Hi I'm Emma, I'm a new beekeeper but I'm a bit renegade. I'm hoping to catch swarms and house in skeps for preservation beekeeping. Here to learn!
New renegade beekeeper Stirlingshire
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Sure. Bee tender then 
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what's that supposed to mean?
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it's supposed to mean not taking the honey. clearly a poor choice of words so I changed it to 'bee tender'
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Hi Emma and welcome again. It's very difficult to not take honey because the bees produce more than they need.
When they run out of space they swarm. They also die (usually) of varroa if you don't look after them
If you want to have bees in your garden then put a large box up in a tree and leave it alone. Leave the bees to their own devices.
I have one. The colonies wax and wane but I do get swarms from them to add to my apiary.
When they run out of space they swarm. They also die (usually) of varroa if you don't look after them
If you want to have bees in your garden then put a large box up in a tree and leave it alone. Leave the bees to their own devices.
I have one. The colonies wax and wane but I do get swarms from them to add to my apiary.
OP
Thank you. Yes, I've done a beekeeping course and read some books so I take on board what you're saying. I'm actually looking to do just that. To do tree boxes. I'm working with my neighbour on that as he's very handy with wood. The beekind bee hive maker in England is amazing but I couldn't possibly afford his hives
I appreciate your feedback. I've been reading a whole number of threads here over the last hour and I can see your input is very helpful and friendly.
I appreciate your feedback. I've been reading a whole number of threads here over the last hour and I can see your input is very helpful and friendly.
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Hi Emma,
Firstly, honey bees are not in any need of preservation - the vast majority of honey bee colonies in the UK are housed in hives and looked after by responsible beekeepers. Our honey bee populations are, therefore, well cared for, monitored for disease and varroa infestation and on the whole are doing very nicely.
Stirlingshire still has plenty of places that wild/feral colonies of bees can inhabit (I know the area) and I rather fear your desire to help them is misplaced.
If you want to become a beekeeper you really do need to 'keep' the bees - and there are plenty of ways to keep bees responsibly and a variety of hive formats in which to do it. Skep beekeeping largely died out as skeps are not the ideal home for modern bees which have developed/evolved into much larger colonies than the average space a skep will provide. So, they will swarm and swarming, even in your location where there are still natural cavities, could end up with a swarm taking up residence in your neighbour's chimney or a hole in the eves which, to say the least, is antisocial and could be described as irresponsible beekeeping.
If you have completed a course and read a few books I'm not intending lecturing you on how to keep bees but if your sole objective is to help bees then concentrate your efforts on helping the other pollinators which are in trouble- solitary bee, bumbles etc. Site some bumble bee boxes and homes for leafcutter bees. Plant pollinator friendly plants in your garden and enjoy watching the plethora of insects that will come as a result.
Have a look here at what you can do:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/how-identify-bumblebees
Forget helping honey bees - they really don't need any help. If you decide to become a real beekeeper then you are in the right place here - lots to learn, people to provide advice and a whole variety of options for keeping bees ... I see you've already had a look at some of my posts so you know already that I'm a bit off the wall with my beekeeping... but I'm still a beekeeper and not just trying to keep bees.
Have a think about what your intentions are and perhaps reconsider where you are going in your beekeeping journey - honey bees are fascinating creatures and it's a wonderful hobby. If you really want to keep bees but don't want masses of honey or the paraphanalia you need to extract it .. and you have a friendly person with some woodworking skills ... consider a Long Deep Hive. Google Robin Dartington or the Dartington Hive and have a look here at what you could have in your garden (this was my first hive):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99514363@N06/albums/72157634865981506
Or if you really want something cheap and simple have a look here at the Zest Hive:
https://www.thezesthive.com/
Firstly, honey bees are not in any need of preservation - the vast majority of honey bee colonies in the UK are housed in hives and looked after by responsible beekeepers. Our honey bee populations are, therefore, well cared for, monitored for disease and varroa infestation and on the whole are doing very nicely.
