Thanks for the tips guys. I went straight in at the deep end without knowing the first thing about bees and bought a full setup from a guy that was moving house. Hive,bees,tools,2 suits,spares and an extractor. Moved the hive 40miles, day 2 it swarmed! Caught them and put in an empty hive I managed to find locally. Day 2, swarmed again!! Wtf!! Caught them and my allotment neighbour got a hive and had them.. checked the hive as it was bloody heavy to find it full to bursting with rapeseed honey(it crystalizes so needs removing) first time extracting and I made a proper mess,honey over everything but I got 44 jars.
Roll on a few months and after a visit from the bee inspector all colonies are doing great. I harvested 1/3 of the frames and got another 24 jars. Made sure I left some for winter and they’ve all been fed.
It’s been interesting summer watching and learning all about beekeeping. Knew nothing about bees and I cant believe how much there is to learn or how busy they are, absolutely flat out when theres food about.
If you are thinking about taking it up I can highly recommend it.