Advice Needed: Bee Hive Design

[B.Rose]

Myself and a group of designers are working with Brunel University to design and produce prototype bee hives for educating children about the dropping population of bees. This product would be placed in gardens and we would like to hear advice and feedback from bee-keepers and people very knowledgeable on the topic of bees

Here is what we have come up with so far:

- We wanted to make the bee hive using either pine or a hardwood such as Mahogany or Beech as the shell with a possible glass panel to allow children to see into the bee hive. Within the bee hive will contain groups of bamboo stick to house the bees.

-There will be one main opening for the bees with around 4/5 side entry/escape points

-Spaces for sugar water to be placed

-Small sheets of pheromones can be place in the hive to help attract bees

If you could give any advice or feedback would be most appreciated.
Those who would be interested in this project are more than happy to keep in contact and we will keep you updated on the project including concept design, updates on the progression of the project and overall finished product.

 

[Cazza]

What sort of bees do you have in mind? Presumably not honey bees?

You need to think very carefully about open feeding of sugar water. This will attract honey bees and wasps. With open access to honey bees, this could spread disease, which would not please local beekeepers.

Cazza

 

[Madge]

Honey bees and bumble bees need different kinds of hives. You have described some sort of hybrid hive not suitable for either.
Kitta

 

[B.Rose]

What sort of bees do you have in mind? Presumably not honey bees?

You need to think very carefully about open feeding of sugar water. This will attract honey bees and wasps. With open access to honey bees, this could spread disease, which would not please local beekeepers.

Cazza

What bees do you think would be best for this type of project?

Also, thank you for the information about the sugar water as I didn't know that it had the potential to attract wasps as well

 

[B.Rose]

Honey bees and bumble bees need different kinds of hives. You have described some sort of hybrid hive not suitable for either.
Kitta

What would need to be different bumble bee hives and honey bee hives?

 

[Queens59]

Too many entry/exit holes will mean more for them to guard at the height of summer...Feeders need to be hidden inside the hive (ideally top) so that they can be accessed without disturbing bees. Also, why bamboo?? And, any glass panels will need a cover - as bees like dark not light...

 

[pargyle]

What would need to be different bumble bee hives and honey bee hives?

There's a bit more to it than that .... Whilst not wishing to be unkind I'm not certain there is anyone on here would would be prepared to write the book on here that you need to read !

Could I suggest, nicely, that you do a Google search for the difference between honey bees and bumble bees as a starting point, then google 'How to help pollinators' which will take you into what sort of habitat bumbles need in a garden.

Honeybees are something else altogether and if you want to go down that route you need to know a lot more than you do at present. It's one thing attracting bumbles to a wildlife area - they basically get on and do their own thing in colonies that are often only 30 or 40 strong. A honey bee colony with 30 or 40 THOUSAND bees in an unmanaged state may not be ideal for your purpose.

Come back and ask us a bit more when you have a bit more understanding of what you want to achieve - we're generally a pretty friendly and helpful lot and you may find a beekeeper in your area that will assist with some education opportunities - but it's all going to be mainly next year now as the beekeeping and bumble bee season is just about over.

Best of luck with what you are trying to do ... there is a huge need for education of the public and children about bees and pollinators in general.

 

[B.Rose]

Thank you so much for the advice, this will be helpful in our designing process. We thought bamboo as compacting them give it a similar effect as would be in a natural hive. Plus, trying to make this more affordable and environmentally friendly. However, if you have any ideas on how we could do this in a different way, feel free to let me know.

 

[Madge]

What would need to be different bumble bee hives and honey bee hives?

... It's one thing attracting bumbles to a wildlife area - they basically get on and do their own thing in colonies that are often only 30 or 40 strong ...

Yes, go for bumble bees and Google 'bumble bee house plans', both for information and for images. Their housing needs are much simpler and you don't have to manage them. You can all have great fun creating really imaginative houses for them using some of those bamboo sticks you've already mentioned.
Kitta

PS: ... or you may find some other sort of bee took residence in your bee house - then you can try and find out what it is.

 

[B.Rose]

There's a bit more to it than that .... Whilst not wishing to be unkind I'm not certain there is anyone on here would would be prepared to write the book on here that you need to read !

Could I suggest, nicely, that you do a Google search for the difference between honey bees and bumble bees as a starting point, then google 'How to help pollinators' which will take you into what sort of habitat bumbles need in a garden.

Honeybees are something else altogether and if you want to go down that route you need to know a lot more than you do at present. It's one thing attracting bumbles to a wildlife area - they basically get on and do their own thing in colonies that are often only 30 or 40 strong. A honey bee colony with 30 or 40 THOUSAND bees in an unmanaged state may not be ideal for your purpose.

Come back and ask us a bit more when you have a bit more understanding of what you want to achieve - we're generally a pretty friendly and helpful lot and you may find a beekeeper in your area that will assist with some education opportunities - but it's all going to be mainly next year now as the beekeeping and bumble bee season is just about over.

Best of luck with what you are trying to do ... there is a huge need for education of the public and children about bees and pollinators in general.

Being critical from people knowledgeable on the topic is what we need at the moment. We are still doing our research on bees and bee hives, but we thought it would be best to start asking people who knew their stuff on the topic.

Thank you for being willing to give advice to us and will continue to come here as so far, everyone has been quite helpful.

