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I would agree with Brosville, unless the swarm has been hanging around for several days, swarms do not need feeding. They have prepared themselves beforehand for making this comb and getting themselves established. This swarm built 12 beautiful combs in just a few days.

I recently blogged about this, I have had swarms take up residence in some home made mini's.

I have only ever moved a TBH once, a Kenyan. A 20 minute drive with the hive crossways in the boot of my 4x4, (hive didn't have legs). The combs will then be parallel to the wheels and less likely to be damaged by braking. Take it easy cornering and it should go ok. One TBHer in USA moves them...

Aww! Thanks John! My long standing profile message (which I know you have visited) on the BBKA forum states:- That message has been on there more or less since the BBKA new forum started.

This thread and the characters involved remind me why I have left the biobees forum. Evangelising and spouting dogma are not for me. No one person is right here. There are more than one way to keep bees and it is up to the individual to decide for themself how they should do so. The shape of the...

I have the same camera and I found this screw on adapter to turn my standard lens into a macro. I know it won't be a mile from anything like finest quality but at just a few quid, it sure fits the pocket!

The assumption was that this preferred (by the bees) entrance could be plugged to prevent the scouts entering and perhaps go to the bait hive instead. The reason to do it at night is so that you didn't trap any scouts inside during the flying time.

Plug the knot hole in the evening.

Well if I did as you do and rob all of the bees honey and feed them back a poor substitute, maybe my yields would be comparable but I don't do that. Others have said, we measure success not by the amount of honey we take, but you will never understand that concept Finman.

Take a look at the Perone top bar hive. Here is a report in Spanish of a huge crop of honey in a cold region of Argentina. Oscar Perone has a great deal of beekeeping experience and he has also come to the conclusion that TBH's are best.

I have just put out the first couple of bait hives here in Sweden. The trick is to make your bait hive more attractive to the scout bees than anything else that is on offer to them. The more you tick all the boxes, the greater your chance of attracting a swarm. Probably Dr Seeley is the foremost...

As someone who has had quite a bit of experience with TBH's and conventional hives with frames, I can honestly say that TBH's are easier on the bee and the beekeeper. As long as you keep on top of the cross combing issue, it is so simple. It is a doddle to check on the bees without them hardly...

How have you spaced the bars and how have you sealed the gaps? Cloth? When Phil did it I told him he should have used plastic narrow ends on the top bars, positioned correctly they would have sealed the sides sides and a simple cloth over tops.

It seems very deep, does it incorporate a varroa drawer? Otherwise seems very like a Chandler Hive. Central entrances ( Can't imagine a mouse being able to get in there) thereby utilizing two follower boards with the colony between with an appropriate number of top bars for the size of colony...

Dennis's natural cell webpage is here

Oh! I see now. Not a standard Kenyan then!!!!!! Kenyans are about simplicity which this is certainly not. They say every beekeeper has to invent a beehive at some stage of their lives. Most are forgotten within a short space of time. I wonder wether this one will be remembered.:biggrinjester:

When bees are building comb in festoons, they naturally form catenary curves. This curve is almost represented in a Kenyan section therefore the shape of the comb is similar to what they build in nature. The bees build down from the top bars until their backs touch something and they then leave...

Hello Paul, lots of wild boar around me too here in southern Spain but they have never disturbed my hives. Varroa I ignore!

Hello Martin, yes I have built quite a few. What are your specific questions? Bye the way, your link doesn't work!

I was given the book yesterday and have just read the first chapter so cannot really say if it is any good or not just yet. To counter what Finman says above, what about the Southern Sichuan area of China that was so polluted with pesticides, no pollinators can now survive there and all the...