Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Obtaining bees is not difficult and can be accomplished as follows.
Already installed
If you are buying beehives from a local beekeeper, they may come with bees already
installed and, in the next chapter we explore what to look out for when inspecting these
bees - which is something you will need to do. You wouldn't buy a car without ensuring
value for money and it's the same with bees. They could come with a disease, without a
queen or with numerous other problems you will inherit.
This is an easy way to buy bees, but a large colony of bees comes complete with guard
bees ready to defend the nest and is always more of trial to a new beekeeper than a small
nucleus.
Hiving a swarm
This is an interesting way to start but it is unlikely that someone who wants to begin
beekeeping would do this without help, even though bees are at their most gentle when
swarming. You could let beekeepers or the local association know that, if there is a
swarm of bees around, you would like them. This is how I started. My wife obtained a
swarm off a beekeeper and transported them to our house in a duvet cover.
If you are a beginner, ask a beekeeper to install the bees for you if you go down this
route. Watch and learn (we look at hiving swarms in Chapter 6).
Buying a nucleus of bees
This is the usual method in the UK and continental Europe. A nucleus (or nuc) is a box
with only four or five frames in it, and it will contain a frame of brood (or two), a frame
of honey (or two) and a frame of comb or even foundation. The smallest nucleus that I
have seen had just a frame of brood, a frame of honey and an empty frame. Somewhere
in the nucleus (usually on the brood frame) will be a laying queen.
