Bee Houses/Sheds

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Joined
Oct 26, 2013
Messages
381
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Location
Great Yarmouth
Hive Type
Other
Number of Hives
2
Not sure where to put this question but i guess a mod will move it as necessary.

I like the idea of a Bee Shed but see very little mention of them on here.

Does anyone use one ?

Any pictures maybe ?

Thoughts...
 
Do you mean for putting hives in, or storing equipment?
 
I help out in one from time to time. They have their advantages, hives out of sight from neighbours, reasonably vandal proof ect and in the one I know stops the horses knocking the hives over. They also have their disadvantages bloody hot in the summer, can be dark and you do seem to get a build up of dead bees on the floor and not to mention a smoker in a shed is a pain.

Sorry no pictures but basically a shed with glass adapted to let the bees out and four hives with slightly modified floors as in a slight extension to the entrance.
 
Have you looked at Petes bee shed on you tube. It belongs to Hedgerow Pete on this forum but the video in the video section of this forum does not appear to work. Works on you tube.
 
put a set of wheels on it and a tow hitch any you can move it to pastures greener :auto:
 
bee sheds

hasd one at bottom of garden for4 years verry good ,had many hours of happy beekeeping in it,wife got 1 sting and a verry bad reaction so 6.30 next morning bees moved,shed now firewood,was made from recycled timber so only cost price of nails ,verry worth while
m
 
Thanks for your replies so far.

I did consider a while ago, redwoods idea of using a horsebox or similar that I could tow somewhere nice, perhaps on the local heather. The trouble with that would be security. I'd be limited to where I would feel comfortable leaving it.

I'm liking this shed idea more and more though.
Rather than have a row of fixed boxes forming the hives as in Reiners pic I think a tube like attachment could allow me to try it with a conventional hive/s.

Light wouldn't be an issue as the shed I have in mind has power run to it. I could therefore heat and ventilate it as necessary and of course have a kettle in there.

All food for thought eh.
 
Got a Gde II listed Beehouse near me. Thought it was unique but googling found others. Had a nuc in my local one for a while. Trouble was NT had the keys and made access problematic. Another beek pal has a row of straw skeps in there which is ideal as they don't disintegrate so quickly. He is one of their frequent "helpers" which makes a difference of course.
 
Got a Gde II listed Beehouse near me. Thought it was unique but googling found others. Had a nuc in my local one for a while. Trouble was NT had the keys and made access problematic. Another beek pal has a row of straw skeps in there which is ideal as they don't disintegrate so quickly. He is one of their frequent "helpers" which makes a difference of course.

That sounds nice lucky you.
 
i was never into bee sheds untill a few years ago, myself and a guy called John, both decided to try chemo , ( very over rated)
any way due to John being wheel chair bound and skint we decided to set him up as a bee farmer. i needed a place with wheel chair access all year round, a dry area to work in, bees as well as equipment and so on. the bee shed idea came forth, knowing a few people in eastern europe helped as they sent me loads of pictures.

also so knowing several people whole bee farm with converted trailers holding the hives, helps with ideas so does artic lorry trailers, popular in the middle east and romania too.

i built in the end ten bee sheds in brum each one was set up to hold a single tier of hives, a 20 frame version of the darlington hive basically this allowed John to work the bees horizontally rather than vertically

supers were five frames wide and sat on top of the darlington version brood box, supers were only a single lift with a simple little and often removel and emptying and replacement

each shed is a standard by 3metres (8foot by 10 foot) and 2.1metres tall (7 foot)
this allowed a clear centre space for wheel chair works as well as a row of bee hives around the external walls all venting bees outside and a single window for light

look for "hedgerow pete " on you tube to find my channel and the videos there in, theres about 50 or so, all or most are filmed inside the Bee Shed Studios, BSS!!

i find it hard to start with as the bees i keep are more than the standard levels of aggression and they do get a little full on,

when i used to teach , i found it fantastic as with a smaller gentler hive the newbees can work the bees no matter what the weather and also in the winter time with a load of snow on the outside hives mine were able to be worked,

the downsides now, first up yes ther are warmer in winter but also insulated from the spring warm up so , some times slow to start to build up, which suits my lazt lot as when every posible they miss the build up to the OSR season.

next up , on a bad day you and ten thousand upset bees share the same 8 foot square room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thirdly, great to store every thing in but a pain to move bees from inside to out etc.

no way to use a slengrove board and or other swarm prevention controls etc

construction , mine is main from 50mm by 75mm timbre (3" by 2" old money)
with a ply wood internal skin and a steel sheet outer or ply wood face, insulated with polystyrene sheets 50mm thick, floor is scaffold board frame and 18mm ply with a wheel chair ramp to it ( now removed)

this is me stood a foot away from three very very large hives inside the shed

 
I've got an 8x6 she's, national hive inside with an extended OMF, was worried the bees wouldn't the way through the extended entrance but all seems fine. First problem I had was that the walls weren't tight around the entrance, do bees were getting in the shed, bit of expanding foam sorted that. Not done an inspection yet, but think it will be different. Does anyone know the best way to get the bees out of the shed after inspection?


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I've got an 8x6 she's, national hive inside with an extended OMF, was worried the bees wouldn't the way through the extended entrance but all seems fine. First problem I had was that the walls weren't tight around the entrance, do bees were getting in the shed, bit of expanding foam sorted that. Not done an inspection yet, but think it will be different. Does anyone know the best way to get the bees out of the shed after inspection?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On the ones I have seen you fit the glass window 1” short from the top, the bees fly towards the light and move up the glass and out of the gap.
 
Thanks guys

Any thoughts on how to set up a pipe/tube type entrance.
Slighty sloped down I guess would be one thing.
Bolt down the hive base to the floor so it is rock steady.
Bee escape in the shed as mentioned.
I like the solar fans, Pete are they working well ?

What does the panel think ?
 
It's all about modifying your base, I just created a box tunnel built onto mine, through the wall with a sloping roof on the tunnel to deflect the rain.


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