YorkshireNewbee · Yorkshire, UK · Beginners · Oct 26, 2026
First-year debrief: two hives, no honey taken, and eight things I'd do differently. What else did I get wrong?
Yorkshire, end of my first season. Everything's closed up for winter and I've written up the year. Here's the honest version, since this forum carried me through it.
What I'd do differently. One: start with two colonies, which I did by luck, and it's the single best decision — you can only judge a hive against another hive. Two: buy a proper hive tool. Three: learn to read eggs, not queens. I wasted weeks hunting for a queen I didn't need to see. Four: do a mite count instead of assuming. Five: feed 2:1 by weight in September, not October. Six: don't inspect every five days because you're excited; you undo their work. Seven: keep a notebook in the car, not in my head. Eight: buy the fondant in September when it's cheap and available, not in January when everyone wants it.
What went right: joining the association, finding a mentor, and taking no honey at all, which felt like a failure in August and looks like sense now that both hives are heavy.
So — experienced folks, what's the ninth thing? What do first-years always get wrong that I haven't noticed yet?
#first-year#lessons-learned#beginners#review
▲ 13 votes💬 5 replies
5 replies
GeorgiaWes · Oct 26, 2026
Twenty-two years. The ninth thing: beginners chase problems and ignore trends. You'll catch a mouse or a wasp and miss that a colony has been slightly smaller every visit for six weeks. Write the frame count down every time and the trend tells you more than any single dramatic finding. That and: never make two changes at once, or you'll never know which one worked.
ImkerinLena · Oct 26, 2026
A good list. My addition: learn what healthy brood looks like so well that unhealthy brood makes you stop. Most beginners can describe foulbrood from a book and would not recognise it on a frame in their hands. Look at every brood frame properly, every inspection, in good light, for the first three years.
GalwayBees · Oct 27, 2026
Galway, second year, and I'm the one who lost the colony. Add this one for the next beginner: when an experienced beekeeper tells you to count something, count it. I substituted treating on the calendar for knowing the number and it cost me a hive. YorkshireNewbee, well done on taking no honey — I took a super in year one and regretted it in March.
KentishBee · Oct 27, 2026
Kent, third year. Mine: don't buy gear because a video told you to. I've got a smoker I don't use, two failed frame designs, and a queen-catching gadget still in its packet. The money should have gone on a second nuc and a better suit.
PerthshireBees · Oct 27, 2026
Perthshire. And one that sounds sentimental but isn't: learn to stand still and just watch the entrance for ten minutes. Pollen coming in, the rhythm of the traffic, guards at the door, orientation flights in the afternoon. Half of what I know about my hives I learned without opening one.