Still No Bees!

[James McAllister]

Hi everybody,

I am a new beekeeper still without bees. I live in the Costa Blanca in Spain, have a large garden and also a wood. I have already posted that I ordered a package of bees, but the company then informed me they were only now offering collection from their site which is 7.5 hours drive away. I was then in discussions within a Spanish beekeeper only to eventually be told that his frames were a different size and therefore he could not let me have any.

Everyone on this forum has been very helpful making suggestions all of which were sensible and appreciated. But if anyone knows someone, or, organisation in Spain close to Costs Blanca south that has some bees I would be very grateful for a contact. I am willing to travel a couple of hours to pick up.

 

[Antipodes]

Hi everybody,

I am a new beekeeper still without bees. I live in the Costa Blanca in Spain, have a large garden and also a wood. I have already posted that I ordered a package of bees, but the company then informed me they were only now offering collection from their site which is 7.5 hours drive away. I was then in discussions within a Spanish beekeeper only to eventually be told that his frames were a different size and therefore he could not let me have any.

Everyone on this forum has been very helpful making suggestions all of which were sensible and appreciated. But if anyone knows someone, or, organisation in Spain close to Costs Blanca south that has some bees I would be very grateful for a contact. I am willing to travel a couple of hours to pick up.

https://www.pestsrusspain.com/

Have you tried these guys to see if they have a swarm you could gather?

 

[James McAllister]

https://www.pestsrusspain.com/

Have you tried these guys to see if they have a swarm you could gather?

Thank you for this. I will try them.

 

[wightbees]

Try find packages
I googled these, any good ?

https://www.latiendadelapicultor.com/en/material-vivo/package-of-bees-12-kg.html

 

[James McAllister]

Try find packages
I googled these, any good ?

https://www.latiendadelapicultor.com/en/material-vivo/package-of-bees-12-kg.html

Thank you for this. But this is the company that was supposed to be delivering to me then changed their mind and asked that I come and collect them from Zaragossa over 7 hours away.

 

[admanga]

Hello James, I'd be very interested to follow your beekeeping progress.

I know well part of the Marina Alta region of Costa Blanca, but I've never seen a hive there. In the gardens of urban areas there are hardly any bees and how fruit trees get pollinated is a mystery. The lack of bees I would put down to excessive use of pesticide - palm trees get injected or sprayed five times yearly to keep them alive. In case pesticide is not a problem where you are, then ensuring a supply of water for the bees would be my next concern. Any standing water becomes a mosquito breeding ground, in fact slightly damp soil after a shower (or watering the garden) seems to be enough for the tiger mosquito to appear in droves. Did you plan a sustainable water supply that can go beyond a few weeks of travel elsewhere? Wasp are a pest around swimming pools, drinking from any splashed water, perhaps bees in desperation would do the same?

 

[Erichalfbee]

The lack of bees I would put down to excessive use of pesticide - palm trees get injected or sprayed five times yearly to keep them alive.

That's awful! Maybe that's the reason James has no bees....nor ever will?
Not quite the same but I remember doing a heck of a lot of research before Stan and I relocated from Cumbria. We looked at quite a few places that we I instantly dismissed because they were surrounded by fields of OSR.

 

[James McAllister]

Hello James, I'd be very interested to follow your beekeeping progress.

I know well part of the Marina Alta region of Costa Blanca, but I've never seen a hive there. In the gardens of urban areas there are hardly any bees and how fruit trees get pollinated is a mystery. The lack of bees I would put down to excessive use of pesticide - palm trees get injected or sprayed five times yearly to keep them alive. In case pesticide is not a problem where you are, then ensuring a supply of water for the bees would be my next concern. Any standing water becomes a mosquito breeding ground, in fact slightly damp soil after a shower (or watering the garden) seems to be enough for the tiger mosquito to appear in droves. Did you plan a sustainable water supply that can go beyond a few weeks of travel elsewhere? Wasp are a pest around swimming pools, drinking from any splashed water, perhaps bees in desperation would do the same?

