I've been reading a lot about keeping bees over the last few years, and before I moved I used to help a friend with his hives. I've reached out to my local association but have yet to hear back.

Basically, I work offshore, 4 months on/3 months off. I'd like to keep bees, but I feel like 4 months away over a summer would be far to much time away? I've read a few places that suggest a hive can take as little as 30hrs over the year, but that time needs to be regular.

So should I just put the beekeeping on hold until I retire? Or does anyone have any advice that I could use to make this work? I'm tempted to try and run a minimum interference/natural movement whatever hive on my allotment as a sort of fallback.