Dead loss?

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
over 25’ closer to 30 with the slope
Even a scaffold tower is going to cost £120 for that height (24-hour price, delivered, from NTH in Haslemere) so that's not really a useful option either.

As an aside, this weird website from a BBKA member suggests that it is illegal to cut down a tree without contacting first a registered beekeeper, but on another page shouts 'Do not contact a beekeeper!'.
 
Last edited:
Yes, but it's the challenge!
I have a four stage double width tower with stabilisers ... and integral steps ... but you would need a transit van get it there and someone to help erect it .. oh .. and help take it down as it's currently erected waiting for me to paint the gable of the house !
 
Even a scaffold tower is going to cost £120 for that height (24-hour price, delivered, from NTH in Haslemere) so that's not really a useful an option either.

As an aside, this weird website from a BBKA member suggests that it is illegal to cut down a tree without contacting first a registered beekeeper, but on another page shouts 'Do not contact a beekeeper!'.
I have a four stage double width tower with stabilisers ... and integral steps ... but you would need a transit van get it there and someone to help erect it .. oh .. and help take it down as it's currently erected waiting for me to paint the gable of the house !
As I’ve said I don’t think I’m going to attempt to take it down I’m just going to let them take their chances!
 
As I’ve said I don’t think I’m going to attempt to take it down I’m just going to let them take their chances!
A very wise decision ...if this mild weather continues through to spring they may have a chance - although a roof over the combs would help enormously as it is probably the rain that will decimate them ... however what they will probably need more is access to some fondant ... a plastic milk bottle filled with fondant and hung from an adjacent branch ?
 
I got a call this morning to go and look at a nest high in a beech tree. It’s 25’+ up so unlikely to be able to cut it down without breaking my neck but if I could find a ladder tall enough I was considering wrapping it in a big plastic bag.
Any thoughts?
View attachment 41709

View attachment 41710
Shame you are not closer, I have the climbing equipment to reach it,
May be worth speaking to a tree surgeon.
 
Someone mentioned feeding fondant outside of the hive, I was roundly chastised for such a thing and do I dare mention whether these girls have been treated. Imagine, they have lived a life of freedom to do as they choose and here people are discussing the poor mights, whoops slip of the tongue , and how they may be placed in a box. On a serious note, it does go to show that bees do not always make the best choices when choosing their own home. I also wonder if poor choices are made by those who come from bred bees when they swarm.
 
Someone mentioned feeding fondant outside of the hive, I was roundly chastised for such a thing ..
And rightly so .. at a time when there are likely to be loads of bees and wasps looking to raid open feeders ... but .. in mid winter, if these feral bees were starving and the fondant was hung next to the colony, in a poly bag with a bee size hole for them to get at it, it is doubtful that it would invoke the sort of calamity and potential risks you could see from open feeding in an apiary full of your bees.
 
I should say that the owners of the property are out of the country at present so I can’t actually get permission even if I wanted to do anything.
Their neighbours, who alerted me to their existence, say they are not the easiest people to deal with.
 
I
And rightly so .. at a time when there are likely to be loads of bees and wasps looking to raid open feeders ... but .. in mid winter, if these feral bees were starving and the fondant was hung next to the colony, in a poly bag with a bee size hole for them to get at it, it is doubtful that it would invoke the sort of calamity and potential risks you could see from open feeding in an apiary full of your bees.
I was wondering about the starving bit, all those combs, it would be interesting to know what they contained.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top