advise on a beeshed

[newportbuzz]

well the title says it all really
i am building a beeshed has anyone got one or seen any ideas in one thats worth including.

i was going to make it 24' by 10' with an over hang of 1.5' front and back
i was going to make it two walled to protect from my prevaling weather and a door on one side and a completely open long side.
it should end up just over 8' high

the plan is to position my hives at the front wall work them from behind and store supers etc against back wall. i was going to build this up 5 ft from the side of my greenhouse to force the bees to fly up and over it and put them over walking level.
i am hoping to keep my hive numbers to 6 hives and 6 nucs for the forceable future.
i have seen two beesheds so far and the main thing that i have noticed is how far back from the front the owners put their hives as much as 2 ft in one case.
ill take a phot of the position i had in mind for it tomoro and look out a photo of a beeshed aswell.

 

[newportbuzz]

here is one

 

[Erichalfbee]

It must be dangerous taking photos of it

 

[Headnavigator]

 

[newportbuzz]

ha ha !
but seriously anyone got any sugestions other than the obvious one of make it taller than that one.

 

[Headnavigator]

ha ha !
but seriously anyone got any sugestions other than the obvious one of make it taller than that one.

Yes, slope the roof the other way so that when it rains it doesn't pour straight down across the front of the hives.

 

[newportbuzz]

will do
hadnt noticed that on that one.

i was going to make my one similar to the norwegian grass roof sheds ill take a photo of my wood shed so you can get an idea.

 

[keith pierce]

here is one

why are the hives so high off the ground

 

[newportbuzz]

dunno ill ask him. looks like a nice working heigth for the brood tho. god help him with 4 supers tho.

 

[keith pierce]

here is one

where is it

 

[Oandy]

http://www.honeyshop.co.uk/Bee.html Hi would this link be any help. Andy

 

[newportbuzz]

keith in mayo

andy thanks looks good.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Real envy here.
If I was starting from scratch I'd make sure the front faced south or south east.
I'd have each hive on a stand with enough room each side to AS. Power might be handy.

 

[hedgerow pete]

here we go again, the hedgerow pete envi club starts again. lol

i do , do openings, for a small fee, ha ha ha ha

so basics first then after that we go indepth


there are two basic forms to decide on first as per the first top of the thread photo do we just want to make a wind/rain protection cover that uses normal bee hives on stands but protects the bees from the worst weather or do we want an enclosed shed that is similar to the hedgerow pete, bee shed production studios ( tickets for tours availbe at extortionate fees) lol


View attachment 5213


once we have decided on cover or encasement lets talk layouts.


in the other posters photo what we have is a line of hives with a lean over roof. you want the roof to run away from the bee side not to it so the rain does not run down to the hive fronts but away from them, standard
placings is about 600mm centres or two foot of space lengh per hive. you are still better off in poor weather but expect a closing in when dealing with the bees.

second option is a enclosed bee shed, as per the hedgerow tourist attraction video film studios, ( did i mention the tours ???)

what we have here is a shed that has inside a row of bee hives with each one having its own entrence hole, spacings inside can be brought down to as close as 225mm 9 inch down to 50mm 2 inch and if you want to we can even go as close as filing cabinate hives that are built in , in one peice.

if you go down the route of say long hives rather than single nationals as an exsample we could if you wanted to have two hives per position one ontop of each other with the higher one being one a shelf set up to lift it away from the lower one.

pm me if you want to get hold of my mobile number and we can chat about it or if you want i can down load all the information i have onto a dvd disk and post it over to you.

unfortunatly i have no work this week so i have plenty of time to do it for you.

 

[hedgerow pete]

this is where i started from, a so called "bee engine"

apart from being a stupid name it does have some great ideas which we used, the wide door disabled acces, battery lights, lower than normal bee hive posisions for wheel chair people etc etc

View attachment 5214

 

[newportbuzz]

very nice pete.
i was hoping for more weather protection and super extractor storage. security is not an issue here so no doors or fiddily bits just tree trunks on blocks.
would i be able to have closer spacing if i put funnels on the entrances to provide a good definable entrance to the hive?

i imagine some ply ripped to 2' and edgeways on to either side of the entrance and diferent lengths to provide good navagation points possible coupled with painting hives for navigation aswell.

my budget is miniscule to be fair i have already spent it on
1 gallon of petrol
3 tonnes of 8' logs
20kg of 6" nails
1 silage cover
some old underlay
a couple of dozen oyster growing bags

i was going to use the same construction as the wood shed shown in a photo on this thread.
i was hoping to have some power out there mainly for a light.


out of interest how do you inspect the hives in your closed in shed or more importantly how do you get them to leave the cabin?

 

[Erichalfbee]

What happens to the bees that fly off the frames when you inspect? Where do they go?
Sorry, being thick probably

 

[VEG]

Bees will go to the light so a window that opens is ideal. Although they usually climb upwards on windows.

 

[TBRNoTB]

keith in mayo

andy thanks looks good.

My local association have acquired and restored a Miller Bee House, effectively a large garden shed. It has openings at the bottom along one side to accommodate four hive's. There is a reasonable amount of space to work the hives also storage space. Effectively it is the same principle as Hedgerow Pete is now using. I have tried mr google for Miller but to no avail, just get the picture same as a previous poster.
Regards
TBRNoTB

 

[newportbuzz]

progress so far.