british bee farmers

[artibaton]

hi
are there any british commercial beeks on this forum?

i am a fairly new bk but have some family history of hobbyist keeping.

i was wondering if there is an income from pollination here in britain and have many other general q's about various aspects of the pro farmer as opposed to smaller scale production

many thanks in advance :)

[alpha6]

Doing a quick search I came up with these links that may help you find some people that can give you some good answers.

http://www.littleoverapiaries.com/services.htm

http://www.beefarmers.co.uk/articles/p2_articleid/8

Here are some links to organizations that may also be of help. Looks like the UK needs more beeks so you may be getting in at a good time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/12/conservation.wildlife1

http://www.britishbee.org.uk/

https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/

http://www.nfuonline.com/

[artibaton]

thanks alpha

i have seen the british bee farmers site before and read most of what they say but sadly there doesnt seem to be a great deal of activity on their site.

the rest i am furiously reading as i type

[alpha6]

Found this link that has tons of links to just about everything bee related in the UK. Best of luck.

http://www.beedata.com/beekeeping_links.htm

"There are thought to be some 44,000 beekeepers in the UK who maintain around 274,000 colonies of honey bees. Of these, around 300 are commercial beekeepers who are members of the Bee Farmers' Association; they manage around 40, 000 colonies."

Wow...only 300 in all of the UK...plenty of room for one more I am sure.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/hort/Bees/

[PeterHA]

Hello Artibaton

I'm in the uk and been keeping bees since April and am looking to expand next year. I agree that the BBA website is hardly used, lots more information on American sites. I'm going to try top bar hives next year now that I understand how uk beekeepers have done it for years, so I expect an interesting time and shall compare them with my Nationals.

Peter

[artibaton]

hi Peter

the TBH system looks very interesting, but im a little torn, the first hive i built was a langstroth as both my father and uncle swore by them, however finding reasonably priced supplies has been virtually impossible so i have finally conceded defeat and am in the process of buying my first national. knowing full well that ill probably go to MD or Commercial if i expand significantly. so im really reluctant to change everything to tbh this year, maybe next as i am a reasonable handy woodworker and love the idea of building hives from the timber found in the many skips we have around my area.

Incidentally where are you based? im in Berkshire.

i guess with only 300 commercial beeks in the country they are too busy working to be very active in forums;)

how big are you planning on getting?

[Troy]

I'm curious, what is a skip?

[Brent Bean]

Might he be referring to Skep?

[Flyer Jim]

skip = dumpster

[artibaton]

yeah a skip is a large dumpster usually used for waste building materials or house clearances, they are moved by flatbed trucks with a hydraulic boom to lift them on and off the truck. fantastic source of hive making materials

unfortunately as far as i understand it, skeps are banned here for the keeping of bees, but can be used for swarm capture

"two nations separated by a common language":)