Have a look where my bees are...... sooo fantastic!

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Have a look where my bees are...... sooo fantastic!
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oliver90owner

Joined: 11 Jul 2009
Posts: 85

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 10 7:29 am Post subject:

Mary,

When you contacted the programmes, that may have had an interest, did you send them writen details and include a circulation list? With a list of competeing programmers included it may spur one or two to try to pre-empt the others. Maybe even the weather men might use it to demonstrate our last winter was not that bad!

Fab pictures and fab bees. I thought it was probably a warmish aspect, away from the cold north-easterly wind - the ivy growth indicates that (and the ivy will also afford some protection).

There will also be a considerable amount of heat leakage through that window, as it is a single glazed sash window. Low grade heat energy but everything helps that little bit....

There is a thread going (re your bees) on the beekeepingforum.co.uk which may be of interest.

Regards, RAB

MARY

Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 24
Location: Leicestershire Warwickshire borders

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 10 3:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks Oliver?
I didn't send writen details or include a circulation list. The weather men is also a good idea.
I will have to try and find the time to do it, I'm happy for interested peeps to forward the photos ect. I will try and find that thread, does it have a title? I had a quick look at work didn't see an obvious thread.

Yes it is a south facing warmish ivy proteced aspect.
Under that ivy about 6 feet away there used to be a nest in the wall, they died after about a hundred years of permanent residence, such a pity, and following swarms also died.

There will also be a considerable amount of heat leakage through that window, No! as I only heat my kitchen no heating in any other room this winter!

What is the thread called on the beekeeping forum?

Regards, RAB[/quote]

MARY

Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 24
Location: Leicestershire Warwickshire borders

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 10 4:35 pm Post subject:
Have a look at this guys photos, he now lives in France. https://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/1168969351/in/set-103171/

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 10 4:53 pm Post subject:
Excellent video of the bee dance & nice to see some photos of a queen. Something I haven't managed yet, working solo. Holding up a frame of bees & taking photos at the same time is beyond me.

MARY

Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 24
Location: Leicestershire Warwickshire borders

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 10 4:59 pm Post subject:
Did you see the pictures of the broken comb left on top of the supers like Gaudi's architecture?

dangerous

Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 27

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 10 6:00 am Post subject:
Wonderful Mary. I start beekeeping hopefully this year and your colony is an inspiration.

beesontoast

Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 21
Location: Devon, UK

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 10 2:44 pm Post subject:

MARY wrote:

I may try again this year as they are still with me, bless their little pollen legs.

Great that they went through last winter - it shows that bees can survive in the UK even exposed under adverse conditions. I have one hive that has no floor, which has come through three winters now, but your open-air colony is much more radical.

MARY

Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 24
Location: Leicestershire Warwickshire borders

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 10 12:20 pm Post subject:
Beesontoast, what an inspiring website! I had no knowledge of these methods of bee keeping. Makes me keen to collect a swarm or two! M.

beesontoast

Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 21
Location: Devon, UK

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 10 10:21 pm Post subject:

MARY wrote:

Beesontoast, what an inspiring website! I had no knowledge of these methods of bee keeping. Makes me keen to collect a swarm or two!

M.

Thanks Mary.

Your al fresco colony have deomnstrated their survival credentials admirably, and this is just the kind of bee we need in the UK - one that can look after itself.

Now if we can just stop people needlessly importing queens from all over the world, that will, one day, bring with them a disease or pest that will really make beekeeping difficult in this country, and concentrate on breeding from colonies like yours, we could once more have a tough, locally-adapted honeybee to be proud of!

(exits stage left to Elgar soundtrack and wild applause...)

OK, I can dream.

But if you have somewhere to site a top bar hive on the sunny side of your colony, they may well throw a swarm in May and move in to your hive of their own accord!

It can - and does - happen: beekeeping for free!

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 10 12:23 am Post subject:
Fabulous! That's going to get too big, presumably, at some point to stay up there. How do bees cope with that? Wil they move on, or does the architecture cope, or will do they 'know' and not make it too big to survive?

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 10 7:20 am Post subject:

Nick wrote:

Fabulous!

That's going to get too big, presumably, at some point to stay up there. How do bees cope with that? Wil they move on, or does the architecture cope, or will do they 'know' and not make it too big to survive?

When they get to big, they swarm & find a new home.
It's their way of reproduction.
The old queen leaves with a large amount of the mature flying bees & leaves the younger bees to raise new queens, sometimes (often infact) many queens will be raised & some of these will also swarm with smaller amounts of bees (secondary swarms or casts) until only one queen is left to continue in the old comb.
I suspect the 4 swarms in one day that Mary witnessed where casts & the prime swarm left when she wasn't there to see it a week or so earlier.

oliver90owner

Joined: 11 Jul 2009
Posts: 85

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 10 7:27 am Post subject:

TBH or not, the 'bait' hive(s) would be far better sited away from the colony by at least a couple hundred metres and would likely benefit by having some old comb and a swarm lure, of some description, installed to maximise the chance of colonisation.

'Sensible' bees do not swarm just ten metres - they want to spread their genes as widely as practical and not directly compete (for forage) with the mother colony. Presumably this would would lessen problems such as disease transfer and robbing(?), as well as other possible advantages.

Much more natural than several hives on one apiary site.

Regards, RAB

beesontoast

Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 21
Location: Devon, UK

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 10 5:35 pm Post subject:
There is certainly survival value in a swarm moving well away from its mother colony, and if your garden is big enough, putting a bait hive 100 yds or so away would be a good idea. And I have seen a swarm move into a hive only yards away, and once I saw a cast cluster underneath and move into an empty hive right next to its mother. As Winnie the Pooh said, "You can never tell with bees".

oliver90owner

Joined: 11 Jul 2009
Posts: 85

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 10 6:44 am Post subject:

Beesontoast,

A begrudging agreement re siting a bait hive? Your post reminds me of the 'one swallow' proverb. Mary would likely not want a cast as they are so much weaker than the prime swarm and often not viable, or much more difficult to get established.

The fact remains, then, that a bait hive at some distance is a better bet for colonisation. It is then apparent that once 'entrapped' the colony may well need relocating. Not so easy with a full sized TBH - one of the down-sides of the system (I have Dartingtons, so know the logistics of moving them three miles - twice!).

More-easily portable beetainers for bait hives are sooo much better in some cases. I would think a National brood could be sourced, for the period, from the local BKA. I know I would certainly help, if I were not a county away.

Mary,

So a TBH in position might get a swarm, needs to be there if a swarm is caught. If I were you I would enlist the help of a reliable (and discreet?) beekeeper.

Regards, RAB

beesontoast

Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 21
Location: Devon, UK

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 10 12:36 pm Post subject:

oliver90owner wrote:

The fact remains, then, that a bait hive at some distance is a better bet for colonisation. It is then apparent that once 'entrapped' the colony may well need relocating. Not so easy with a full sized TBH - one of the down-sides of the system (I have Dartingtons, so know the logistics of moving them three miles - twice!).

You have my sympathy re moving Dartingtons. Even empty, lifting them takes some muscle.

I would use a small (18") TBH for portability, or my favourite - a skep.

The idea of putting such a perfect wild colony into a National on (yuk) foundation makes me weep.

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