A thank-you for your beekeeping mentor: a photo from the apiary as a jigsaw, with your note at the end

Published on October 19, 2026

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), the Scottish Beekeepers Association, the Welsh Beekeepers Association, the Ulster Beekeepers Association, the Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations, the American Beekeeping Federation, any state, provincial or national beekeeping body in the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, any local beekeeping association or bee club, training apiary, honey show, council, charity or similar organisation. Nothing here is legal, veterinary, beekeeping, safety or privacy advice. Check your association's own rules on gifts, photos, publicity, apiary visits and contact between members.

It's eleven o'clock on a warm Sunday in May, and the association's training apiary, a strip of rough grass behind a village allotment, is humming. A retired engineer called Graham, in a bee suit that has clearly seen twenty summers, is kneeling beside a hive with the roof off and a frame held up to the light. Around him, six beginners in borrowed veils lean in as close as they dare. "There," he says quietly, pointing with his hive tool. "Eggs. Like tiny grains of rice, standing on end. That means she was here three days ago." Nobody has ever been so pleased to see a grain of rice. Later, he'll show them how to light a smoker so it doesn't go out, how to spot a queen cell, how to move slowly and calmly, and why you never stand in front of the entrance. Next week he'll do it again. In July, one of those beginners, a nurse called Priya, will phone him in a panic because her first colony looks like it's about to swarm, and Graham will drive over that evening, look in the hive, and tell her exactly what to do. She will remember that phone call for the rest of her beekeeping life.

That's a beekeeping mentor. In the UK and in many other countries, most new beekeepers learn through a local beekeeping association or bee club, and much of that learning comes from experienced members who give their time for nothing: running the beginners' course in winter, teaching at the training apiary in summer, answering panicked phone calls, collecting swarms, judging at the honey show and turning up at the village fete with an observation hive and a table of leaflets. Some associations have formal mentoring schemes; in others, it simply happens, one experienced beekeeper taking a beginner under their wing.

If you're a new beekeeper who wants to thank the person who got you through your first season, an association secretary thinking about the AGM or the winter social, a member who wants to thank the swarm collector who rescued a cluster from your garden fence, or the family of a beekeeper who disappears into a bee suit every weekend from April to September, this is a guide to saying thank you well. It covers the words, the people worth thanking, timing, the manners that matter in an association like this, and one small idea from us: a photo from the apiary, a frame of capped honey, a row of jars or a hive in the sunshine, turned into a short private jigsaw, with your note appearing when the last piece goes in. We'll also be honest about when a card, a jar of your first honey or a few kind words are the better choice.

Who we mean

When we say "beekeeping mentors and association volunteers", we mean anyone who gives their time to help other beekeepers, whether or not they have a title. That usually includes:

mentors, the experienced beekeepers who take a beginner under their wing, visit their hives, answer questions and talk them through their first inspections, swarms and winters;
course tutors, who run the beginners' courses in winter and spring, often in a village hall with a projector, a box of old frames and a lot of patience;
training apiary managers, who look after the association's own hives, so beginners have somewhere safe to learn, and organise the summer teaching sessions;
swarm collectors, who answer calls from the public in May and June and turn up with a box, a sheet and a calm manner to collect a swarm from a hedge, a lamppost or a garden fence;
bee health and disease volunteers, sometimes called bee health officers or similar, who help members recognise problems and know when to ask for official help;
secretaries, treasurers, newsletter editors, librarians and committee members, who keep the association running;
honey show organisers, stewards and judges, and the people who run the association's stall at country shows, school visits and fetes;
people who lend equipment, like the association's honey extractor, or let beginners keep a hive on their land;
members of bee clubs and beekeeping associations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, under their own rules, seasons and arrangements.

Beekeepers come from everywhere: retired people, farmers, gardeners, teachers, students, nurses, engineers and people who simply fell in love with bees after watching a hive at a show. What mentors have in common is that they remember being a beginner, and they make time to help.

The words matter most

Before any gift, think about the words. Mentors and association volunteers give a lot of advice, and they rarely hear what happened next: whether the colony survived the winter, whether the swarm settled in its new hive, whether the beginner ever got past the nervous first inspection. Telling them is the gift.

A few things make a thank-you land:

Be specific. "You came round at eight o'clock on a Tuesday evening when I thought my bees were swarming, and you stayed until it was dark" means far more than "thanks for all your help."
Tell them what happened next. "Both colonies came through the winter, and I took my first honey in July" is the kind of sentence a mentor will tell other beginners about for years.
Mention the patience. Mentors answer the same questions many times, from many beginners. Saying "you never once made me feel silly for asking" is a real gift.
Keep it about them. A thank-you isn't the place for a long debate about treatments, hive types or whether to clip the queen.
Keep it short. A few sincere sentences beat a long letter that never gets written.

