Banishing Hive

Milfoil · Jun 28, 2011

A friend in Germany sent me these photos of a hive in a museum just south of Hamburg (Freilichtmuseum Kiekeberg). She said the label calls it a 'Banishing hive', it is made from Fir roots, rye straw and insulated with cow dung. The face on the front (entrance) is carved from wood and is meant to scare away honey thieves, illness and other bad things (spirits?)

Just thought it might be of interest, certainly I enjoy learning about old ways of beekeeping around the world.

beeatshellards · Jun 28, 2011

great picture .DO YOU LIFT HIS SCALP UP TO REMOVE THE HONEY ???

Milfoil · Jun 28, 2011

beeatshellards said:
great picture .DO YOU LIFT HIS SCALP UP TO REMOVE THE HONEY ???

Fraid not, it is a typical Skep type from what I could gather and was last used in the early 19th C in Germany. The hive would have to be destroyed to obtain the honey, a good reason it is in a museum!!!!!

tonybloke · Jun 29, 2011

there used to be a series of films on a german site about skep beekeeping, and they didn't destroy the skeps ( some were over 100 yr old)
they cut out the combs for extraction.

victor meldrew · Jun 29, 2011

tonybloke said:
there used to be a series of films on a german site about skep beekeeping, and they didn't destroy the skeps ( some were over 100 yr old)
they cut out the combs for extraction.

They destroy the bees

.
They used to hold the skep over a sulphur pit and thus kill the bees .

Swarming was encouraged to ensure replacements

VM

Flatters · Jun 29, 2011

Hi Milfoil
That is interesting. If you are interested in skeps the take a look at martinatnewton . com (take out the spaces if you past into your browser.)

I was on a skep making course on Sunday that was run by Martin and he brought along a lot of different types of skeps and explained how they were used. If you get the chance to do a course I would recommend it. I enjoyed it and came away with a usable skep that I can proudly say I made.