Almost anyone of any age can become a beekeeper - all it needs is some basic knowledge and commitment to ensure the well-being of your bees. You'll need to commit a certain amount of time each week from March to November to ensure that your hives and their occupants remain healthy and you will need to be capable of lifting and moving parts of the hive around during inspections. Whilst this can mean quite a lot of effort during the harvest moving frames full of honey, we are a friendly bunch and there are always other beekeepers around who can help out.

Although beekeepers can go on theory courses or read books on the subject, it soon becomes apparent that practical experience is key, ideally working with someone more experienced who can tell you the answer to such questions as "why are my bees doing that?"and "How do I find the queen?" Thats why we at Fleet BKA put a lot of emphasis into holding regular bee handling sessions through the Spring and Summer as well as implementing a buddy scheme pairing new beekeepers with those who have more experience to help them get through the first few uncertain years.

Beekeeping is a hobby that can be enjoyed by those in wheelchairs and others with limited movement as long as some thought goes into the careful positioning of hives and access paths to them. In fact deafness or even complete blindness does not prevent anyone from becoming a highly competent beekeeper with a little assistance.

Beekeeping is a largely seasonal hobby and the amount of time required to manage colonies varies throughout the year. Between March and September an inexperienced beekeeper will probably spend about an hour per colony per week on various tasks, with those who have been keeping bees for a year or so reducing that time by half. During this time beekeepers inspect their hives looking for signs of potential swarming, disease, the amount of stores and general well-being.

Between Late April and July, beekeepers will need to inspect their colonies for signs of swarming on a regular basis each week otherwise swarming colonies could cause a nuisance to neighbours or someone else, as well as causing a potential loss of honey from the harvest later in the year..

From October to February colonies require very little attention as the bees within them are generally only active when there are flowering plants to forage. During this time, winter work is generally limited to the maintenance of equipment which takes up little time.

A new beehive can be purchased for about £100-£600 with hives made from polystyrene at the cheaper end of the scale growing in popularity over the much more expensive Western Cedar hives. To this you would need to add the cost of a beesuit and other equipment which probably costs another £150. All of this can be purchased through the Associations own shop which stocks all you will need at greatly reduced prices. Bees can either be purchased separately or as a member you can join the list to receive a swarm collected by one of our more experienced beekeepers.

Remember - there is always a huge demand for local honey, so you could become self-financing quite quickly!

Beehives can be kept in almost any sheltered area where they are away from the general public. Bees can cope well with dry, cold sites but don't like damp so try to avoid "frost pockets" or sites under trees. Many people in towns and cities keep bees, often unknown to their neighbours, and they often do very well because of the wide variety of flowering plants available throughout the year in surrounding parks and gardens. Some beekeepers can site colonies at the bottom of a large garden, but don’t risk problems with family or neighbours who may not share your enthusiasm, so please be responsible.

Generally speaking, bees fly at a height of 3 metres or more and are therefore usually invisible to most people when actually in flight. In a restricted location, many beekeepers place the entrance of the hives close to a screen or hedge. This encourages the bees to fly straight up and over the screen to their normal cruise height, making them much better neighbours!

Many local farmers and landowners welcome having colonies of bees placed near their flowering crops and the Fleet Beekeeping Association has access to a number of suitable locations as well as our own apiary located on the outskirts of Hook where members hives can be securely located.

The simple answer is yes! All beekeepers will get stung occasionally, despite wearing full suits, veils and gloves. It certainly hurts, but most people recover quickly. Even those allergic to bee stings can sometimes keep bees subject to suitable medical advice.

There is a strong line of thought that beekeepers should wear thin vinyl or latex gloves to minimise the transfer of any potential disease from one hive to another. This tends to make such beekeepers careful handlers of bees, minimising the risk of any potential stings through a combination of gentleness and patience.

Join a local beekeeping association affiliated to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) such as the Fleet and District Beekeepers Association. We welcome all prospective members and can advise on suitable training courses held on a commercial basis or you can join our own basic beekeeping course starting locally in February/ March 2010.

This will be a combined course of both and practical sessions where you will later be able to handle bees under supervision from an experienced beekeeper. We also offer a “buddy” scheme for new beekeepers, pairing them up with a locally based, more experienced beekeeper who can be called on for advice and assistance when required.

We also encourage members to take the BBKA Basic Assessment Examination to ensure continued learning and development.
Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby that isn’t expensive and can even be self-supporting financially through the sale of honey and other bee-related products. Its also great to know that you are doing something practical to support the environment.