If you only do one thing, write those few sentences on a card and hand it over at the next association meeting. Everything else here is optional.

Who might send one

A thank-you like this can come from many directions:

a new beekeeper thanking their mentor at the end of their first season, or after their first winter;
a group of beginners thanking the tutor who ran their course, or the volunteers who taught them at the training apiary;
a householder thanking the swarm collector who came out to collect a swarm from their garden;
an association secretary or chair thanking the whole volunteer team at the AGM or the winter social;
members saying goodbye to a long-serving secretary, apiary manager or mentor who is stepping down or giving up their bees;
a school, community garden or care home thanking an association for an observation hive visit or a talk;
the partner, children or grandchildren of a beekeeper, thanking them for all the weekends in the apiary and the honey in the cupboard.

Gifts, apiaries and good manners

Beekeeping associations are friendly places, and most members are delighted to be thanked. But they have their own customs, and a few things are worth keeping in mind. Practice varies between associations and countries, so treat what follows as general guidance and check with your secretary or mentoring coordinator.

Small and personal is best. A card, a jar of your first honey (labelled properly, and only if your mentor would like it), a cake for the winter meeting or a pot of bee-friendly plants for their garden are usually welcome. Expensive gifts can create awkwardness, especially in an association where mentoring is meant to be freely given.
A donation to the association is often the most useful thank-you. Associations pay for training apiaries, equipment, insurance, hall hire, library books and outreach. If you want to give, give through the treasurer, and keep your personal thank-you separate.
Respect apiary privacy. Beekeepers can be careful about where their hives are, for good reasons: theft of hives and equipment does happen, and some apiaries are on private land. Don't share the location of someone's apiary, and leave out anything that would identify it.
Ask before visiting. Don't turn up at a mentor's apiary or home unannounced, and never open someone else's hives without them.
Never present a personal gift as official. Don't use your association's logo or a national body's emblem in a puzzle as if it came from them, unless the committee is happy for you to do so.
Be careful with honey and wax gifts. If you give honey from your own bees, label it honestly, and remember that hive products can occasionally carry bee diseases, so ask before giving used equipment, comb or wax to another beekeeper.

None of this makes saying thank you complicated. It just means keeping it small, respecting people's apiaries, and remembering that the person you're thanking gave their time because they wanted to.

When to send it

There's no deadline on gratitude, but the beekeeping year has its own rhythm, and some moments are natural:

at the end of your first season, in late summer or autumn, when the honey is off, the bees are being prepared for winter and you finally have a moment to breathe;
in spring, after your first winter, when you open the hive on a warm day and find the colony alive and flying;
after a swarm or a crisis, such as a colony that was rescued, a queen that was found, or a problem your mentor helped you spot early;
at the honey show, especially if you've entered for the first time and your mentor helped you prepare;
at the AGM or the winter social, when officers step down and the association thanks its volunteers;
when a mentor gives up their bees, which can be an emotional moment after decades of beekeeping;
on a national bee day or pollinator week, if your association marks one.

If you're in the southern hemisphere, the season is reversed: beekeepers in Australia and New Zealand are building up their colonies in spring around September and October, so pick the moment that fits your own year.

Why a jigsaw can fit

Most thank-you cards are read once and propped on the mantelpiece. A short jigsaw takes a few minutes to solve, and in those minutes the person is looking closely at a picture you chose, piece by piece, before your note appears at the end. For a beekeeping mentor, a photo of a frame of capped honey held up to the sun, a row of jars on the kitchen windowsill glowing amber, or the hive they helped you set up says "look what you made possible" without needing to show anyone's face.

It also travels well. An association secretary can send one link to every member, so everyone solves the same picture of the training apiary before the winter social. A beginner who has moved away can send one to the mentor they left behind, with a photo of their new hives.

It isn't a replacement for words. It's a way of wrapping them, so they get a moment of attention before they're read.

If you're a new beekeeper

Your first season is often a mixture of joy, terror, confusion and stings. If your mentor got you through it, you might want to show them where you've got to. A photo of your first frame of capped brood, your first super full of honey, your first jar with its home-made label, or the hive entrance on a sunny afternoon with bees coming and going, pollen on their legs, can all be perfect. Write what you've learned, and what they did that mattered. "You told me to slow down and breathe, and it was the best advice I've ever had" is more than enough.

