- The bees checking out their new home
Tales from the apiary
Posted on May 14, 2009 by Mark Nolan
For many years now, I’ve really wanted to keep bees.
They are a fascinating insect with a complex social structure which ensures that colonies function very effectively. Recently, and not before time, bees have had a lot of press highlighting their plight in this damaged environment we’ve created. This has raised awareness and will hopefully encourage people to give them the help they deserve. Apart from anything else, these little pollinators are essential to our food production. In the US we have seen widespread cases of colony collapse disorder where entire colonies have disappeared. In Europe it’s not quite as bad, but they still need to contend with various diseases that have all but wiped out wild colonies.
However, beekeeping is a very rewarding hobby but not one to be taken up lightly. So last year I joined the Enfield Beekeepers in an attempt to learn the basics of this age-old craft. Much has changed (and continues to do so) since the early days of beekeeping and they’ve been fantastic in passing on their skills and knowledge to us novices. Where to put the bees has always been the problem, so this summer the club arranged the siting of an apiary in a North London allotment where a few of us could set-up our hives – small gardens, children and bees are not an ideal mix.
I ordered my hive and spent a few hours assembling it and weather proofing the exterior, then last weekend introduced the bees to their new home. They were transferred using the shook swarm method and despite them insisting on flying back to their nucleus box we finally got them settled. To help them pull out new comb and build up the colony they were given a candy feed (sugar fondant), then the hive was closed up and we left them in peace.
They seem to be progressing well and we’ll know what needs doing next in a couple of weeks time when we check that the Queen is present and laying. Having made it this far, and gotten that first sting out of the way, I’m now looking forward to my first season of beekeeping.
And the honey too, of course.