bees on the beeb

[blackbrood]

interesting click. thanks for posting

 

[louiseww]

Very interesting, as a newbeek I was completely at a loss as to how this method could produce honey as there was no queen excluder and the comb would have eggs etc in it. But it does sound a good healthy leave them alone system which I favour! I was sorry to hear Carol say that the small swarm died - if they had been fed they might have survived and I know quite a few beeks who have nurtured casts through the winter and then got really strong colonies.
Where do you buy the gear from for this method, may try it next year?
Best
Louise

 

[Silly Bee]

Your local timber merchant should be able to fix you up with a bit of wood and a few nails.

There are some plans on here somewhere.

(It's not a difficult hive to make)

 

[Ely]

I noticed the guy on the video mentioned something about smoke triggering their alarm responce. Could that possibly be true? Surely it would defeat the objective?

 

[Hombre]

I noticed the guy on the video mentioned something about smoke triggering their alarm response. Could that possibly be true? Surely it would defeat the objective?

It is true. Smoke triggers the alarm response - The forest is burning, let's feed on honey and prepare to abandon the hive if it becomes necessary. Full bees are happy/less stingy bees.

 

[louiseww]

This thread has really stirred my interest in the 'more natural beekeeping'. Have signed up to the Natural beekeeping Trust for their newsletter. I will no doubt have a go next year but feel that this year I will continue as I am and hopefully keep my two colonies alive and kicking! But a third colony will probably be done this way and I will do a compare and contrast between the two methods.
Louise

 

[Dishmop]

It seems as if most people can see how easy it is to manage a hive of the type show in the clip, but I note that some cant seem to get to grips with not having a QE.

The Warre hive doesnt have to use a QE either.

You could use one I suppose but there would be no point.... the bees move downwards because that is where you put extra boxes.....
I guess that with a more commonly used hive like a national if you put the super underneath the brood box the bees will move downwards..

 

[Brosville]

QEs - in a Kenyan TBH, you'll get some brood comb, some that's mixed, and some that's all honey- you take the ones that are all honey (if you judge they can spare it)..... it's THAT simple!

 

[madasafish]

If I can build two TBHs and handle them, then anyone can.

 

[Dishmop]

If I can build two TBHs and handle them, then anyone can.

Theoretically.....

 

[tonybloke]

If I can build two TBHs and handle them, then anyone can.

how many years have you kept bees in TBH?

 

[madasafish]

This is my first winter...

 

[Crg]

" a productive healthy 'managed' hive is always better than a lazy keeper hiding behind a non-interventionist moral smoke screen"........ herrrumph!

It all depends what you mean by "productive" and "hiding" - I choose a very low-tech, non-interventionist (wherever possible) style of "management",

By non-interventionist do you mean you don't check for disease?

 

[tonybloke]

when the top bar brigade have had bees in their top bar hives for a few years, perhaps folk will give them a bit more credence?
feral colonies usually die out after 3 or 4 yrs, after all

 

[johnandyrob]

I have a friend who has had a feral colony for 18 years in her chimney it was there when she moved in Regards Andrew

 

[tonybloke]

the same one? or have there been winter die-outs and re-colonisation by swarms?

 

[johnandyrob]

As sure as I can be that it the same one Regards Andrew

 

[tonybloke]

they sound like ideal bees to breed from, if they are varroa resistant .?

 

[MuswellMetro]

they sound like ideal bees to breed from, if they are varroa resistant .?

anacdotaly on this form , i was suggested before that feral bees in chimneys being varroa free, it was suggested at one of my BKA seminars it was the old soot and sulphur made the bees clean themselves

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5583&highlight=soot+varroa