Hello - Newbee introduction

[kevin1960]

Hello Everybody,

Normally I contribute to technical fora where I help others with their queries, but having been bitten by the bee-keeping bug, I am for the first time out of my depth! It's a good feeling actually and I am sure I will enjoy the journey.

I do a fair bit of charity work and I live in the middle of god-knows-how-many-acres of rape fields and so I intend to donate my honey to this. I am time-rich and cash-poor so I will be building my hives. As much work as it might sound, I think I'd to be able to donate around 200 small jars (250g/0.5lb) bulked out with some beeswax.

I would also like to do my bit to help the plight of the bees just now at this awful time of declining numbers.

I promise faithfully I will read the faqs and the basics for beginners - but my first quick read didn't answer my questions:

- what determines the beehive size in terms of length and width and the slats sizes, please?

- I imagine beekeeping for around ten years or so. I am incredibly bad at diy so when I start building my hives I will build enough 'spares' to replace parts that will need replacing. What in your experience are the parts that I need much more of, please?

- I have around 100m2 of garden spare. What kinds of bush/shrubs can I plant around the perimeter/edge of my garden that my bees can use, please?

- lastly, the how-long-is-a-piece of string question (sorry) - what sort of capacity of hive(s) do I need to collect around 110lb of honey (exc wax), please?

Many thanks for reading me - and I promise to be reading the basics!

Kevin

 

[oliver90owner]

kevin1960,

First, welcome to the forum.

I am getting the impression that you will be a 'top bar' type?

Without a bit more info, here are a few extra facts that may help.

A bees broodnest is ideally spherical, but is rarely ideal when well advanced. The honey storage area is a different matter and varies with the type of hive.

I have needed no 'spares' for any of the hives I have built/assembled over the last ten years. There is a turnover of 'consumables' and I include frames in this category. I am, however replacing the bits that I started with - not sure how old some were when I got them!

Two colonies would likely provide 50kg of honey, but that figure may be subject to +100% or -50% quite easily. Indeed there may not be any surplus some seasons, or even a 'negative' amount!!

Regards, RAB

 

[beeboybee]

welome to the forum kevin1960

 

[freethorpe bees]

Welcome to the forum - you will find it invaluable, I do! As a newbie I'll leave the more experienced to answer your questions.
FB

 

[kevin1960]

Thank you both Oliver and BBB for the welcome - I appreciate it. (e2a: and freethorpe who replied at the same time as me!)

I haven't yet settled for a hive type, but I imagine that I may well go for a top bar type.
Your answers (Oliver) are common-sense thank you but I needed to be told that to get my head on the right way round - thanks for your kind patience with me. I have just come into a few bee-keeping books (pdf's) and I'll be reading those over the next few days.

Thanks for the super-quick repies and welcome - and I'll pop back in a few days when I know a bit more (actually quite a bit thanks to the 'stickies' that I have been reading here).

Thanks again guys

 

[beeboybee]

try a website called "dave cushman" full of good drawings and plans for various hive types, found it good when i started out and also looking at some beehive manufacturers was helpful too see photos of hive types.

 

[hedgerow pete]

hi and welcome to the forum, one of us will know the answer to any question , but you will proberly end up with three answers to one question,

now as for hive sizes, again thats sizes not types

starting off with the basics,
queenie lays so many eggs a day, after she has layed the eggs they occupy the cell untill fully developed and its been cleaned out so we now need a quuenie days worth of eggs times a month (28 days ish) so we now know that certain types of bees lay roughly so many eggs per day .

so what we have now ended up with a cell count per choosen box shape

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=856

this thread lists the general types of hives we use in the uk, but not everyone is listed but please dont go and try to redesign a new hive type as they soon prove to be a waste of effort, try looking on the dave cushman site as he lists most hive picture or try looking on the web,

try to decide on a hive in this order, ( iam sure some one would change the list around but it works for me)

small number of hives, say under 4 number

1, looks
2, practicality
3 commonaly avalible parts
4 cost

ok so lets look at them again.

to me personaly nothing is more bee like than a WBC hive painted white and proudly diplayed in the garden, yes they are awkward to open having two parts to every lift but who cares a few of these wont take to long to go through and they are beautiful to look at, mine have inside a 12" by 14" brood box of the national size so the queen has plenty of room to spread about in and three supers and lift will be ok to get you going.

practicality, lets look at a single walled hive, a national, langstroff, etc all are brilliant hives can be painted any colour very easy to use, simple to build , and everyone uses them and parts and bits are eassily avalible to buy if you wish.

common parts, heres a sticky point, most beeks use a limited number of parts and hive styles so , say you go out and buy a hedgerow pete, aardvark hive , you would find it very hard to buy parts and frames from anyone but me and also at my costs, so try to decided on one style and stick with it, also if you have say three hives at home, dadant, wbc and a commercial you would not be able to swap frames or bits from one hive to another, so choose one sort and go for it

costs, i do this last because as you are going to build your own hives i have missed out poly hives and such like and since you are going to make them you can either as like me go for cheap timber and a cheap finished product or brilliant timber and a brilliant hive finsh.

lastly can i just point out that if you were to add up the cost of tools, time, effort, fixings etc , you might be better off talking to the many fine and talented hive makers on this site that do it for a living, the costs are higher but the time spent is well worth it for a properly made hive in beautiful ceder or any other wood you want,

and lastly we must mention the top bar hive, now these are not my thing but there is a tbc forum here on this site and these people would be a lot better to talk to than someone sat wearing sequins whilst typing, dont ask but watch the videos.

weclome to our world , pete

 

[freethorpe bees]

Sequins Peter? Blimey!

