Bees: What Bee? and Where?

Another theory class this weekend. Had a nice talk on the types of bees out there. England basically has mongrels as so many different ones have been brought in and have now mixed.

I was surprised to learn that Germany is trying to only have the one bee - Carniolan. Many good traits of this species.

The British Black bee sounds good for the climate here, but definately has some personality issues. I don't want aggressive bees.

Last week I was thinking of what bees I wanted to get, and went ahead and ordered my first nuc. The bees are a Buckfast/Carniolan mix. Interested to see how they turn out with such nice traits from both breeds.

Almost wonder if there is any point in buying a specific bee. Looks like after the 1st year, the queen will go out and breed with mongrel drones in the wild anyway. But it should at least give me a nice gentle colony to get started with - and hopefully the queens traits will dominate.

Oh I think I forgot to mention - one of the first considerations I had for beekeeping was WHERE I would keep them. My little yard was not an option, so I was worried what options I had. Amazingly, I was having coffee last week with a friend at her house when the topic came up. She then informed that they had a field they owned and I could keep them there. I had no idea they had any property. What a great break of luck for me. They are only a few miles away so ideal for travel.

It was also this friend who told to just jump in and go for it this year. They have chickens and she told me about getting started with them and how they didn't know anything. But by just jumping in and going for it, they have learned so much. Yes, they did lose a few hens from foxes due to housing errors. But they fixed the issues and moved on. She said the same would probably happen to me. I would make some mistakes, but I would learn so much more than just reading and classes. Thus, I decided to go for it and started to look for my own bees.

Now that the bees are on order, my next step is to find a horizontal top bar hive. This is the hive I have decided to go with instead of the National. It will be a bit difficult as my local group seems to be National hive folks, but everytime I read about the top bar hives, everything just clicks with me. I like the concept, I like the design, I think its the right thing for the bees.

I like this design from Heatherbell over in Cornwall. Will need to research all the UK top bar sellers to see which I will go for. Lots of details online for building your own, but not my interest to build my own. Maybe someday, if I want to get more hives.

So, that is where I am now. Will try to update the blog with UK vendors I find that sell top bar items. I was amazed to see that Thornes, who are supposedly the biggest beekeeping supplier in the UK, doesn't even offer any top bar items. I guess the need isn't there. Oh well.

Until next time. . .