The Rose Hive Method

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Tim Rowe

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Hi Everyone - In case you're interested my book has just come out. All comments welcome.

www.rosebeehives.com/rose-hive-book.html

"Ordinary beekeepers everywhere are contributing to the huge pressures honeybees are under. Though well-meaning and hard-working, they are part of the problem that is causing a massive decline in the population of honeybees throughout the world."


"In this book Tim Rowe challenges the hives and the hive-management we all take for granted, and offers instead a simpler hive, a new management approach, and a better way of working with our bees.."
 
I think self promotion is frowned upon on the forum, so that is probably why it is obscured. I would like to know the background of someone who has written a bee book who appears ( from profile) not to keep bees
 
Rbh

according to his site has been a beek for 35 years with 100 hives.

however this would seem to qualify as advertising!

The UK bit isn't right either as he is in Eire.
 
Must have caught me on a good day........ I did a quick "Google Sherlocking" and found myself downloading and reading the first chapter of his book - on first acquaintance, he looks to be talking sense about "questioning traditional methods" and has the humility to admit he's searching for the best ways, and is not particularly claiming to have found the holy grail yet. I like the attitude, and will certainly put it on my "will get and read it when I have the spare funds" list..........:coolgleamA:
 
I just called my local independent retailer about buying this...to be told that despite the website claims - the book hasn't been supplied to the main book distributors so my local can't buy/sell it. A glitch in the system me thinks...
 
I have viewed the powerpoint presentation that is available on the site and a lot of it does seem to make sense. That is from someone who has no experience as yet but is looking to learn.

I should say that I have also looked at the book by Warre and can see some similarities whereby the brood box moves up and is replaced when it reaches the top.

Might put this on my to read list too.
 
Very interesting presentation, definitely keepers with Rose hives and keepers with Warre hives would find plenty to talk about. :grouphug:

One possible problem occurs to me. The method of spring build-up involves splitting the brood BIGTIME. Tim is located on the very SW tip of ireland- would this have a Scilly-isles type climate? I'm wondering how this method would transfer to the frozen north, eg Swindon?

Incidentally- why aren't they called Rowe hives?
 
Ordered my copy yesterday and sent Tim an email. He replied back to say there is a delay but advised me it could take 10-12 days before it will arrive.
Open and honest and very quick to reply.

Bros wrote
he looks to be talking sense about "questioning traditional methods" and has the humility to admit he's searching for the best ways, and is not particularly claiming to have found the holy grail yet

I will try out his method and see if it works for me in my area. It may, it may not. I have been a little sceptical about some of the claims I read about poly hives and listened to some "Conventional" bee keepers who warned against using them and now I have one from MB I think they are far superior to my wooden Nationals and Deep Nationals so Tim's method has some work to convince me not to give up on wooden hives with small boxes compared to poly Langs.

I look forward to reading his book.
:seeya:
 
Skyhook - my guess is that "Rose Hives" is a derivation of "Rowe's Hives" (and if you didn't know, Rowe is pronounced Roe). I know of an old cottage that is today called "Rose Cottage" but in the Original Griffith's Valuation carried out in the early 1800s, it was named "Rowe's Cottage".
 
Rose/rowes

a bit like the origin of the name Thin Lizzy:

Eric Bell settled on the name Tin Lizzy after reading the Dandy Comic (inspired by Eric Clapton & the Beano!) and also suggested they change 'Tin' to 'Thin' to play on the Irish accent's propensity to drop the 'h'. After a while, the band agreed to the idea and the name stuck, as they thought the confusion was amusing and would create a talking point.
 
Just seen this thread, will be getting the book, as a Rose hives user:.) Di:.)
 
The brood box is smaller than a National so you'll need two. Brother Adam did tests I recall * and confirmed that one big brood box will get more honey than two smaller ones.

*No I wasn't there, I read it!
 
Oh no, not another UK/ROI hive standard.

apparently they have also been standardised so that each box will hold 5kg of potatoes over winter.
 
The brood box is smaller than a National so you'll need two.

In his method no queen excluders are used so the bees use up as much space as they need. It is like the system I heard about in Denmark (though it is used elsewhere) with poly hives - no queen excluder and let them use as much space as they want. In the Danish case with full sized Langstroth frames in poly hives. I tried it in my own poly hives a couple of years ago but it was a pain unless all the frames were the same size. As full depth LS frames are too heavy when they come by the box full I switched to Medium depth frames (aka Dadant Shallow) throughout the hive and I am now in my second year. It has become my method of choice although I still have a few colonies on full depth frames for comparision. You need to give them two Medium hive bodies for the brood but this equates to a Jumbo Langstroth hive body or about the same also as brood and a half on Nationals - but without the disimilar frames. It is the same sort of idea as the Rose Hives but using conventional sized frames although I can see the attraction of the Rose Hive for those already using Nationals as floors, roofs etc are interchangeable. If starting from scratch I would recommend my method but both systems share the advantage of making easy increase as after the first honey crop there is a ready supply of drawn comb which you can give to a split colony and have the queen laying very quickly.
 
The brood box is smaller than a National so you'll need two. Brother Adam did tests I recall * and confirmed that one big brood box will get more honey than two smaller ones.

*No I wasn't there, I read it!

If that was aimed at me, though I dont see why it would be, I know, I am:.) I did check out the slide show etc before I decided to go the 'Rose hive' way:.)

Was also incredibly easy when I wanted to split my hive for increase:.) No messing around with different size frames and my bees seem not to be worried by it. Queen wanders around as if she owns the whole place (on 2 boxes) with brood upstairs and down stairs, she starts in one then moves on to the other and then back down again, very happy:.)
 

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