 

[Rosti]

Crikey Pete, you been on a speed typing course? !#!#!



oh, by the way

 

[Hombre]

Not only that Rosti, but look at the quality. Pete has either got to spell checking or something. A big improvement over the last couple of years in terms of spelling and grammar.

They aren't sequins Pete is wearing, it's gold stars from his English (French?) teacher.

Now you know that there isn't anything to beat a full English to start the day off properly, unless it's after a bit of French of course.

 

[Brosville]

Hello and welcome! I think the first choice to make is that of hive - broadly speaking there's 2 main "types" - the conventional "framed" hives like WBC and Nationals, or what are usually known as "top bar hives" of which the best known are the Kenyan top bar hive, and the "Warré" - both of which can be built from free downloadable plans (and can be built by a woodworking klutz - I've managed so I'm sure you can!) - if you don't want or can't afford to spend a fortune it can be accomplished very cheaply (I've got 4 colonies, 3 TBHs, a Warré, and most of the equipment I'll ever need for a total outlay of circa £150).
I'll not pretend that one of the top bar hives will maximise honey production, they're built with other priorities in mind, but they certainly work well and are a good cheap way into beekeeping!
There's lots of friendly help available on this forum - read everything you can on the subject, choose the hive type, and then get building!

 

[tonybloke]

Welcome to the forum!
if a large honey crop is what you are after, then a Top Bar Hive is not the way to go!
have you 'been around bees' at an apiary, with the top off of a hive full of bees, yet? it's always a good idea to find / locate a local beekeeper, or association, go and have a proper 'hands on' experience with a couple of hive types before you even think of making up your mind on hive type!


rgds, Tony

 

[Queens59]

WELCOME!! Having been keeping bees for a season - your questions are....already more technical than I can help with...so GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

[MuswellMetro]

There's lots of friendly help available on this forum - read everything you can on the subject, choose the hive type, and then get building!

Bros

little help please to an old groan

Two newbies i know want to go TBH and i have no idea on how TBH fare in OSR areas with crystalised OSR Honey etc

they have small holding and are surrounded by acres of winter OSR on a three year rotation and some summer linseed , their main forage is going to be OSR and some local gardens as the small holding is an oasis in a mainly mono culture desert in a rotation of 1/3rd osr, broadbeans, wheat

any advice or views would be welcome, unfortunately they are not on the internet ,so i said i would ask on the forum

Do they just melt off the wax and cream the osr

 

[newportbuzz]

Bros


Do they just melt off the wax and cream the osr

tis called honeycomb toffee

 

[Brosville]

I honestly don't know how they'd get on with OSR honey - round here the main crop is horses!
I think they'd probably do fine, especially if they go the relatively crude "crush and strain" route - my "down and dirty" extraction involves a large glass bowl and a sharp knife - cut the honey-laden comb from the top bar and then sit with the bowl on your lap and cut it to pieces until you've got a mix of wax and honey (some people literally just crush it with their fingers) - pour into a sieve over a large container on a sunny windowsill, cover loosely with clingfilm and leave it to drip for a day or three......... bottle the honey, wash the wax (some use the washings for cooking), then bung the wax in a solar melter (or however takes your fancy...) - THAT simple, and it produces lovely honey!

 

[MuswellMetro]

thanx Bros

 

[louiseww]

Welcome Kevin
Have you thought of joining a local group to learn - it doesn't cost much if you don't have bees yet - ours is £10 per year.
Also have you checked out the price of bee hive parts on fragile earth - they do plywood bee hives that don't cost much - if you think how much you will be spending on wood and tools it may be worth it.
Best
Louise

 

[madasafish]

Hi Kevin and welcome..

I went down the topbar route as Bros outlined and can confirm if you use recycled wood it is VERY cheap.. And easy to do. And free plans.

But as others have said, join an Association and learn what bees are like first.. and get stung.

No point inspending time if you are allergic to bee venom or find you do not like handling bees.

I did that in March 2010, by April decided I wanted to keep bees and by June had two home built Top Bar Hives. So far, my bees have survived!

So even doing some practical research will not slow you down at all... and in reality will help a lot..

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Welcome Kevin.

My tuppneyworth - In many cases Top Bars can be the right route to go down, but I'm not sure that amassing lots of honey is one of them.

By all means evaluate them, they have a lot of very satisfied, almost evangelical owners, but also be aware that the vast majority of beekeepers in this country, for many different reasons, use the more conventional hives.