Stories of colony collapse disorders and issues with food production have rekindled the fires. Bees are my next foray into sustainability. I phoned around. Seems it's late in the season to be getting bees. But I've found a beekeeper in Stirling who can provide me with two 4 frame nucs in late May. Yes, I did slip into beeanese just there! I'll explain in a minute. Perfect! I like the idea of getting the bees from someone local to where the bees will live. I hope to be able to learn a little through the local club and from Peter himself.
A 4 frame nuc is a colony of bees (a queen, workers, and drones) that is spread over 4 frames (rectangles of honey comb) - 2 frames of brood (the clutch of eggs that the queen has laid) 1 frame of honey and pollen (that the bees have collected and will use to feed themselves and the brood), and 1 frame that is ready for the queen to lay eggs into.
I'm getting two so that the likelihood is greater that one of them will survive my first year of beekeeping!