Long before Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen, there reigned an Irish "mad queen" in the form of a honeybee. Ruling the bog lands of Ardee, Co Louth, this queen bee earned the title because of her fierce temperament and a strong army of protective worker bees.
And so, on visiting her on one of my first day’s beekeeping, I learned two things. Firstly, how fascinating these insects were in their thousands, as they flew around me, and equally, I learned how fast I could run away.
Then, I thought beekeeping would be straightforward, practical and dare I say easy. I thought that with a certain amount of book reading and YouTube tutorials, I too would become a successful beekeeper. I thought I could turn my hand to this formidable hive and master them. The bees, it turned out, had other plans.
I found myself in the bog that day because of my dad. He has been a beekeeper for more than 40 years, and made the whole process seem effortless. I followed him, thinking his skill could be easily copied. He handled the mad queen and several other hives that day with ease. He had patience, whereas I expected immediacy from everything.
I watched (from a safe distance), as thousands upon thousands of insects circled around a man who was deep in thought and unbothered by the apparent chaos. I knew then, that while there were no shortcuts to becoming a beekeeper, it would be a worthwhile pursuit – the perfect introduction to one of the world’s oldest professions.
A lifetime of bees
Bees were a constant in my childhood, although from a much safer distance. I remember the days when I'd find small boxes on the kitchen table, and being a curious child I'd open them. Inside were the tiniest group of bees imaginable, skittering around behind a plastic sheet. It all felt perfectly normal to me. Every house had bees in the kitchen, surely?
The beehives were like towering buildings at the back of the garden. If you walked up close enough, you could just see their little bodies a dusty yellow from all the pollen they were collecting. During the summertime the lawn transformed into an airport terminal, with a constant stream of bees flying in and out like clockwork.
But the bees were eventually evicted back to the bog. After 30 years of marriage to a beekeeper, my mother got stung one day and developed an allergic reaction. She still allowed my father to keep them, a sign I always think of a true love. But back to the farms and bogs of Louth they went.
Beekeeping: how to get started
If you’re interested in keeping bees, it can be hard to figure out where or how you start. How do I get any bees? What equipment do I need? How long will it take?
The first step you should consider is to join your local beekeeping association. There are many associations across the country, all found on the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Association website. At an association, experienced beekeepers spend time training and upskilling beginners with lectures, demonstrations, advice and mentoring. There are community apiaries which let members visit and learn how to handle beehives in a cooperative learning setting. The end goal is to give beginners a taste of the craft, and enable them to look after their own hives independently.
For his entire beekeeping career, my dad has been a member of the Louth Beekeepers Association. Founded in 1910, it’s a community steeped in promoting beekeeping for everyone. It’s where he learned to hone his craft, he says, and continues to, as he admits no one will ever know everything there is to know about beekeeping.
It’s an endless hobby of facts and information, and with more than 70 beginners joining in February it’s a great sign of more people becoming involved.
If you live in a town or city, can you still keep bees?
Some people think in order to keep bees you need acres of land and that city life makes it impossible. But bees can travel more than three miles to forage for food. All a hive needs is a secure space to protect it from animals and human interference. So the corner of a small garden or on a rooftop can be more than ideal.
Beekeepers can be found anywhere in Ireland. The important thing is to ensure there aren't too many hives in any one location that might deplete a food source.
Many farmers or owners of vacant property are happy to host hives in their fields and many companies in towns and cities are fast beginning to capitalise on green initiatives that reintroduce honeybees into our environments.
How much time does it take?
There is a typical beekeeping calendar to be mindful of. Bees hibernate from September to March and so very little work is needed during these months except to check if there is food available and for any damage to the hives. The hive itself is never opened.
From the end of March to September, things become busier and you will visit a hive once per week. A simple routine beekeepers use when visiting a hive comes from “Hooper’s Five Questions”, which ask:
Room – do the bees have enough room to expand and store honey or lay eggs?
Eggs – is a queen present and laying?
Development – are the bees growing like you expected? Are there any queen cells developing? (A sign of them possibly swarming)
Disease – are there any signs of disease or mites?
Stores – have they enough food until your next visit?
On average this might take 10 minutes per hive, per week. But judging from my dad’s routine, tea and a discussion about the hives always slots in along the way. Beekeeping is first and foremost a social endeavour.
How is the honey taken? And is it ethical?
A queen excluder is a thin metal sheet which prevents the queen from entering the honey supers. She is too big. The worker bees do not have that problem. Frames below the excluder, where the queen is, will have eggs. The frames on top, which can only be accessed by worker bees, will have honey.
No beekeeper wants to kill or harm a bee during the honey harvest. Enough honey is left for bees, only the surplus is taken. On average about 20kg of honey can be collected per hive, per annum.
Taking honey from beehives is done through a process called extraction. The frames of honey are taken from the hive and the wax cappings are removed. They are then placed inside the slots of a machine called an extractor which looks like a giant steel drum.
The extractor spins around at incredible speed and this motion draws out the honey from each frame. The honey then seeps down through a nozzle at the bottom and is filtered.
Does local honey work on hay fever?
People with allergies or hay fever can put tremendous faith in local honey as a cure for their symptoms. Local honey is said to be effective because it uses the same pollen from flowers and crops in your area, which might be upsetting you. By eating it, you could raise your tolerance. Store-bought honey can be micro-filtered, and so the properties may be diluted.
Does all honey taste the same?
Each batch of honey tastes and looks different depending on the floral source. Irish honey is of a very high quality and consistently wins awards on the world stage.
A study by Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin in 2018 found that Irish heather honey in particular contained health benefits comparable to the world renowned manuka honey from New Zealand.
How can we help honeybees?
There are many simple ways to help bee populations without becoming a beekeeper. Some of which require you to do nothing, literally.
Dandelions are a vital source of food for honeybees after the winter break. One of the best things you can do is forgo cutting your grass and let them grow in your garden.
Planting pollinator-friendly flowers and trees can improve bees’ foraging space. Borage and trees such as sycamore and willow are rich in pollen and nectar and are great additions to any garden. Visit the All-Ireland Pollinator plan website (pollinators.ie) for great information.
Why you should consider it
Dad always says that honeybees are like "the canary in the coalmine" for our environment. When they are suffering, it's a warning sign that we should all take very seriously. We all know that bees are important to our world. Pollinators play a vital role in our food cycle. But it always strikes me as bizarre that with every climate change warning or catastrophe we see, not much is ever done to rectify the continuing demise of bee populations.
I’m of a generation that understands my choices and lifestyle can have a direct impact on local biodiversity. Learning beekeeping is one way, where I feel I can create my own footprint. It also gets me outside and off my phone. It’s challenging. And fundamentally, it’s fun – mad queens and all.
