In London alone, bee colonies registered with the National Bee Unit – a government body that tracks hives, and monitors for pests and disease – have doubled in the past seven years to more than 5,000.
Museums and galleries in both rural and urban locations have been at the forefront of this rise. Institutions of varying sizes are now keeping bees to help the environment, support the bee population and, where possible, make honey.
Getting started
It is surprisingly easy to get started in beekeeping. It does require space, equipment and, of course, a colony of bees, but there is no licence or permit required.
It’s important to ensure enough members of staff are willing to dedicate their time to the project. Robin Hill, a museum consultant and trainer who is also a beekeeper, suggests creating a team of around four people, one of whom should be willing to become the head beekeeper.
“The hives will need to be inspected on a regular basis,” Hill says. “If they are in a semi-public space, the threshold for inspecting is even higher. Good record-keeping is essential.”
Hives will need to be checked on a weekly basis during the summer, so it is important that volunteers coordinate their holidays to ensure there is enough cover at all times.
During the colder months, from October to April, the hive will reduce its number, huddle together and hibernate.
“You don’t need to check them as often during that period,” says Matthew Bailey, who is manager, rights and images, at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London, and also the gallery’s head beekeeper.
“You don’t want to open the hives and let the cold in. Just make sure there is water nearby, and observe how many dead bees you are finding under the hive.”
Even if a lot of bees are dying, Bailey advises it is still better not to open the hive until the temperature has risen to at least a consistent 10 degrees.
Acquiring the necessary skills
It is not possible to learn beekeeping from a book, says Hill. “It is important to send people on a training course or to evening classes before buying any equipment.
“Sending staff out to gain knowledge is an essential first step,” he says. “Until they are aware of what is involved in looking after bees, they shouldn’t take the decision to volunteer.”
Professional beekeepers can help, says Hill, but it is essential that enough people are on board with the project. “It is easier to train museum people in bees than it is to train beekeepers in museums,” he says.
NPG, which has kept bees since 2014, started off working with an external beekeeper who handled all aspects of caring for the bees and turning hives into honey. When the gallery decided to bring the management of the bees in-house in 2017, a professional beekeeper helped with training and acted as a mentor.
At Manchester Museum, volunteers attended a two-day Introduction to Beekeeping course.
Choosing the right space
Keeping bees does not require a huge amount of space, according to Bailey, but finding a suitable area to create an apiary can be challenging. He says that this is often the reason why people decide not to pursue beekeeping.
The ideal space is away from the public or any other disruption, which is why rooftops prove so popular.
“It needs to be flat with safe access, and away from street level,” Bailey says. “You need to be mindful of any offices nearby as they will need to keep windows shut.”
The apiary space should also be sheltered and dry, and away from direct sunshine and protected from frosts.
John Peel is the collection information manager and head beekeeper at Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth & Manchester Museum. He recommends having enough space to keep the necessary equipment nearby. This includes a spare hive to help deal more easily with swarming, when the bee colony outgrows its existing hive and splits into two.
Good access to the space is also important. “Vertical ladder access is not a good idea, for example, as you need to be able to carry up water if it is not available nearby,” Peel says.
Equipment and start-up costs
Estimates for the overall cost of setting up vary from “a few hundred” to around £1,000.
According to Hill, the cost of a starter colony of bees is around £200 to £220. The bees of course need hives to live in, and beekeepers need additional frames to add to the hive, which are required for harvesting the honey.
Making honey also requires a centrifuge, which come in electric and hand-powered versions, to spin the honey out. The honey also needs to be filtered and kept in a stainless-steel tank with a gate valve so it can be jarred. Jars and labels are also needed for the finished product.
To effectively manage the bees, beekeepers need protective suits, including hats and gloves, and a smoker to calm the colony down if it becomes aggressive.
Harvesting honey and more
Honey from a museum or gallery’s apiary makes an excellent local product for the gift shop, and jars can sell for up to £6.50 each.
Honey production can vary wildly from year to year, depending on many factors, including the weather and if the bees have enough forage. At NPG, the apiary made 59kg of honey in 2014, 38kg in 2015 and none at all in 2016. Bailey says it is looking good for 2018.
While it is possible to bring in a local beekeeper or company to harvest the honey, it is straight forward to do in-house, reducing costs.
At NPG, the team add additional frames – called super frames – which can be removed once they are full. It is also possible to wait until the end of the summer and then harvest all of the honey in one go. Regardless of which way it is done, some honey must be left for the bees so they can feed off it over winter.
When and how the honey is harvested will change the flavour, but it will not make a difference to how much is made. Whichever approach is taken, the welfare of the bees should be the top priority.
Once the frames have been removed, the wax the bees use to seal it must be scraped away, before the frame is placed into the centrifuge for the honey to be spun out. The honey must then be filtered through a strainer to get rid of any residual wax, and left to settle. It can then be jarred.
While no food hygiene certificates are necessary, the honey must be labelled with a use by date, and the head beekeeper must be named on the jar.
It is also worth considering that honey is an animal product, and therefore that vegans will have ethical concerns however carefully it is produced.
The wax from the hive can also be used to create products as varied as mead, lip balm and candles. According to NPG’s Bailey, the wax goes much further than the honey. The gallery uses an external company to create lip balm and hand salve, which are then sold in the NPG shop.
For Bailey, learning about beekeeping and the experience of doing it is rewarding, and it helps the team develop new skills.
“Just do it if you have space,” he says. “You will learn a lot about bees and how they behave. It is fascinating stuff.”
How to be a responsible beekeeper
Diseases and pests
BeeBase, the website of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU), offers support to beekeepers, as well as tracking disease and pests. It is voluntary, but registering helps the NBU to monitor diseases and pests related to apiculture. Registered beekeepers that are concerned about the health of their colonies can call local inspectors to come out to look at their hives.
Peel also advises beekeepers to join a local beekeeping association that is part of the British Beekeeping Association, as these can be a useful means of advice and support.
Swarming
Regular inspections of the hives are essential during the summer months to look for signs of swarming. If a colony is doing well and the hive is becoming cramped, the bees will begin to grow another queen. This is a key sign that bees are preparing to swarm.
Once the new queen is born, the old queen will leave the hive with 30%-40% of the colony to look for a new home.
Regularly checking for queen cells, which are shaped differently to other bee cells, and also grow vertically down, is essential. Moving the queen cells into a spare hive can help avoid swarming, which is not only scary for members of the public, but will also mean the loss of a large part of a colony.
Advice on preventing and dealing with swarms is available via the British Beekeeping Association website.
Allergies
Anyone involved in beekeeping must understand that they will get stung at some point. For example, bees can become very protective when there is honey in the hive, says NPG’s Bailey.
Some people can have severe reactions to bee stings so it is essential to have EpiPens on-site. These are usually self-administered, after which the person involved must attend A&E.