A Beekeeper's Journey – Part 2: You Will Get Stung!

Since my last blog, a lot has changed within the Kings Sutton Community Beekeeping Group. We have had 2 full-group meetings. Not all attended, but a lot has been organised.
So here goes:

• I and another member are now the Community Group Leaders. Although this sounds very official, basically we are tasked with trying to organise everyone!
• We have purchased our first 2 hives. These have been delivered as flat pack items, and we will be organising at the next meeting as to how and when they will be built, in preparation for the new Bee Keeping season. The hives purchased are Langstroth hives (Ideal for beginners!)
• We have a nominated a member of the team as our Asian Hornet specialist. This is a vital element to ensure we do not have any issues with this invasive predator.
• We are in the process of setting up a bank account to enable any monies to be managed and put back into the community group going forward
• Unfortunately, a grant that would have given us additional funds was rejected by the county council, so we are managing the limited funds provided to us by our local parish council.
• We have been allocated a site at the back of our village cemetery for our beehives, and this area was cleared and the ground prepared a couple of weeks ago. Enabling us now to go and set the bases for the hives and the storage shed.
• We have ordered our bee’s (a Nuc) for our Langstroth hives, with another Nuc on hold should we require it.
• Our Kings Sutton Community Beekeeping Group has 10 members.
• We have a nominated photographer to document our beekeeping journey.
• 3 of the group will be attending beekeeping training with the local Oxfordshire Beekeeping Association in January/February 2025

I would like to finish with a quiz question and ask you to send your answers to info@2bscientific.com:

For what reason do we as beekeepers keep the ‘What3words’ location identifier in our storage shed near the hives on a piece of paper for?

The winner will be announced before Christmas and will get a jar of Oxfordshire honey. I will continue with a quarterly blog on progress and ‘I still have not yet been stung!’

Picture: The entrance to our beekeeping area