Stirlingshire still has plenty of places that wild/feral colonies of bees can inhabit (I know the area) and I rather fear your desire to help them is misplaced.
If you want to become a beekeeper you really do need to 'keep' the bees - and there are plenty of ways to keep bees responsibly and a variety of hive formats in which to do it. Skep beekeeping largely died out as skeps are not the ideal home for modern bees which have developed/evolved into much larger colonies than the average space a skep will provide. So, they will swarm and swarming, even in your location where there are still natural cavities, could end up with a swarm taking up residence in your neighbour's chimney or a hole in the eves which, to say the least, is antisocial and could be described as irresponsible beekeeping.
If you have completed a course and read a few books I'm not intending lecturing you on how to keep bees but if your sole objective is to help bees then concentrate your efforts on helping the other pollinators which are in trouble- solitary bee, bumbles etc. Site some bumble bee boxes and homes for leafcutter bees. Plant pollinator friendly plants in your garden and enjoy watching the plethora of insects that will come as a result.
Have a look here at what you can do:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/how-identify-bumblebees
Forget helping honey bees - they really don't need any help. If you decide to become a real beekeeper then you are in the right place here - lots to learn, people to provide advice and a whole variety of options for keeping bees ... I see you've already had a look at some of my posts so you know already that I'm a bit off the wall with my beekeeping... but I'm still a beekeeper and not just trying to keep bees.
Have a think about what your intentions are and perhaps reconsider where you are going in your beekeeping journey - honey bees are fascinating creatures and it's a wonderful hobby. If you really want to keep bees but don't want masses of honey or the paraphanalia you need to extract it .. and you have a friendly person with some woodworking skills ... consider a Long Deep Hive. Google Robin Dartington or the Dartington Hive and have a look here at what you could have in your garden (this was my first hive):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99514363@N06/albums/72157634865981506
Or if you really want something cheap and simple have a look here at the Zest Hive:
https://www.thezesthive.com/
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OP
Thanks pargyle. Boy, do I regret using the word preservation, which is why I changed it.
Yes, I do want to keep bees for the sake of keeping bees and I love the skep. I'll check out the other hives you suggested.
" I'm still a beekeeper and not just trying to keep bees."
Yes, I've taken a look around some of the threads. The forum has some good information I'm wading through. I can see there are lot of opinions here so I'm taking time to take on board and align with my own style.
Thanks for your input.
Yes, I do want to keep bees for the sake of keeping bees and I love the skep. I'll check out the other hives you suggested.
" I'm still a beekeeper and not just trying to keep bees."
Yes, I've taken a look around some of the threads. The forum has some good information I'm wading through. I can see there are lot of opinions here so I'm taking time to take on board and align with my own style.
Thanks for your input.
OP
Hi Kate, yes, I watched that. It's fascinating, isn't it? That expertise sadly dying out if not already dead these days...
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That's because it's no longer really viable beekeeping ... or indeed even bee having !
I'm not saying that straw is not a good medium to construct a hive from .,, bees were kept in straw skeps for centuries but in our climate were usually protected in boles. The main problem is that traditional skeps are just not big enough for modern bees and even when they were used they were single season bee containers. At the end of the season the bees were turfed out of the skep in order that the honey they had stored could be harvested the bees being left to fend for themselves and probably die. The skeps would then be used to collect new swarms at the beginning of the next year and the cycle started over again. Bear in mind that skep beekeeping was mainly a backyard enterprise to provide sweetening when cane sugar was not widely available. You should also recognise that there were also many more wild colonies of bees in those days and prior to 1913 were predominantly AMM's ... small black bees which lived in smaller colonies. But things have moved on ...
There are a few people still using straw in hive consruction but they need to be protected from the weather in the UK and they can be a bit of a fiddle to make and maintain. Have a look at the Sun Hive ...
https://www.bethgirdlerbees.com/single-post/2016/07/07/the-sun-hive-a-functional-work-of-art
But... they are still small hives and will swarm regularly - not to mention other disadvantages of which there are many.
rossbyjove
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Look up bottle beekeeping on YouTube.
