Following on from one of my posts about my efforts at beekeeping it was suggested I start a thread for anyone who is interested. I had this idea that keeping bees might be a nice gentle hobby when I retired, plus I liked the idea of doing my bit for nature (more about that later). So the best way to make a small fortune in beekeeping is to start with a large one! it was a lot more expensive than I anticipated. A hive kit will cost you around about £200, a nucleus of bees is another £200 (basically a bee starter pack with a queen and worker bees) plus a suit, smoker, hive tools, honey extractor, frames, wax foundation, jars etc etc ….
I started by doing a practical bee keeping course just before Covid followed by a practical course just after Covid (in retrospect I would have skipped the theory course and just done practical one). I started out with one hive but lost all the bees that winter so had to start again the next spring. I then had a hive which went ok and managed to collect a swarm (which were quite aggressive bees). Once again the ‘good’ hive died out in the winter and I had to buy another Nuc (£200 each time). I had a couple of decent years and harvested 80lbs (165 jars) in 2024 and 60lbs in 2025. I sold most of the honey to friends, people in our road also on a local Facebook group and gave some away.
I have asked questions on a beekeeping forum (but some of the members can be a bit dismissive of ‘newbees’.) There is a lot of stuff on YouTube, some good, some bad but I’d recommend Black Mountain Honey, he also does a 14 day bee keeping online (paid) course https://m.youtube.com/c/BlackMountainHoney
I’ve been stung a few times, the third time I had a nasty reaction and came out in hives (appropriately!), however since then I don’t seem to react as much. It hurts at the time but fades after 5 mins and then itches for a couple of days. Most of the times I’ve been stung are because I wasn’t wearing my suit or trapped a bee in a sleeve. That said the swarm bees have always been horribly aggressive, I’ve wanted to requeen the hive but always struggled to find the original queen, the temper of the hive is governed by the queen. My other bees are pretty chilled, I often don’t need to smoke them. Not sure what you mean by Raw honey? All my honey is untreated (as is most honey). I do occasionally do some cut comb for people who want it (I always thinks it’s bit like chewing gum).
A few bee facts: A normal hive in the Summer will contain 40-50,000 bees Each worker lives for about 6 weeks (winter bees last longer) The queen has to lay about 1,000 eggs a day Each bee will produce about half a teaspoon of honey. All worker bees are female The workers decide when to swarm or when to raise a new queen or replace the old queen. They use a normal worker egg but feed it royal jelly and make a much larger lavae queen cell (looks a bit like a peanut in a shell) There is only ever one queen per hive Drones (males) have to beg for food, can’t sting and die after they mate with a queen A virgin queen (new queen) will make a maiden flight to mate with as many drones as she can before she returns to the hive. After this she doesn’t need to mate again. Happy to try and answer any other questions if I can
Probably more like £500 for everything but to be honest you really need two hives. I’ve gradually built up my equipment over time and I recently got a load of boxes and frames from someone who was giving up. Once you have enough equipment you can create ‘splits’ to increase the number of hives or if you are lucky collect a swarm. It’s often best to replace the queen in a collected swarm as you don’t know the history of the bees. A mated queen is about £45 and they arrive in the post!
Yes, raw honey is just straight from the comb to the jar via a muslin filter. Most commercial honey is pasteurised, which (I’m told) robs it of some of its magic powers
You do have to be a little careful, it can go the other way. I went from no allergy for years to not being able to go on a motorbiking holiday because I got stung on the ankle, and couldn't get my boot on, so I had to give up. But don't let me put folk off - it's a fascinating hobby - go for a demo hive inspection with the local group. They'll lend you all the kit. If you want good honey, buy it from you local beekeeper. Yes, it's more than the supermarket but at least you know where it's come from and how it's been treated (or not). That's more than you can say for a lot of shop-bought produce nowadays. And the aggressive hives are usually the best honey producers, I found, but that's anecdotal.
Lady Nasher has been saying No to me getting a hive for a few years now, I was hoping she'd soften on the matter but apparently not. We've got a big enough garden so it would be well away from the house. I'm always fascinated by the hives when we are at FarmEd, they've even got a couple made from tree stumps.
Just get one. Your wife needs to learn that females are only the boss in the World of Bees and you don’t live in a hive, do you? Anyway - it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. That’s how I ended up with 7 motorbikes, 2 cars, a couple of guns, numerous watches, and, eventually, a divorce
My honey just goes through a fine sieve twice before I put it in the jars. A lot of supermarket honey is mostly sugar syrup https://www.theguardian.com/busines...o-you-know-what-is-in-that-cheap-jar-of-honey
Could you tell me why the shop bought honey I buy goes hard after a while in the cupboard. Do all honeys do it ?
They do, unless treated, but it often depends on the honey source. Oil seed rape honey crystalises very quickly, for example. Just put the jar in a saucepan of water (with the lid off), and gently warm the water on your stove - it doesn't need to be very hot. The honey will warm up and decrystalise after a few minutes. Stirring the honey will help speed up the decrystalising. It will crystalise again after a week or two, but you'll have eaten by then, right?!
It does depend on the time of year you harvest it as well. Two years ago all my honey stayed liquid but last year a later crop I took all went set. Ivy honey in September is rock hard and not worth bothering with