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your interest. I am still beeless despite every effort to secure some. I am on every bee site possible and have now sent off to Amazon for a swarm trap gadget, so I will give that a go.
I have a very large garden here in the Costa Blanca and I am a very keen gardener; I also write a popular garden blog; check it out www.spanish-garden.com. I also own a small wood at the back of my house, so you can see that I am well set up for bees. But still beeless.

In terms of water, I have a largish water feature that is flowing constantly and would gives bees plenty of opportunity to drink, so that should be ok.

A friend has recently told me that there is a man selling honey at one of our local markets, and that he has a sign saying he will collect swarms from your garden, so I will contact him and see what happens.

In the meantime I am nipping back to the UK for 8 days so no doubt I will see lots of bees then.

I will let you know if I ever get any bees.

 

[Wilco]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your interest. I am still beeless despite every effort to secure some. I am on every bee site possible and have now sent off to Amazon for a swarm trap gadget, so I will give that a go.
I have a very large garden here in the Costa Blanca and I am a very keen gardener; I also write a popular garden blog; check it out www.spanish-garden.com. I also own a small wood at the back of my house, so you can see that I am well set up for bees. But still beeless.

In terms of water, I have a largish water feature that is flowing constantly and would gives bees plenty of opportunity to drink, so that should be ok.

A friend has recently told me that there is a man selling honey at one of our local markets, and that he has a sign saying he will collect swarms from your garden, so I will contact him and see what happens.

In the meantime I am nipping back to the UK for 8 days so no doubt I will see lots of bees then.

I will let you know if I ever get any bees.

Asking the honey guy sounds like a good shout. He may even be willing to advise/mentor too.

In terms of swarm traps you don't need to buy one- even the right sized cardboard box will work (approx. 40L and yes, I've tried this successfully). Use a few drops of lemongrass oil inside the box with location and entrance hole as per Tom Seeley's recommendations. If you put a few of these around you may well get a swarm.

 

[Peterjay]

I agree with the above.
You will kick yourself in a couple of years, for paying good money for bees once swarms start to find you.

 

[James McAllister]

Asking the honey guy sounds like a good shout. He may even be willing to advise/mentor too.

In terms of swarm traps you don't need to buy one- even the right sized cardboard box will work (approx. 40L and yes, I've tried this successfully). Use a few drops of lemongrass oil inside the box with location and entrance hole as per Tom Seeley's recommendations. If you put a few of these around you may well get a swarm.

Right, when I get back I am going to try this. I may turn out to be the swarm catching king of the Costa Blanca.

 

[Wilco]

Right, when I get back I am going to try this. I may turn out to be the swarm catching king of the Costa Blanca.

All the best with it. Also, once you have them you can always just buy in a different queen if they aren't well behaved.

 

[rampino]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your interest. I am still beeless despite every effort to secure some. I am on every bee site possible and have now sent off to Amazon for a swarm trap gadget, so I will give that a go.
I have a very large garden here in the Costa Blanca and I am a very keen gardener; I also write a popular garden blog; check it out www.spanish-garden.com. I also own a small wood at the back of my house, so you can see that I am well set up for bees. But still beeless.

In terms of water, I have a largish water feature that is flowing constantly and would gives bees plenty of opportunity to drink, so that should be ok.

A friend has recently told me that there is a man selling honey at one of our local markets, and that he has a sign saying he will collect swarms from your garden, so I will contact him and see what happens.

In the meantime I am nipping back to the UK for 8 days so no doubt I will see lots of bees then.

I will let you know if I ever get any bees.

Just a thought, James. If you are back in the UK would it be possible to take some bees back with you? I wonder what the rules are for export to the EU. Maybe you would have to have a certificate from a vet to say that they were OK. I presume you are flying which might mean that it is impossible.

 

[admanga]

Hello James,
I'm just back from a holiday in Marina Alta. I saw only one bee in two weeks. Delighted nonetheless. I did not see any hives, though I cycled around the countryside near Teulada, just within a radius of 10 km this time. Plenty of flowers in gardens, but the countryside looks barren at this time of year (no rain in many weeks or even a few months).