Very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bottle+hives
OP
Yes
I love the idea and simplicity. Looks to have a lot of promise if he can do more testing on the concept.
@pargyle thanks for that. The sun hives are stunningly beautiful.
yes, I saw Advoko’s video when it was first released. I actually did a search for the exact video on the forum yesterday because I figured someone would have shared it here but I couldn’t find it.
I love the idea and simplicity. Looks to have a lot of promise if he can do more testing on the concept.
@pargyle thanks for that. The sun hives are stunningly beautiful.
rolande
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I'm not going to suggest you don't follow your intended plans but I would suggest that you get at least one standard hive (of any type to suit) because you'll find your comprehension of what's going on in all of your hives increases much quicker by being able to learn from inspecting at least some of them regularly. It's possible to observe stuff from the outside activity of course but in the early years, without deeper knowledge of what's going on inside you'll find yourself too reliant on other people's interpretations.Thanks pargyle. Boy, do I regret using the word preservation, which is why I changed it.
Yes, I do want to keep bees for the sake of keeping bees and I love the skep. I'll check out the other hives you suggested.
" I'm still a beekeeper and not just trying to keep bees."
Yes, I've taken a look around some of the threads. The forum has some good information I'm wading through. I can see there are lot of opinions here so I'm taking time to take on board and align with my own style.
Thanks for your input.
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I think they had more sense
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The reality is that honeybees will live in just about anything the beekeeper wants them to live in ... whether they do it successfully and for any length of tme is another rmatter. There are wackos all over youtube trying to convince us that their 'new' idea is the best thing in beekeeping since Langstroth developed the framed hive ...the reality is that the vast majority of these hive ideas are just ... destined for failure. If it works ,,, don't try and fix it !
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The issue I see and many others will also see is that being just a keeper of bees rather then a hands on beekeeper who manages their bees, is location.
In a urban area one may be ok with swarms and bees absconding, in a suburb local one may not be popular with neighbours as well as nearby beekeepers. Habitat/homes for large swarms are scarce in to days world in the UK but man made homes aren't.
One really needs to think about all aspects that may entail.
I keep managed bees. also plant for pollinators in my garden and have various bee hotels for solitary bees. Last year I had a large bumble bee nest on the shed floor where they made use of an old cardboard box (not the only bumble nest I had as I found two more nearby under another shed and one in the ground, I left it all year for the full cycle and only cleared the mess up a few weeks ago when I cleared the shed out. Last year I kept an eye on the shed bees all year and was pleased to see so many queens and drones emerging, I physically helped a lot out as they were attracted to the warmer window and simply buzzing up and down. Leaving the door opened also helped.
In a urban area one may be ok with swarms and bees absconding, in a suburb local one may not be popular with neighbours as well as nearby beekeepers. Habitat/homes for large swarms are scarce in to days world in the UK but man made homes aren't.
One really needs to think about all aspects that may entail.
I keep managed bees. also plant for pollinators in my garden and have various bee hotels for solitary bees. Last year I had a large bumble bee nest on the shed floor where they made use of an old cardboard box (not the only bumble nest I had as I found two more nearby under another shed and one in the ground, I left it all year for the full cycle and only cleared the mess up a few weeks ago when I cleared the shed out. Last year I kept an eye on the shed bees all year and was pleased to see so many queens and drones emerging, I physically helped a lot out as they were attracted to the warmer window and simply buzzing up and down. Leaving the door opened also helped.
OP
Yeah, I guess if you know you're going to be vilified for posting something you'll think twice
OP
Interesting. I'm sure you're not suggesting Advoko is a wacko, though? If you are then I find that very peculiar.
Yes, there are people over YT sharing what they're doing and I guess some ideas are creative but won't work. Nothing wrong with trying new approaches in my opinion. Lots of new ideas coming out that probably will catch on.
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