Beehives, bees and location.

[Poly Hive]

"Membership in a clique is typically exclusive"

Couldn't be further from the reality. Some of us have been here for some time.

Some of us are willing to share what we know with beginners so as to help them avoid the more obvious pitfalls.

There is no clique on this forum that I am aware of.

Relax and enjoy a massive resource.

PH

 

[Skyhook]

After researching beekeeping and being a member of my local and national associations for 2 years I am looking to purchase beehives and bees this year. I live on a farm in the Scottish Borders at an altitude of 850 ft. The weather can be extreme with the snow being very stubborn and the seasons are very short. What's everyones advice on which hive I should use...I would like to use the National for ease but some people from the local association (not that local to me as we are 25miles from the nearest shop) use the Smith hives. I have also thought about polystyrene. My nearest beekeeper (10 miles) at an altitude of 1000ft has lost 2 of her 3 hives over the last 2 winters, she uses Nationals.
Also, as there are no other bees in the locality do you think I should buy bees from different suppliers to open up the gene pool? I'd like to get 3 hives.
Your opinions would be most appreciated!

Scottishbee- if you're still here, I would suggest you decide on your bees first. It sounds as if you may be in a location where british black bees would survive better than italian types; and they might suit a smaller hive like a national, where Italians can use more room, eg 14 x 12 or langstroth. If all those options are now available in Poly, that's probably a good option for you location.

And ignore Rab- he annoys everybody. I think he gets a kick out of it.

 

[victor meldrew]

ok guys...thanks for the good advice from a couple of you.
Thanks for the digs! I don't think I'll bother with your forum if all you are going to do is be arsey.

Lighten up old bean .
I've been on this forum since it's inception !
Well over a thousand posts .
Still I get flak
Cilques I see not!
Some polarisation in method debates but believe me beekeepers are as individual as snow flakes
John Wilkinson

 

[Poly Hive]

OI? who you calling a snow flake you piece of ice?

PH

 

[victor meldrew]

Piece of ICE you could have written worse
John W

 

[BobH1]

"There is no clique on this forum that I am aware of.

Cilques I see not!

Perhaps you don't see the clique because you are leading members of it. Look at it from an outsiders point of view

 

[Black Comb]

Well I inhabit a few other fora (non-beekeping) and IMO the others do have cliques but this one certainly not. As will always be the case some members post a lot but fortunately they usually know what they are talking about and post about beekeeping matters and not personal chit chat.

It is a shame scottishbee is not staying as a result of one grumpy post because I'm sure she could learn a lot on here.

With beekeeping you get many different opinions and this is certainly the place for a new beek to ask and learn. Who cares about a bit of cantankerosity (I made that up) if it helps your beekeeping.

Ref. your 3 nucs. I suggest UK queens and bees perhaps local but try to avoid any areas with recent foulbrood (look on the Fera website for details). 3 from different sources is a good idea IMO.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Well I've scoured this thread from top to bottom and have totally failed to pick up on

a) any cliques - as everyone disagrees with eachother all the time its hard to see how a clique would form. Prehaps you are mistaking a clique for a group of people actually knowing eachother. Not really sinister.

b) anything to take offence at either, perhaps its been edited out

 

[tonybloke]

Perhaps you don't see the clique because you are leading members of it. Look at it from an outsiders point of view

erm, can you describe the 'clique' you are referring to?

do you just mean the group of knowledgeable, long-standing beekeepers who have given out loads of free, good advice?

or is it something I've missed?

 

[Drew]

Dunno about clique - as someone else said everyone on here disagrees with everyone else sometimes.

but some of the answers given can sometimes "sound" a bit harsh specially to a newbie, and certainly to people less experienced in online forums (fora).

That said I wouldn't have thought that responses on this thread were particularly "bad"...

So Scotty if you are still listening - hang around for a while and learn from lots of the good advice (even when contradictory) and you will possibly learn to love some of the grumpy old b*ggers - but trust me even if you never learn to love them they do give out good info and you can just ignore the spiky-ness (or bite back ;-) ).

 

[RoofTops]

Meanwhile, back at the original post, you used to be able to get a good poly Smith hive. Same as the original Swienty/Denrosa National but top bee space and because of the short lugs did not suffer from the thin wall at the lugs ends which the National did. I fear it may not be available now so not much help there.

My advice would the same we give to most new beekeepers, try and make contact (via the SBKA in your case) with local beekeepers - there are plenty in the Borders and SW Scotland and see what they are using and make up you mind from that. You may have to travel a bit to meet them.

The altitude will mean a short summer and a bit of migratory beekeeping may be necessary to maximise the honey crop if you wanted to follow that route, so to speak. There's bound to be some oil seed rape around somewhere and heather in August would be a great bonus. But like meeting beekeepers you may need to move the bees a distance to find these. The problem is if you are surrounded by grass fields or wet moorland then bees may not be ble to thrive at all unless you take them to some food.

Can you give us an idea what the countryside around you has growing in it? This is potentially a much more critical factor than the type of hive or bee.

 

[Poly Hive]

It is quite possible to mod a poly Langstroth to Smith, it just needs some judicious cutting on a good table saw.

As a smith it will take 12 frames. Across the body of course rather than lengthwise.

When I ran them in tandem with Langstroth I used langstroth supers and excluders, and it was no bother at a'.

PH

 

[bee crazy]

"Membership in a clique is typically exclusive"

Couldn't be further from the reality. Some of us have been here for some time.

Some of us are willing to share what we know with beginners so as to help them avoid the more obvious pitfalls.

There is no clique on this forum that I am aware of.

Relax and enjoy a massive resource.

PH

ok ok no clique

i was just shareing what i felt as a new member

what i can say is since joining i have read some really good posts that have helped me alot and look forward to reading some more.

my intention was not to upset anyone (sorry)

 

[oliver90owner]

My apologies if the OP was put out. It was not intentional. Like I said earlier, a reply with a little humour and no intent fo anything else whatsoever.

RAB

 

[Hombre]

Think about it positively.You now know that the term hive and colony are not freely exchangeable. The lesson was memorable and so you won't need told twice. RAB saw the opportunity to correct terminology, which uncorrected would still perhaps be prevalent in six months time. As I stated at the time I agreed with him and still do.

Humour has a part to play in every day life, so learn to give and take a little bit, it lightens the day somewhat.

Welcome to the forum, where we only know one another from the comments, posts and opinions independently expressed over a period of time.

Abandoning forums because of an ill perceived injustice is akin to abandoning bees because of the occasional sting or a very bad day. Par for the course perhaps.

 

[Firegazer]

I agree.

RAB's posts always seem very good value to me. Sometimes a bit acerbic but I'd put that one at 'light tease' level.

Why don't you have 'Big Hugs' and move on - there's lots to learn up on and you'd be very ill-advised to miss out on this forum for that.

Just my opinion.

FG

PS Welcome to the forum - I live on a cold hill too and use Poly Langs.