Our First Bees
Our first bees
How we got our first bees and started beekeeping is not so uncommon and definitely provides a lot more excitement than simply buying a colony of bees.
virtually no beekeeping experience we had to go onto a steep learning curve to be able to handle our first colony of bees, a bunch of several thousand bees all equipped with a sting.
This is the summary of how we started to become beekeepers:
In 2004 at Christmas time we were walking with some of our friends through a park in Templestowe and noticed several feral bee nests along the Yarrah river bankment, some in tree hollows, some in bird or possum boxes. We watched them for a while and continued our walk, no further thoughts at that time.
A short time later, in January 2005, a work colleague invited us for a BBQ to his house. During this visit we became aware of the beehives in his backyard. The bees became the discussion topic for the rest of the day.
One lead to the other and mixed up with childhood memories, I decided to take up beekeeping as a hobby. I remembered the bees in the park and a week later, on 5th February 2005, we picked up a bird nesting box with feral bees from the park; they became the first bee colony of our apiary.
About four weeks later our excitement about bees was elevated to the next level when we harvested our first honey, just about eight kilograms. Oh what a feeling, our own honey, from our own bees, in our own backyard - and up to that date not a single bee sting.
Our first bees in a bird nest box
Colony transfer in progress
26-Feb-2005 Migration of bee colony from bird box into proper hive in progress
Our first Honey - from the bird nest box
Our first bees after transfer from bird nest box into a hive.