other beekeepers dead outs

[itma]

... I urge them to do an evening course and, if possible, have a mentor nearby (I didn't even have that at the beginning), but I don't think you need to wait until you've passed a Basic before getting your bees.

In fact it is a requirement of taking The Basic that you have been responsible for managing at least one colony for at least a year.
PRACTICAL experience is required!

 

[Dishmop]

.
Hivemaker is the last to licensing beekeeping. To sell stuff to hobby beekeepers is his business.

One guy wrote to me years ago: " let them kill their hives. I sell them new in spring".

and?

 

[Madge]

Same here.
The "welcome" was for admitting to being one of the jump in at the deep end
clan. ...

Thanks Dishmop - I wondered whether I've misunderstood you!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I don't understand why so many posters are writing these things off as "paper exams".

You misread - what wassaid was at the end it's just a useless bit of paper to smugly wave at all and sundry

 

[itma]

You misread - what wassaid was at the end it's just a useless bit of paper to smugly wave at all and sundry

No.
I'm complaining about people thinking it is an exam that can be 'swatted up' for and divorced from practical beekeeping.

...
Let them keep taking their little exams if that pleases them and makes them feel more important - I'll just carry on keeping bees.

As for compulsory exams: many people have a fear and hatred of exams from their time at school. I would hate to see potentially good bee keepers put off by the thought of compulsory exams while 'exam monkeys' are allowed to keep bees with no real understanding.

Yep - you can pass exams by learning the answers without needing to understand why the answer is the answer. ...

It is not a written exam.
It is a practical test of basic competence in bee-handling.




Now, as to whether the bar ought to be set higher and thereby make this specific "bit of paper" more valuable, that is a different question.

"Bits of paper" are important in life.
Whether you want to drive your own car, fly your own plane, or get a job in a school, or as a nightclub bouncer, let alone as a bus driver, ship's officer or airline pilot - you need the right "bits of paper".
I, personally think that it is rather important that, after a year of keeping bees, one can be fairly and impersonally assessed and helped with things that may have been misunderstood (or never understood in the first place).

Just as a Private Pilot's License is not a Basic Commercial Pilot's License, so The Basic is just that, an assessment of the most basic beekeeping skills. Anyone that fails to reach the required standard really does need some training - if not for their own sake, then for the sake of minimising cruelty to their bees.

Some do manage to fail, but many more refuse to have their practical 'skills' commented upon.

 

[Edwardking]

No.
I'm complaining about people thinking it is an exam that can be 'swatted up' for and divorced from practical beekeeping.





It is not a written exam.
It is a practical test of basic competence in bee-handling.




Now, as to whether the bar ought to be set higher and thereby make this specific "bit of paper" more valuable, that is a different question.

"Bits of paper" are important in life.
Whether you want to drive your own car, fly your own plane, or get a job in a school, or as a nightclub bouncer, let alone as a bus driver, ship's officer or airline pilot - you need the right "bits of paper".
I, personally think that it is rather important that, after a year of keeping bees, one can be fairly and impersonally assessed and helped with things that may have been misunderstood (or never understood in the first place).

Just as a Private Pilot's License is not a Basic Commercial Pilot's License, so The Basic is just that, an assessment of the most basic beekeeping skills. Anyone that fails to reach the required standard really does need some training - if not for their own sake, then for the sake of minimising cruelty to their bees.

Some do manage to fail, but many more refuse to have their practical 'skills' commented upon.

I agree, Itma. I think the people on here who are against the testing are afraid their shortcomings will be exposed. I suggest they take the test to prove their practical skills.

 

[itma]

I agree, Itma. I think the people on here who are against the testing are afraid their shortcomings will be exposed. I suggest they take the test to prove their practical skills.

I have to point out that I was very careful indeed NOT to say exactly that or use those words!

 

[Dishmop]

I have to point out that I was very careful indeed NOT to say exactly that or use those words!

Its probably true though.

I wonder how many people are out there who though how nice it would be to have some bees in the garden and knew nothing, let alone about courses and training.

 

[wessexmario]

Its probably true though.

I wonder how many people are out there who though how nice it would be to have some bees in the garden and knew nothing, let alone about courses and training.

even more now, waiting on delivery of their Flowhives.

 

[Hivemaker.]

let alone about courses and training.

I never went on a beekeeping course.

 

[Dishmop]

even more now, waiting on delivery of their Flowhives.

Plenty of time for a rethink then.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It is not a written exam.
It is a practical test of basic competence in bee-handling.

got nothing against the basic assessment - says what it does on the tin, of course you could be lumbered with some pompous a*se who is more concerned that you don't let go of your hive tool and only light the smoker with a match not a lighter than how competent you are with your bees.but there are some good examiners out there as well

It's all the other bits of paper that don't tell you anything apart from you can sit in an examination room and write legibly that on the whole are pretty silly but if that what makes some people feel adequate, fair enough.

If it ever did come to the point where registration required a competency assessment as well, the last organisation i'd entrust it to would be the BBKA,

I never went on a beekeeping course.

For shame on you - you should be dragged out to the abbey close and put to the flame!

 

[Dishmop]

I never went on a beekeeping course.

Its akin to being expected to actually read an instruction book.

 

[Hivemaker.]

No such thing as a beekeeping course when i started, but i did have couple of uncles to learn a bit from, one being a semi commercial beekeeper who i assisted from the age of seven, assisted by using the smoker, thought it was a wonderful piece of kit, caught my first swarm in a cardboard box when i was twelve, and we lived in a shoe box in the bottom of a lake, it was a hard life in them days.

 

[Queens59]

I did the Basic and passed - but my examiner would ask a really complicated question (not in the syllabus) I would answer - he'd say "Great answer - spot on, nothing to do with the exam though..." Ended up quite annoyed...

 

[clv101]

Hivemaker, that sounds like the perfect way to start beekeeping. However most new beekeepers these days are more likely to have seven year old grand children than be seven themselves.

got nothing against the basic assessment - says what it does on the tin, of course you could be lumbered with some pompous a*se who is more concerned that you don't let go of your hive tool and only light the smoker with a match not a lighter than how competent you are with your bees.but there are some good examiners out there as well

It's all the other bits of paper that don't tell you anything apart from you can sit in an examination room and write legibly that on the whole are pretty silly but if that what makes some people feel adequate, fair enough.

If it ever did come to the point where registration required a competency assessment as well, the last organisation i'd entrust it to would be the BBKA,

I don't think anyone is suggesting written exams should ever be a requirement to keep bees. The discussion is about what can be done about the current problem of poor beekeeping practice, example noted in the OP. Maybe the answer is nothing, and it's just part of beekeeping?

Whilst a don't think making the BBKA Basic compulsory is a good idea, I think a case can be made for some process to prove practical competency. This is the case in many other areas, a few years ago I had the jump through hoops to get my amateur radio licence. Yeah, I got a bit of paper at the end, but the process was informative and far better that letting the uninformed fire 400W into the aether!

 

[bontbee]

we lived in a shoe box in the bottom of a lake, it was a hard life in them days.

did you have to lick road clean w' tongue? and eat a handful of hot gravel for breakfast?

You were lucky!

 

[Dishmop]

I think that even if people had to register that they kept bees, many wouldnt for fear of somebody coming and wanting to inspect or tell them that they cant do it there.

 

[Hivemaker.]

You were lucky!

Lucky....yes, but i used to dream of living in a corridor.

 

[Dishmop]

Lucky....yes, but i used to dream of living in a corridor.

only corrdidors I saw were the ones I had to scrub with a toothbrush every day before 6 in the morning.