With a call from my mentor on a Thursday evening to say that he was happy that the colony was ready, and that the weather looked right, this was it, we would move my first hive to my garden.
Having spent the last few months looking after all of my mentors' hives with him, including the hive that would become mine, I felt quietly confident. After all, he was not far down the road and YouTube is on your phone. My original plan was only for a couple of hives, one at home and any others where I worked. I am lucky to have a reasonably sized garden, so finding a space for them was not an issue. I had my worries, the main few being that we have chickens, dogs and a child. But, after a full year of having them, and the queen (Buckfast) laying on all 11 frames (commercial) with 5 supers, no dog, chicken or child was harmed. At this point I would have liked to have written not a single sting, but my wife got a little to close with the lawn mower one afternoon. One single sting. A single sting that did leave a rather large mark for roughly 6 weeks, but only a single sting, and it was really her own fault.
For those who have read my previous blog, you will know that the bees that I took on later in the year were not so friendly, and never in a million years would I want those in my garden!! To be honest, I wouldn't want them on a out apiary either. I have realised, and come to appreciate, just how much I switch off when working with the bees, and grumpy bees don't allow that. Having grumpy bees in my garden would just be a no!
With an early start, the hive was in it's now spot on a rainy Saturday morning. With 3 days of rain forecast, the plan was to keep the bees in to orientate to their new site and avoid too many drifting back to their old home. Even with all the reading, and YouTube videos, the moment I was left alone with the hive, I turned into an first time parent!
I wanted everything to go well and did not want to make any mistakes that could would cost me my bees. Over that first weekend, and the weeks to follow, I found myself constantly ducking my head out of the back door to check they were ok. I think at this point the eye rolling from my wife nearly made her dizzy as she realised I had yet another distraction from rebuilding our house! Finally, I got a grip on myself as I remembered that bees have been on the planet for how many years? I'm sure moving them a couple of miles down the road won't be the end of them.
If your reading this and thinking of starting beekeeping, or are a year or so in, this is why I'm here, writing blogs in the hope of showing you that bee keeping really is 'No Nonsense'! I don't have years of experience, nor 100's of hives to look after, I've made mistakes, had successes, and know the simple joy of a re-queen working, with the hive going onto prosper ( just got to get them through winter first).