If you're thanking a course tutor or apiary team

Tutors and training apiary volunteers often teach dozens of beginners every year, and many never see what happens to them afterwards. If you're thanking them, a photo of the training apiary on a sunny day, a row of veils and gloves on the fence, the smoker puffing gently on a hive roof or the course group (with everyone's permission) can make a lovely puzzle. In your note, tell them where you are now: "Three years after your course, I have four colonies and I'm mentoring someone myself. Thank you for starting it all."

If a swarm collector helped you

Swarm collectors are often the public face of beekeeping. When a swarm lands in a garden, a playground or a car park, a volunteer turns up, usually calm and cheerful, and takes the bees away safely. Many householders are so relieved that they forget to say thank you properly. If you'd like to, a photo of the swarm hanging from your hedge (taken from a safe distance), or of your garden afterwards, makes a funny and memorable puzzle. Send it through the association's swarm line or website, rather than seeking out the collector's personal details.

If you're an association secretary or chair

Secretaries and chairs hold associations together: the meetings, the speakers, the newsletters, the insurance, the course bookings and the volunteer rotas. If you're thanking the whole volunteer team, or one long-serving member, a photo from the association's year can be perfect: the training apiary, the stand at the county show, the honey show bench with its rows of jars and rosettes, the extractor at the communal extraction day, or the winter meeting with its tea urn and slides. For a mentor or officer stepping down after many years, a larger, slower puzzle of the apiary, with notes from members past and present, makes a lovely send-off.

If you live with a beekeeper

Partners, parents and children of beekeepers know what it involves: the bee suit on the back of the door, the smoker fuel in the shed, the sticky kitchen on extraction day, the stings, the phone calls about swarms, and the conversations that drift, every single time, back to the bees. A thank-you from you might use a photo of their hives at the end of the garden, their hive tool and gloves on the table, a jar of their honey on the breakfast table, or the beekeeper in their suit, if they're happy with it. Write what you're proud of. It's for them.

For beekeepers elsewhere

If you're in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere, the details will differ. Local bee clubs may be run by state or provincial associations, mentoring may be formal or informal, and rules on apiary registration, bee health and moving colonies vary a great deal. Some clubs work closely with agricultural extension services or universities. The idea is the same: notice the people who share what they know, and tell them specifically what it meant.

The best photos for a beekeeping thank-you are usually of bees, hives and honey rather than people. A few ideas:

a frame of capped honey held up to the sun, glowing gold, with bees still walking across it;
the hive entrance on a warm afternoon, with bees coming and going and pollen on their legs;
a row of jars of honey on a windowsill, with the light coming through;
a hive or two at the end of a garden or in a meadow, with flowers in front;
the smoker, hive tool and gloves laid out on a hive roof;
a bee on a lavender, borage or apple blossom flower, close up;
the honey show bench, with jars, rosettes and judges' cards.

A few kindnesses keep it comfortable and safe:

ask before using a photo of anyone; some beekeepers prefer not to be identified, and many people look unrecognisable in a veil anyway;
for children, ask their parents and follow the association's safeguarding and photo rules, especially for school visits;
leave out anything that identifies the location of someone's apiary, like house names, road signs or a distinctive view, unless they're happy to share it;
leave out anything with personal details, like names and phone numbers on the swarm list or the association's noticeboard;
avoid making an association's or national body's logo the focus, so it doesn't look official;
if in doubt, use a photo of a frame of honey. Every beekeeper will love it.

Getting the JPG right

Puzzlify works from a JPG photo, so a few small things help:

a frame of honey or brood is beautiful but very repetitive, so it can make a hard puzzle; include a hand, a hive edge, a flower or the sky to give the solver something to work with, or pick a lower piece count;
jars of honey with the light behind them make wonderful, glowing puzzles;
take photos in daylight, outside, rather than in a dark shed or kitchen with the flash on;
if there's writing you want people to read, like a honey label, a rosette or "thank you" on a card, take the photo straight on and pick a higher piece count;
save the original JPG straight from your phone or camera rather than a copy from a messaging app, which compresses it. If your photo is in another format, save it as a JPG first.

Privacy, an optional PIN, and saying it's from you

The puzzle sits behind a private link, so only people you send it to can open it. If you'd like an extra layer, add a short PIN and share it separately, for example in a card handed over at the next meeting.

