Aberystwyth & District Beekeepers Association Meeting
Continuing my research and plans to start beekeeping, I attended a meeting of the Aberystwyth & District Beekeepers Association on Sunday.
It was a gorgeous day for it, hot sunny and still. We met at a members house where she has a number of beehives – probably abut 15 , plus chickens, geese, guinea fowl etc. It was a lovely spot and an inspiration for anyone wanting to produce honey or eggs.
Most people there already had their own bees, but there were a couple of people just about to start, a couple of children who wanted to get used to being around bees, and me as a complete beginner. I was given a bee suit and some gloves and before long we were all gathered around the hives, inspecting them, looking for queens and checking the progress of the colonies.
It is still quite early in the year so none of the colonies were in full swing but all seemed healthy. One of them did seem to have a queen missing though which may have explained the swarm in the tree at the bottom of the garden.
After the hive inspections we all sat in the garden drinking iced tea, eating cake and chatting about beekeeping.
No one was too sure about how successful a beehive would be here in Ynyslas, the winds, exposed nature of the site and lack of forage are all concerns, but most people thought that it would probably be OK.
If I’m going to do it this year then I’ll have to really get a move on and will have to throw some money at it in order to buy lots of new kit. It may therefore be better to plan to start early next year. That will give me chance to buy equipment (maybe some of it second hand) over the next year and also spend a year attending the Aberystwyth & District Beeekeepers Association meetings which will give me a chance to learn more about beekeeping in general, make some contacts and get some more hands on experience. Part if me really wants to do it this year whilst the impetus is there, but it would be more sensible to leave it until next year.
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Hi, i live in Llanbadarn and i am in interested in keeping bees, however i know very little about them and would like to join a clud to gain more knowledge on the subject ..etc Do you know of any?
Thanks
Kate
Hi Kate,
Good to hear of someone else interested in taking up beekeeping in the area. We’re part of the Aberystwyth beekeepers association and have just finished a beginners beekeeping course that they plan to run every year. It’s been really good and we now feel confident about getting our first colonies next month.
I’m sure they’d be happy to have you sign up to it for next year, and in the meantime you could join the association and come along to the practicals and hive inspections that they run throughout summer. I did this last year and it’s a good way to see if beekeeping will be for you. Don’t worry about protective gear etc as they have spares for you to use.
I’ll email you the secretaries address – let her know you got it from me.
Al.