How I got started in Beekeeping

My father was a beekeeper and I have a couple of memories going with him. My job was to keep the smoker going. I dressed up in layers and layers of clothes as we only had veils ails for protection. No suits back then I tell ya. 

For years, people asked me if I wanted to keep bees. I said no, as I didn’t see the point. It wasn’t till I was in my forties that I was genuinely worried about the lack of bees around. That hum you would hear on a summer’s walk was gone. So this is what prompted me to get into Beekeeping. 

It was by chance one day I passed a beekeeper attending his bees on ‘Out Apiary’ (keeping bees away on a different site from his normal site). Like most beekeepers, he was very friendly and had plenty of advice. His main recommendation was to join a beekeepers association and look on YouTube. I did this and watched as many videos as I could. To be honest, I was pretty confident with what I learned on YouTube, perhaps overly confident. I joined the local association which for me was Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford here in Ireland. Here I found kind people with a wealth of knowledge. We had 2 lectures and then Covid Hit, there was not going to be a beginners course or any more lectures. 

At one of the lectures, the Haynes Bee Manual (find an affiliate link for it? Do Amazon do this?) was recommended to me, and I bought it right there and then. Everyone in beekeeping should have this book. Can’t recommend it enough. 

I think one of the most useful things for me as a beginner was the association what’s App group. To have access to great advice and experience on tap is just amazing.