Beekeepers are, quite rightly, careful about unexpected links, and many are wary of scams. So say clearly that the link is from you and that it's a thank-you, not a request. A one-line message helps: "This is a thank-you puzzle from Priya, your beginner from last year. It's a photo of my first frame of honey with a note at the end. It's not asking for anything." If you're sending it through the association, the secretary can pass it on with a line of introduction.

How many pieces?

Pieces	Feels like	Typical time
24	lighting the smoker	a few minutes
48	a quick look in the hive	around 5–10 minutes
80	a full inspection	around 10–20 minutes
130	a morning at the training apiary	around 20–40 minutes
252	twenty summers of beekeeping	an hour or more

Times vary with the photo. For a thank-you, finishing beats difficulty; 48 or 80 is a gentle middle. Frames of comb and fields of flowers are harder, so go lower if most of the picture is one pattern.

The leaderboard: only for a group

If you're thanking a whole team, say the training apiary volunteers or the association committee, you can turn on the leaderboard so everyone solves the same photo, perhaps before the winter social. Ask the secretary first; some associations would rather keep things simple. For one mentor, or a puzzle in memory of a beekeeper, leave the leaderboard off.

A few note ideas

The note appears when the last piece goes in, so keep it short and warm:

"To Graham, who came round at eight on a Tuesday when I thought my bees were swarming: both colonies made it through the winter. Thank you."
"From the beginners' course: thank you for a winter of slides, a summer of patience, and never once making us feel silly."
"To the swarm collector who rescued the bees from our hedge: the children still talk about it. Thank you for being so calm."
"To our secretary, stepping down after fifteen years: hundreds of meetings, newsletters and course bookings. The association wouldn't exist without you."
"My first honey. It wouldn't be in this jar without you."
"To Dad, who has kept bees for thirty summers: we're so proud of you, even if the kitchen is always sticky."

How to make one (about a minute of setup)

Open Puzzlify's puzzle maker in a browser: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/
Upload the photo (JPG works best).
Choose a piece count for how much time they might have and how detailed the photo is.
Add your thank-you note and, if you like, a PIN and a leaderboard (for a group only).
Preview for free. When you're happy, publish the link with one credit and send it with a message, in a card at the next meeting, or through the association secretary.

Honest pricing and notes

The preview is free, so you can see exactly what the puzzle looks like before paying anything. You only pay when you publish the link: one credit is €3.99, three credits are €8.99, and Plus is €14.99 a year for ten credits. If you're thanking several people (your mentor, the course tutor and the apiary manager, say), three credits works out cheaper per puzzle; for one thank-you, one credit is enough. If money is tight, a card, a message or a jar of your first honey cost very little and are a perfectly good choice. If you'd like to see it first, the free preview is here: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/

The person who receives the link doesn't need an account, an app or a printer; it opens in a normal web browser. Photos are not used to train AI and are not shared with third parties.

This is a digital jigsaw you play on a screen. It isn't a cardboard puzzle in the post, a printed product or a public puzzle board, and it isn't connected to any beekeeping association, bee club, charity or council. It's also not puzzlify.io (a chess site), Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things with similar names. A message in your own words is often what people remember, so the puzzle works best alongside one rather than instead of one.

Ideas that are not a puzzle

Some of the best thank-yous for beekeeping mentors cost nothing at all, or go straight to the association:

A handwritten card, handed over at the next meeting, telling them how your bees are doing.
A jar of your first honey, honestly labelled, if your mentor would like one.
A donation to the association, in the mentor's honour, through the treasurer; it pays for the training apiary, the extractor and the course materials.
Volunteering yourself, once you're ready: helping at the training apiary, staffing the show stand, joining the swarm list or, one day, mentoring a beginner of your own.
A short, kind note in the association newsletter, saying what your mentor's help meant, without anyone's personal details or apiary locations.
For a long-serving mentor or officer stepping down, a small book of thank-you notes from beginners past and present, collected by the secretary with permission.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the person who answered the phone on a Tuesday evening, drove over with a spare box and a calm voice, pointed at a grain of rice in a cell and said "she's fine", and stood beside you in a borrowed veil until, one sunny afternoon, you lifted out a frame of honey and realised you were a beekeeper.

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Not affiliated with the BBKA, the Scottish, Welsh or Ulster Beekeepers Associations, FIBKA, the American Beekeeping Federation or any beekeeping association, bee club, charity or council. Not legal, veterinary, beekeeping, safety or privacy advice. Check your association's own rules on gifts, photos, publicity, apiary visits and contact between members.