have got a contact to get a nuc already, I'm very pleasantly surprised at how active this forum actually is. I will certainly join the CBKA, and there are a few bee keepers in the local area I know of if things get scary.

 

[pargyle]

It's a useful forum. Lot's of interesting information and absolutely stacks in the archives - use the search function and you'll be amazed at what you can learn.

Good place to start is here:

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

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Seems to me the choice between cedar and poly hives, is coming down to:
whether one tends to be hard nosed, economically focused or driven by efficiency and results,
or whether one is more moved by aesthetics, romance, tradition and workmanship.

!!!INCOMING!!!


DUSTY

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I blame Macdonalds myself - people don't recognise anything now unless it's packed in polystyrene

 

[itma]

...
Have got a contact to get a nuc already, I'm very pleasantly surprised at how active this forum actually is. I will certainly join the CBKA, and there are a few bee keepers in the local area I know of if things get scary.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - keeping bees is not like keeping rabbits, hamsters or guinea pigs!
There is rather a lot of complication.
Much of it from the bees - even if they are doing what they are supposed to.
And plenty confusion comes from beekeepers doing things their own way.

But you do really need to know more or less what you are doing before you are left alone with bees.

My strong suggestion is that you visit your local association (they'll lend you a suit) and get a feel for having bees pinging off your veil and generally behaving like water being pushed uphill.
Do that BEFORE spending anything.
And you'll stand some chance of success if you can take a course and read a book or two, before you get your own bees.


I find the bees do very well in poly.
BHS aren't too ugly (even if they don't satisfy Dusty's taste for Gothic spires), and their roof and floor (which I have) are impressively solid. However, forum reporting is that their hives are much better than their frames!

 

[user 6228]

Hi! I'm Leigh, I'm 24 from Cambridgeshire and I'm busy gathering lots on information on keeping bees.

Wondering whether a BHS poly hive would be a good place to start or a 7horne bees on a budget cedar hive. Or do I need a nuc box which I then transfer to a hive at a later stage?

Very excited to start whilst the weather is nice before it gets too cold.

Great resources here, feels very close knit and friendly.

I know of a person just little way north of Cambridge (Haddenham) with a BHS...
PM me..

 

[pargyle]

Seems to me the choice between cedar and poly hives, is coming down to:
whether one tends to be hard nosed, economically focused or driven by efficiency and results,
or whether one is more moved by aesthetics, romance, tradition and workmanship.

!!!INCOMING!!!


DUSTY

Finnish missile will be about first I reckon ... unless you get 160Kg of honey out of one of your more than 4 hives then you might escape !!!

 

[user 6228]

Seems to me the choice between cedar and poly hives, is coming down to:
whether one tends to be hard nosed, economically focused or driven by efficiency and results,
or whether one is more moved by aesthetics, romance, tradition and workmanship.

!!!INCOMING!!!


DUSTY

rather balancing the empathy with the bees struggle to conserve energy to execute herculean tasks of survival and procreation versus a facination with a false ideal of tradition and tweeness and conformity with recieved wisdom

 

[dangerdawes]

My strong suggestion is that you visit your local association (they'll lend you a suit) and get a feel for having bees pinging off your veil and generally behaving like water being pushed uphill.
Do that BEFORE spending anything.
And you'll stand some chance of success if you can take a course and read a book or two, before you get your own bees.


I find the bees do very well in poly.
BHS aren't too ugly (even if they don't satisfy Dusty's taste for Gothic spires), and their roof and floor (which I have) are impressively solid. However, forum reporting is that their hives are much better than their frames!

Thank you for all this information, absolutely clarifies everything. I will visit the CBKA and the local keepers before doing anything. I have been reading as much as possible on the net so a book is absolutely my next step.

I guess frames from Th0rne would be the way to go with a BHS hive. If I can avoid the romance of cedar haha.

 

[dangerdawes]

rather balancing the empathy with the bees struggle to conserve energy to execute herculean tasks of survival and procreation

Excellent point. Being part of the solution to the whole situation with bees ties in with giving them the absolute best chance of survival, and so poly is absolutely the right choice to make.

 

[Luminos]

I guess frames from Th0rne would be the way to go with a BHS hive. If I can avoid the romance of cedar haha.

Exactly what I did
I do have some romantic cedar as well though, lol

 

[Rob den Dekker]

Hear hear!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - keeping bees is not like keeping rabbits, hamsters or guinea pigs!
There is rather a lot of complication.
Much of it from the bees - even if they are doing what they are supposed to.
And plenty confusion comes from beekeepers doing things their own way.

But you do really need to know more or less what you are doing before you are left alone with bees.

My strong suggestion is that you visit your local association (they'll lend you a suit) and get a feel for having bees pinging off your veil and generally behaving like water being pushed uphill.
Do that BEFORE spending anything.
And you'll stand some chance of success if you can take a course and read a book or two, before you get your own bees.


I find the bees do very well in poly.
BHS aren't too ugly (even if they don't satisfy Dusty's taste for Gothic spires), and their roof and floor (which I have) are impressively solid. However, forum reporting is that their hives are much better than their frames!