It can sometimes become confusing when starting a new hobby. There is so much information to take in and process that it all becomes a little daunting. In this post i will list the most important pieces of equipment that you should invest in when starting your bee keeping journey.
Beekeeper suit It comes as no surprise that you will need to invest in a good quality, breathable suit to protect you from any unwanted encounters with an angry bee! Many make the mistake of buying a non ventilated suit to start with but you will soon find out the hard way, that having that ventilation is a great comfort in the hot summer months. You can sometimes be wearing the suit for prolonged periods of time so, keeping cool is a must. A hive Again, this one may seem rather obvious but their are a daunting amount of options available. Many even prefer to track down plans online in order to build and create their own hive. This is fine as long as you know what you are doing. For a beginner, i would recommend buying an off the shelf hive so you know you have a tried and trusted design as your first hive. Many bee keepers prefer to use what is known as a top bar hive. There is now a great hive on the market called the Flow Hive. While certainly not the cheapest option, they contain some clever thinking that allows the keeper to extract the honey from the hive with minimal disturbance to the bees. The honey literally comes through the hive via a tap! genius! Gloves Never forget about the gloves! Many modern day keepers now prefer to use the nitrile type glove to aid in dexterity however these can also become very hot and sweaty on a summers day. Others prefer the old school leather type glove which give great protection but can unfortunately prove to be quite frustrating when carrying out any task needing a degree of dexterity. There are now many great kits available online that are purposely geared towards the new beekeeper. Knowledgeable experts have put together all the various equipment tools that you will need to get started. This is a great option for many as it takes away the headache of trying to research and then buy every item separately. You can simply order one kit and have everything you need to get going.
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I thought it would be a good idea to have a short article on 5 interesting facts about the honey bee specifically. You'll be surprised at how fascinating they are!
2. Honey bees communicate through the use of their own complex language Other than monkeys and their close relatives, honey bees have the most complex language in the animal kingdom. Its hard to believe that each bee has millions of neurons in their brain which they use to perform various tasks over their lifetime. They must perform roles such as foraging for certain foods which, when you think about, can be more complex than you realize. They have to find and identify the food in the first place and then they have to find their way back to the colony after collecting. They will then communicate these foraging spots with their fellow brothers and sisters! 3. A Colony can house over 60,000 bees! When you think about it, due to the sophisticated structure of a colony and hive, it takes an awful lot of work to get the job done. This amount of work means a lot of bodies are needed to carry out the necessary tasks of the hive. They need bees to forage for food, bees to guard the hive from any unwanted guests and the queen needs a team to wait on her, feeding her and keeping her clean is a hard task in itself! 4. The queen bee can potentially lay over 2000 eggs per day Following on from number 3 - in order for the hive to sustain those kinds of numbers, the queen has to continually produce eggs to provide the next generation of workers. This is all the queen will do hence why she has her own team to feed her as she simply does not have time. 5. The hive is kept at a constant 93 degrees Fahrenheit It is vital that the hive remains at a steady temp all through the year. During the colder months the bees will form a tighter group sharing their body heat to stay warm. They form a group around the queen to protect her from the elements and ensure that she is warm. Once the warmer weather arrives, they will use their wings like mini fans beating air around the hive to keep the temperature cooler than it is outside the hive. You can find some more interesting facts in this article here I thought id share my recent little weekend adventure with everyone as it is somewhat bee related...
I didn't have much planned so thought we would go for a walk through the local countryside and stop and see what we could find in terms of wildlife, through the various hedgerows, fields, streams and woods. The particular route we decided to take holds and abundance of various native species and we are really lucky to have all this available within such a short distance of our home. We packed a bag with various pieces of collecting equipment such as nets and jars and set off... eager to see what the day would bring and what species would come across. The first stop was a small stream at the end of a long, summer meadow. The stream is fairly shallow and fast paced but does hold some still and deeper pools where we concentrated our efforts. The first species we come across was a small male stickleback hiding among some rocks. It was in full breeding colour with its crystal blue eyes and deep red throat. I love sticklebacks and i'm sure it was one of the first fish that i ever took an interest in. We swiftly popped him back into his watery hideout and carried on down the stream. Apart from a few caddis fly larvae and other inverts, we didn't find a lot else in the stream. We did manage to catch a glimpse of a beautiful heron as he sat motionless observing a deep pool in the stream. To get back to the car we had one last beautiful habitat to take a look at - a stunning meadow in full bloom, ripe with various native wild flowers and even a few fruit trees. This is a special place that i have always loved to visit. It's a place that never ceases to me amaze me and would fit right in to an episode of any nature show. Due to the amount of wild flowers within the meadow, its always a haven for the bumble bee. They can be seen in good numbers dancing and buzzing their way from one flower to the next, without a care in the world. I honestly don't think i have seen bumble bee numbers so high anywhere else. The meadow couldn't be anymore perfect for them and caters to their every need. Its a place they seemingly adore, and to be quite honest, so do i! You can find out more about myself and bees in my article here In the first article of my blog i thought it would make sense to cover an introduction to the humble bee. Many simply do not know where to start and sometimes even the basics can be overlooked. I will also go through topics such as general information on the bee, types of bees, the declining population of bees and what you can do to help. All this information will hopefully give a good foundation to anyone interested in bees and also those looking to start bee keeping. I hope you enjoy!