Out of curiosity, I did a websearch for beekeeping in that region. There is a beekeeping club near the Montgo mountain nature reserve (Denia). Also, I came across news items announcing beehives (Warre) placed on supermarket roofs, one in Benidorm and one near Denia. I hope the hives are shaded otherwise, they will be cooked.

 

[James McAllister]

Hello James,
I'm just back from a holiday in Marina Alta. I saw only one bee in two weeks. Delighted nonetheless. I did not see any hives, though I cycled around the countryside near Teulada, just within a radius of 10 km this time. Plenty of flowers in gardens, but the countryside looks barren at this time of year (no rain in many weeks or even a few months).

Out of curiosity, I did a websearch for beekeeping in that region. There is a beekeeping club near the Montgo mountain nature reserve (Denia). Also, I came across news items announcing beehives (Warre) placed on supermarket roofs, one in Benidorm and one near Denia. I hope the hives are shaded otherwise, they will be cooked.

Hi Eric,

Thank you for thinking of me when you were on your holiday. I hope you had a good time in Spain. Next time come and visit me, I would love to meet a real beekeeper. You are correct in saying we do not have many bees around here. I don’t quite know why. I have a very large garden and a small wood but it is not often that I see bees. Occasionally a particular flower will attract lots of bees. For instance Agave Attenuata which is a large agave that only flowers every 20 years and then dies. I have had a few of these flower and they are then covered in hundreds of bees, but again only every 20 years.

My garden is full of flowers and it is seldom I see a bee. I bought a swarm trap which hangs languorously from one of my trees and I have never seen a bee near it.
In the meantime, I am still beeless. I have moved my empty hive down into my wood and am all ready once I get some bees. My plan now is to wait till the year end and try and order a Nuc. I am still doing my online bee course and worrying about my bees swarming even though I haven't got any.

Thank you for your idea of buying some in the UK unfortunately I didn’t see this till I got home. Once again thank you for your interest I do appreciate that. Don’t forget, come and visit me next time.

 

[admanga]

(Admanga, not Dani)
The bees are there somewhere! They are visible when the orange trees are in flower, much earlier in the year. The motorway north towards Valencia is traversed by bees, lots and lots of them. Car windscreen got plastered with a sticky mess of bees and nectar, not easy to wash off.

 

[James McAllister]

(Admanga, not Dani)
The bees are there somewhere! They are visible when the orange trees are in flower, much earlier in the year. The motorway north towards Valencia is traversed by bees, lots and lots of them. Car windscreen got plastered with a sticky mess of bees and nectar, not easy to wash off.

You are correct. I have a number of orange trees and blossom time is Feb/March. I see lots of bees then but very few later. Funnily, I was at my English house in Rochester, Kent a few weeks ago. Right next to my house is a lovely little park. Some local volunteers had planted a sensory garden with herbs etc. when I went to look at this it was packed with bees. Yet just yards away were lots of park flower beds packed with thousands of Peligorniums and there was not a bee on any of them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

just yards away were lots of park flower beds packed with thousands of Peligorniums and there was not a bee on any of them.

probably F1 hybrids bred for colour and precious little else, they offer nothing to pollinators, they are just there to keep the great unwashededucated happy

 

[admanga]

You found a seller of bees with incompatible frames to your hive. If he/she had Layens, I would definitely consider starting with the Layens hive, which is supposedly the most popular in Spain. Very cheap too! The online sellers (e.g.Tienda apicultor, Apidroche, etc) sell painted (linseed oil) hives for as little as 60 Euros. Add a queen excluder and separator board and your almost good to go (select wax foundation or put wax lines on frame top bars).

 

[Wilco]

You found a seller of bees with incompatible frames to your hive. If he/she had Layens, I would definitely consider starting with the Layens hive, which is supposedly the most popular in Spain. Very cheap too! The online sellers (e.g.Tienda apicultor, Apidroche, etc) sell painted (linseed oil) hives for as little as 60 Euros. Add a queen excluder and separator board and your almost good to go (select wax foundation or put wax lines on frame top bars).

Or buy one, make an adapter board so it fits on the style of hive he has and let them migrate across.