I went to clean out an old poultry "ark" we have this morning and discovered what appears to be a bees nest in the old wood shavings.
They seem furrier than the "honeybees" you normally see around the garden, but are the same size (definitely not bumble bees). I am aware bee populations have struggled in the past few years because of some kind of mite so we'd like to help them out.
We know nothing about keeping bees, but could be persuaded to learn.
So the questions.
What kind of bees to we have?
Can I rehome them easily and could I make some kind of simple hive for the purpose?
Is there any point in acquiring a "proper" hive? In other words could they be domesticated? If so how much hassle is beekeeping?
I know there is a local beekeeping club here and will track them down this week, in the mean time are there any uk.d-i-y apiarist types out there?
david