Features: An introduction to beekeeping

Sally Nex looks at the trend for keeping your own bees and finds out what's involved.

The Beekeepers Garden designed by Nicola Hills

Hampton Court is really buzzing this year – and not just with the chatter of 170,000 visitors pouring through the gates. This is the year of the honeybee: not only is there a show garden dedicated to beekeeping, there's also a host of bee-related activities for parents and kids going on in the Children's Zone, courtesy of the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA). And if that wasn’t enough our blogger Nicola Hills has created a stunning ‘Beekeepers Garden’ that has plenty of inspirational ideas for all of us.

Thousands of people are taking up the ancient art of apiculture – that's beekeeping to you and me – every year. The BBKA reports membership numbers have shot up by about 40% over the last two years, and beekeeping courses are heavily oversubscribed. Chris Deaves, education officer for the BBKA, says it's concern for honeybee populations – currently dropping alarmingly low from a combination of bad weather and disease – which is driving the beekeeping boom.

“People are more aware of the environment,” he says. “They're all young professionals and they want to do something.”

Budding apiarists may turn up out of concern for the bees, but they stay because it's an absorbing hobby that's productive and a lot of fun. Roy Swanwick, a 48-year-old father of two, took up beekeeping this year, and is currently planning to add another two hives to his collection.

“It's been an incredible year to start,” he says. In the six weeks since he began he's gone from one small 'nucleus' colony to four fully-stocked hives on his allotment on the outskirts of Liverpool city centre.

“It relaxes me,” explains Roy. “That might seem bizarre, what with 40,000 stinging things around you, but it enables me to concentrate on something else, away from the humdrum stuff in everyday life.”

He's now teaching his eldest son the rudiments of beekeeping, and says so far the eight-year-old thinks it's “fantastic” - though mind you, he adds, he hasn't been stung yet. Roy's dad, too, is having a go, and his fellow allotmenteers often borrow a beekeeping suit and come to give a hand. Many have said how much more productive their beans, courgettes and peas are since Roy and his bees arrived.

Roy's city-centre location is a positive advantage: as well as the allotments, his bees are to be found busily working their way through the nectar-rich meadow at the National Wildflower Centre in Court Hey Park next door. They even enjoy the nearby M62 motorway - “the embankment is covered in lupins and clover,” explains Roy. In fact you don't even need a garden to take up beekeeping, as bees just go and borrow other people's. Some even think city honey is better than that made in the country, as there's a wider variety of flowers in small urban gardens.

Roy began his beekeeping career with a training course arranged through his local beekeepers' association, learning about a bee's lifecycle, swarming, disease and of course honey production – essential knowledge for any would-be beekeeper, says Chris.

“As soon as you have bees they're automatically interacting with all the bees in your area, so inevitably you have a responsibility to other beekeepers. If people don't know about how to keep them properly they become a menace to other beekeepers and then eventually a menace to themselves.”

Once you're up and running, Chris estimates you'll need to put aside an hour or so once a week in summer to care for your bees – less in winter when the bees are dormant. For that, and perhaps an evening's sticky work on the production line, you can expect about 40-60 jars of honey from each hive every year – more if it's a particularly good summer. And that's not all.

“There's honey, but there's also beeswax, and propilis – it's a sap-like material that's rich in antibiotics and some people swear by it,” says Roy. “There's not a lot you can't use out of a hive. And anything that doubles your crops on the allotment can't be a bad thing either, can it?”

Gettting started

get the right place for your hive

a sheltered corner of your back garden, or even a balcony will do. A hedge or fence behind the hive encourages bees to fly upwards above head height so they avoid any passing pedestrians.

get trained

contact your local beekeepers' association (www.britishbee.org.uk) for help, advice and beekeeping courses. They'll also give you a hand with finding equipment and your first colony.

get the gear

the minimum equipment you'll need for keeping bees is a hive, a smoke gun, hat, gloves and overalls, setting you back about £400 – cheaper if you buy through your local beekeepers' club.

get the bees

you can put your name on a swarm list – a waiting list of people for swarms to form new colonies – or simply buy them from other beekeepers, but be prepared to wait several months due to the current shortage of bees.