British Bee-keepers Association. - The BBKA Guide to Beekeeping

The British Beekeepers Association is a world leading charity supporting honey bees and promoting excellence in beekeeping.

The Association provides an extensive programme of education, resources and advice for beekeepers, together with scientific research into the honey bee to help further our understanding of this insect and the problems now facing pollinators.

For further information about the BBKAs educational, research and other initiatives please visit www.bbka.org.uk

Bloomsbury Natural History

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2015

This electronic edition first published in 2016

Ivor Davis and Roger Cullum Kenyon, 2015

Photos: Ivor Davis and Roger Cullum Kenyon 2015 and others as acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

Ivor Davis and Roger Cullum Kenyon have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organisation acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-2089-8

ePDF: 978-1-4729-2091-1

ePub: 978-1-4729-2090-4

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters.

Preface

I became involved in beekeeping about 25 years ago. My wife and I had always been interested in wildlife and especially in butterflies and wild orchids. But initially it was our son who heard about beekeeping and wanted to have a go. This was the start of a rapid learning experience to ensure we cared for the insects we had acquired and prevented them from causing a nuisance to our neighbours.

Eventually I was elected as a trustee of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). As a trustee I recognised that the only way to really understand bees and beekeeping was to spend time learning about them both from reading books and attending study groups conducted by true masters of the craft. This was matched with spending more time working with my own bees. Our number of colonies rapidly grew from just four to over 25 and I soon started to take examinations and assessments in bee-keeping. I became a Master Beekeeper and then went on to attain the National Diploma in Beekeeping qualification, the highest qualification available to amateur beekeepers in the UK.

Following the publication of the UK Governments Honey bee health strategy, in 2008, Roger Cullum-Kenyon and I started to work together on a new project with the BBKA which had decided to develop in a comprehensive training package to support beekeeping tutors.

This guide can be used as a companion manual to Beginners or improvers courses. However, even if you do not wish to go on a course the book describes some of the fascination of bees and beekeeping and it is valuable reference source for many aspects of beekeeping.

Many books are available covering all aspects of bees and bee-keeping and, as your interest in beekeeping develops you will undoubtedly be keen to collect a whole library on the subject. This book is supported and endorsed by the BBKA because a useful stand-alone resource for anyone wishing to understand beekeeping.

Beekeeping is a truly absorbing subject which we hope will give you as much pleasure as it has given me.