 

[garlicpickle]

Your suggestion of bamboo sticks might also be designed to attract various species of solitary bee such as the red mason bee. "Solitary" can be a bit of a misnomer as some solitary bees share nest sites, sometimes in large numbers. But they all do their own thing, they don't act collectively like honey bee colonies.

 

[B.Rose]

Yes, go for bumble bees and Google 'bumble bee house plans', both for information and for images. Their housing needs are much simpler and you don't have to manage them. You can all have great fun creating really imaginative houses for them using some of those bamboo sticks you've already mentioned.
Kitta

PS: ... or you may find some other sort of bee took residence in your bee house - then you can try and find out what it is.

Really appreciate the advice, our team is really pumped about this project and it's nice to hear from experts about what they think about the projects. Remember, be as critical as you want, we want to make this project the best it can be.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think your best bet would be to concentrate on bumble bees the observation bit is possible, but they do like below ground accommodation so would need a bit of thinking. As for timber - cedar is what you want IMHO.

 

[BeeJayBee]

- We wanted to make the bee hive using either pine or a hardwood such as Mahogany or Beech as the shell with a possible glass panel to allow children to see into the bee hive. Within the bee hive will contain groups of bamboo stick to house the bees.

-There will be one main opening for the bees with around 4/5 side entry/escape points

Different species of bees have different habitat requirements. Not all will nest in the holes in bamboo, same as not all will nest in old bird boxes or gaps in brickwork. http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/faqs/bumblebee-nests/

The bamboo, or lumps of wood with holes drilled in them, will attract solitary bees as well as other non-social insects but these insects might not be willing to go into a box. There are some pictures on this site that might give you some inspiration (pollinator walls at Honeybee suite) http://www.honeybeesuite.com/pollinator-walls-bee-towers-and-insect-hotels/

Google images "Bee wall" for more ideas >> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b...mMZD70gXh9oCABw&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=935

But, if you're really more interested in honey bees than the huge variety of other species, then it's probably best to get in touch with a local association. They are likely to have an observation hive up and running during the season, some associations take their obs hives into schools etc..

 

[B.Rose]

Your suggestion of bamboo sticks might also be designed to attract various species of solitary bee such as the red mason bee. "Solitary" can be a bit of a misnomer as some solitary bees share nest sites, sometimes in large numbers. But they all do their own thing, they don't act collectively like honey bee colonies.

Would attracting solitary bees be the best way to move forward with this project for educating children in your opinion?

 

[Madge]

Rose, go to the library and see if you can get a copy of 'No Nettles Required' by Ken Thompson. On pages 92-94 he has some information about housing for bumble bees and solitary bees. It might be difficult to attract bumble bees, but for solitary bees he suggests:

paper straws packed in clean cans;
blind holes in untreated sawn blocks of wood (50mm x 50mm and 100mm long) and the holes in various diameters (10, 8, 6, and 4mm);
bamboos packed in plastic drainage pipes (110mm diameter and 200mm long) and capped on one side.

Then be creative.
Kitta

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Rose, go to the library and see if you can get a copy of 'No Nettles Required' by Ken Thompson. On pages 92-94 he has some information about housing for bumble bees and solitary bees. It might be difficult to attract bumble bees, but for solitary bees he suggests:

paper straws packed in clean cans;
blind holes in untreated sawn blocks of wood (50mm x 50mm and 100mm long) and the holes in various diameters (10, 8, 6, and 4mm);
bamboos packed in plastic drainage pipes (110mm diameter and 200mm long) and capped on one side.

Then be creative.
Kitta

And the kids could get involved in making the 'hives' as well

 

[B.Rose]

Rose, go to the library and see if you can get a copy of 'No Nettles Required' by Ken Thompson. On pages 92-94 he has some information about housing for bumble bees and solitary bees. It might be difficult to attract bumble bees, but for solitary bees he suggests:

paper straws packed in clean cans;
blind holes in untreated sawn blocks of wood (50mm x 50mm and 100mm long) and the holes in various diameters (10, 8, 6, and 4mm);
bamboos packed in plastic drainage pipes (110mm diameter and 200mm long) and capped on one side.

Then be creative.
Kitta

Again, you have been most helpful and thank you for the book recommendation as well as advice on ways of housing the bees

 

[Erichalfbee]

You could get some ideas by having a look here

http://*www.greengardener.co.uk/*product.asp?id_pc=5&cat=22&id_product=431
Remove the two asterisks

There was an outfit selling bumble bee houses complete with bees at the Hampton Court Flower show

 

[MuswellMetro]

I think your best bet would be to concentrate on bumble bees the observation bit is possible, but they do like below ground accommodation so would need a bit of thinking. As for timber - cedar is what you want IMHO.

Or perhaps as Bombus hypnorum the European tree bumble bee is getting more common in London, a bird box size box 5ft up with a removable cover to the rear of side for veiwing through glass panel

But honey bees NO, 40 -60,000 bees defending their honey could cause carnage if handled wrongly, very interest inside hive but betterr by camera http://www.sysonby.com/beecam/index.html as honeybees prefer to live in the dark and are alive in the have 365 days per year

dont expect to see much activity if you look inside a bamboo stem with solitary bees in it

Remember also that Bumblebee watching is summer activity as all but a few new queens die in Autumn and the box will be empty until recolonised in spring by the ver wintered new Queen