FAQ

One queen, around 50,000 worker bees in mid-summer, and a few hundred male drones.

A hive consumes about 150 pounds of honey in a full year, to provide the bees with energy, plus about 50 pounds of pollen, which the bees feed to the young bees to provide protein.

This depends on the weather, the bees’ performance, and the beekeeper’s skill. We usually expect about 30 pounds of honey per hive per year, plus an extra 30 pounds if the bees are moved to the oilseed rape in May or the heather in August.

Conwy BK has well over 100 members from all over Conwy County. There are also associations in Anglesey, Lleyn & Eifion, South Clwyd and Flint and District. We urge all beekeepers to join their nearest BKA. Conwy BK is affiliated to the Welsh Beekeepers’ Association, with many benefits.

A National beehive, a nucleus of bees, a smoker, a hive tool and a bee suit and gloves. Total cost, including attending a course, is approx £500. If you get a second-hand hive, you must blowlamp the old hive clean all over. Burn any empty old frames; they may contain spores of Foul Brood Disease, which can only be destroyed by fire.

Not if we can help it! Some bees sting more than others. Beekeeping is a lot more fun if your bees are gentle. We recommend that you wear an all-in-one bee suit and gloves, costing about £140 and well worth it. We can lend you a bee suit and gloves for use during our apiary meetings.

If you do get stung, try to scratch the sting out of your skin to prevent the sting from pumping in venom. Most beekeepers become fairly immune to stings within their first season with the bees.

We recommend that you get your bees in May or June. Then another beekeeper will have brought them through the winter.

See our page Beekeeping Courses.

We meet outdoors with the bees at the Conwy Beekeepers’ Apiary at Bodnant Garden on Sunday afternoons, every four weeks from April to August. It’s very convivial!

There are three choices: Wait for a swarm in May or June, buy a nucleus of bees or buy a full hive of bees. We recommend that new beekeepers start with a nucleus.

Swarming is the bees’ way of increasing the species. When the hive becomes crowded with bees, the colony raises a new queen, by feeding a worker egg with royal jelly. The new queen emerges after 15 days.

The old queen then flies from the hive, with about half of the workers. The swarm settles on a bush, wall or tree, while scout bees fly around looking for a home. At this stage, the swarm can easily be shaken into an empty hive.

The young queen is still in the original hive. She flies out after a few days to mate with several drones, returns to the hive, and then starts laying eggs. Thus, one hive becomes two!

We can usually let members know of local swarms awaiting collection in May or June.

A small colony of bees, 5 or 6 combs of bees on frames, with a young laying queen and a few drones, and brood in all stages. Several members of Conwy BK raise nucs for sale. You collect your nuc hive of bees, transfer it into your own hive, return the empty nuc hive to the supplier, and build the bees up into a full stock during the first summer, adding frames and feeding as required. Some sellers may offer to transfer the bees to your hive while you watch.

Yes, but do ask an experienced beekeeper to check the bees, and to advise on the condition of the hive and combs.

Not recommended. Locally adapted bees will usually be easier for new beekeepers to manage. Bees brought into the area may be carrying diseases.

Some of our members do keep bees in the garden, but it helps if the bees can fly out into open country. Your neighbours will not enjoy being stung. The hive should face south to get the early morning sunshine. We can advise on location.

All honey starts out as a clear liquid. Some types of honey stay liquid, and some granulate very quickly, depending on the types of natural sugars in the honey, e.g., lime honey stays clear for many months, and oilseed rape honey granulates very quickly.

We spin the combs round in an extractor, four or more combs at a time, and the honey flies out by centrifugal force into the extractor tank. We then strain the honey through muslin, let it settle for a day or two, and then bottle it.

No.

It’s all down to location and time of the year. Only a handful of different flowers produce large quantities of honey. The first honey of the year here in the Conwy Valley is from the sycamore trees in May, then the lime trees and blackberries in July. Some beekeepers move their hives to the heather in August, or to fields of oilseed rape in April. Other areas may get honey from clover or borage, or very dark honey from the Great Orme.

Yes, to follow nectar sources. Hives are moved at night when bees are inside.

The moves are usually fairly trouble-free, if they are well-planned.

We move them more than three miles and then they don’t fly home.

Very rarely. We always try to site the hives well away from footpaths.

See our Asian Hornet page for info.

“Real honey is not cheap, and cheap honey is not real”.

One hive takes just a few hours work per week from April to September. The regular checks are: Are the bees healthy? Is there enough room for egg laying and honey storage? If not, we add another box of combs. Are they preparing to swarm? Have they got enough food? What flowers are they working?

Working outdoors with nature, producing a valuable foodstuff, long local history of beekeeping, sharing experiences with others, visiting beekeepers abroad, studying history of beekeeping, only six months work per year.

Yes. We have many local beekeepers with 25 years’ experience and several with over 50 years. We all look forward to the start of the next beekeeping season.

Visit our website and see our list of reasons to join.

See our website page, Join Us.