Simon’s Beekeeping Year 2015 (Ilkley, Yorkshire)

Simon’s Beekeeping Year 2015 (Ilkley, Yorkshire)

Guest post by Simon from Ilkley, with occasional comments by me!

“Simon, I’ve got bees in our garden, and there seems to be rather a lot of them!”

It was a normal Saturday afternoon in June and I was out with the family, about an hour away from home, when the phone call came through.

“I’ll be right back!” I said cheerily to our (chronically bee unsympathising) neighbour and with a heavy heart curtailed our day out and sped back to attend the crime scene.

Requeening - Simon & Roger
Requeening – Simon & Roger

Five Swarms From Two Hives

Collecting a swarm has to be one of the joys of beekeeping. I captured one last year in my garden, ably assisted by my wife in her half-bee suit – I explained to her that I needed the full suit.

[Ed – Like parents trusted by their young children, we, the All Knowing Keeper Of Bees, are not questioned on our eternal wisdom and benevolence concerning who get’s the best suit].

I used a bucket attached by a hosepipe on the end of a washing line pole. [Ed – “Now this I have to see”, said in a You’ve Been Framed voiceover].

I’d already collected four swarms this year from the two hives I’d started the year with. I didn’t need any more.

Simon's Swarm
Simon’s Swarm

To attend our neighbour required something more sophisticated so we took round a poly-nuc and I armed myself with Frimston and Smith’s “Beekeeping and the Law: Swarms and Neighbours” in case things turned nasty. In the end, the vicious swarm turned out to be nothing more than a cup-full of timid bees cowering under a leaf for cover (or perhaps to escape the din of our neighbour’s increasing hysteria).

It’s certainly true that the swarming season keeps me on my toes and whilst the act of swarming itself can be rather intimidating, capturing the swarm when it settles really is no big deal. [Ed – now you’re just showing off].

Beekeeping Goals

My goal this year, in my second full year of beekeeping, was to upsize from two to four hives. Having been hospitalized last year with multiple stings trying to unite two bad-tempered hives, I also wanted to try to re-queen my stock into calm, varroa-free, non-swarming, honey-generating machines!

Despite my best swarm preventative measures having been taken, with seven boxes of bees in my garden at one point and the impending visit of my cousin, Master Blogger Roger, I decided that the time was ripe to undertake this feat. I had taken soundings from Wharfdale Beekeeper’s Association (WBKA) veterans on how best to locate the offending Queens and from where I should source my new Queens. Opinions, there were plenty, but eventually I settled on Scottish stock which duly arrived in their cages. Read more about our re-queening exercise: Requeening Aggressive Hives.

Beekeeper Reflections

It’s been another fascinating year for me. I’ve been able to get my bees through each winter and they seem healthy (if feisty). I need to improve upon swarm prevention although in an optimistic sort of way I see swarming as a success indicator (and having a bait hive nearby seems to prove irresistible to swarming bees and also help maintain neighbourly relations).

After re-queening and combining hives I’ve ended the year with the desired four hives, two of which are headed by Scottish Queens. My six year old daughter has purchased a suit “for Christmas” and wants to manage her own hive next year.

Honey Show Winner

I’m not doing it for the honey, although can’t deny the thrill of seeing the first honey drip off the production line each year. As for honey shows, well I understand these can be be taken very seriously, with undercover meetings held covering such topics as “how best to get the froth out of your honey” and “hexagonal or circular jars: you decide”.

I’ve discovered a wonderful out-of-production heather press (MG heather press) which I hired from my local association, the  WBKA, to crop some excellent heather honey which my most feisty bees had decided to store in a single super (probably flying a couple of miles to Ilkley Moor to source).

Heather Honey Press
Heather Honey Press
Heather Honey Sieve
Heather Honey Sieve

In fact, they even made me a “multi” award winning beekeeper in my second beekeeping year, which was a fabulous, if doubtlessly controversial, end to the year. I wonder if my neighbour would like a jar…? [Ed – definitely – just not my jar!]

Simon Beekeeper Prize Ilkley Yorkshire
Simon’s Beekeeper Prize (Ilkley, Yorkshire)

Read More

Author: Roger

regaining my sanity through beekeeping

4 thoughts on “Simon’s Beekeeping Year 2015 (Ilkley, Yorkshire)”

  1. Re comments above, yes honey had to be pressed out with a weight, sieve and hessian sacking. It stuck to the comb, totally unable to be spun out.
    I thought I’d go Scottish for climate reasons prefering that to a Buckfast/other overseas Queen whose offspring I understand can become bad-tempered when mating in the second generation with a local Drone!

  2. Congrats are your beginner’s luck, I didn’t manage any honey this year in the East Midlands. May I enquire as to the source of your Scottish queen stock as I’m definitely going to re-queen one of our six hives next season?

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