First of all “Why keep bees?”

Beekeeping is something you will either love or hate. You will either become extremely passionate about it or you will give up in a very short time. There are two things which may cause you to give up: Stings and impatience on you part.

Can you stand the stings? They say “No pain, no gain”. When I was a boy my dad used to say “It is a good thing that bees sting. If they didn’t, then everybody would keep bees and there would be nobody to sell honey to”. That may not be…

I just dont understand it! Why oh why get a queen from abroad? I mean what possible benefit can be gained from doing so, or is it easier to get queens from abroad? Im not sure I mean how difficult is it to phone your local beekeepers association and see what they say? Failing that a chat with local beekeepers should provide fruitful and perhaps queens can be found at no cost.

Not only that if you find a queen locally it gives you a chance to see the hive and discuss with the owner the temperament and other traits.…

A great aid when carrying out hive manipulation is a manipulation cloth. Its a very simple design with a rectangular metal frame and two pieces of cloth attached to each long side of the metal frame.

As I took the pictures you can see I was amazed at what a great bee calming tool this is, especially useful for beekeepers in more built up areas. Work through the gap in the manipulation cloth and when finished in that area simply slide the cloth to a new bit or if you require to walk away from the hive for something fold…