First, a little about myself and my background. I have had a fascination with wildlife in general from an early age. Those long days spent in the garden collecting various creepy crawlies and walking through woodland identifying various flora and fauna, were just the start to a life ling obsession. As i grew up i began to focus my attention on bees, bumble bees to start with. I found them truly fascinating! the way they went about their business, from flower to flower collecting pollen really intrigued me. As i researched more and more this naturally led me down the path of bee keeping and seeing how i could play my part in helping the drastically declining bee populations that we had. The most common bee that you will often see in your garden is the western honey bee. Their colonies can contain as many as 80,000 bees which includes one queen and many workers and drones. The queen is the only bee in the colony that will reproduce and she is the mother to all the drones and workers plus future queen bees. Many people do not realize that there are a staggering 20,000 different types of bee across the world! You may also be lucky enough to see the occasional bumble bee visiting your garden. They are large and hairy really making them stand out from any other flying insect! They do not store food in the form of honey. The small amount of that they collect and produce is used to feed the queen and the new larvae. The bumble bees most important and crucial role within the Eco system is pollination. Without them we would not have many of the simple fruit and veg that we take for granted everyday. They really do play an integral part in our lives. Compared to the honey bee, bumble bees can have colonies as small as just 50 bees There are many things we can do to invite more of these bumble bees to our garden that i will cover later in this article. The numbers of many species of bees are currently due to factors such as disease, habitat loss and pesticides. Research has shown that bees feeding on oil seed rape for example, have a reduced sperm rate of up to 40% due to an insecticide that is ingested. Their numbers have been in a slow decline for longer than many realize although this has only been highlighted more recently. The good news is that there are some simple steps that we can all take to play our part in helping boost bee numbers in our gardens. We can plant bee friendly plants and even go one step further by introducing native plants. This ensures that the visiting bees have a variety of native flowers from which they can collect nectar and feed upon. Stop the use of any chemicals and man made pesticides. Try to keep things natural and steer clear of anything that a bee could ingest and become poisoned by. There are many 'friendly' approaches to insecticides and herbicides now that are equally as effective if not more so. allowing a small area of your garden to simply grow wild is a massive benefit not only to the bees but also a whole host of other wildlife and creepy crawlies. Adding a mix of native seeds (including weeds!) will benefit all those that feed upon it and help to attract more bees into your garden. You can even build a bee hotel! plans for this can be found via a simple search online. This is one that the whole family can get involved with! Another simple step that i have always found to help is to simply raise awareness. I have many friends and colleagues who are lovers of wild life and the countryside yet seem to know very little about the plight of the bee populations. To remedy this i have regularly bought little bee related gifts as birthday presents for example. It heightens their interest and gets them interested in the seemingly 'random' gift they have received. This opens the door for them to learn more and in turn do what they can to help. I once bought a colleague a simple bumble bee pendent and in what seemed like no time at all they became a fully fledged bee keeper, finally finding a use for the meadow that they owned at the back of their house! After learning so much and gaining a simple respect for bees, its only natural that many choose to go down the path of researching bee keeping as a hobby. Even those who don't think they have the space can take whats now known as 'urban' beekeeping! With the internet and so many online communities to reach out to, beekeeping is no longer as daunting as it once seemed. With a small amount of investment in time and money you can be up and running producing your own liquid gold in no time at all! The initial equipment needed is simple - a hat and veil, a hive of some description (there are many types) some gloves and an apron or shirt. Oh, and some bees! These can be bought easily enough and you just need to search for a local keeper in your area. As you progress along your beekeeping journey you will undoubtedly learn more as well as build a larger collection of equipment. Keep in touch with other experienced keepers or even join a local club or society to learn more. You can now even take courses in beekeeping that will give you all the knowledge and experience as well as a certification at the end of the module. |