Beekeeping
Beekeeping and Camphill
We have had three onsite visits to Camphill since our partnership begun and each time we learn something new. Our most recent visit, five of us suited up and went to inspect the hives, rather quickly it became apparent that the bees weren’t doing exactly what we thought they would be doing.
They seemed a bit restless, so we stopped what we were doing, moved away from the hive and regrouped to discuss what this could mean. This is a very important thing to practice as a beekeeper, to be flexible and not be rigid – things do not always go the way we want in beekeeping and so we should know when to stop, think and react accordingly.
TOP TIP: When a beekeeper is stung the first time they should carry out S.T.A.R. Stop. Think. Assess the situation to establish why they were stung. React accordingly ( by scraping out the sting, moving away from the area so that the pheromone doesn’t linger next to the sting site). Once this is done the beekeeper should then make an informed decision about the next move which could be: Pack up, carry on, get help.
We worked as a Team and with Matt’s specialist knowledge we worked out that the bees where overcrowded and needed some more room so we put in another brood box. We also found out that one of the hives was full of honey and was ready to be extracted! So stay tuned for honey!
