Visitors to the Bee Yard

[Tremyfro]

http://s1045.photobucket.com/user/susiedj/media/image.jpg5_zpscw2kgavh.jpg.html?o=8
Here are some of our rescue chickens...wondering why the girls are still in bed!

 

[pargyle]

http://s1045.photobucket.com/user/susiedj/media/image.jpg5_zpscw2kgavh.jpg.html?o=8
Here are some of our rescue chickens...wondering why the girls are still in bed!

Very smart looking apiary .. rarely see mine without some bees out from the hives ... I'd get some garden netting on those fences to help keep the wind effect down ... even a biggish mesh will help and won't take the fences out when it really blows.

 

[Tremyfro]

Ah...all in hand...we have some rolls of 'stuff' to put up on the fence...and a palings fence to go across the front . There is a hedge on one side and the Bee Barn on the other. Best we can do for this winter. The plants will be put in but as you know...they take a long time to grow. The paddock below the Bee Yard is going to be an orchard.....there are, in fact, lots of trees and bushes but you can't see them....
This afternoon...all the bees were out in the sunshine. Gathering the HB.
We have 6 more rescue hens coming at the weekend...hence the old hen coop being pressed into use...I am putting on a new roof. It was really funny to watch the old hens investigating the coop...I wonder if they remember their time in it before progressing to the Omlet cube?

 

[Erichalfbee]

How do you get on with the MB hives?
I usd them for a couple of seasons then abandoned them for Swienty and Paynes without runners to give me top bee space.


.......before progressing to the Omlet cube?


OK, I own up. I think they are great and I have a purple one .
Hens roost in the trees or on the branches in their walk-in-run though and just lay in it

 

[Cussword]

Really nice. All very colourful

 

[Tremyfro]

How do you get on with the MB hives?
I usd them for a couple of seasons then abandoned them for Swienty and Paynes without runners to give me top bee space.


.......before progressing to the Omlet cube?


OK, I own up. I think they are great and I have a purple one .
Hens roost in the trees or on the branches in their walk-in-run though and just lay in it

Ha ha ....it took a bit of time for the hens legs to get strong enough....now they roost in a pile inside. My OH made the stepladder into a slope with rungs ...a bit longer too as they weren't able to jump up enough...now they scamper up and down!
I like the MBs except for the runners for the frames ...there is too much space to trap bees....the paynes ones are much better...and I like the porch for the bees to land on. The locating pegs on the bottom of the brood box are a nuisance .On the other hand it is easier to pick up the MBs with their handholds. Pros and cons for both I think.
I prefer the Beehaus...frame rails are great....just add a frame as required. No lifting off several large heavy supers to get to the brood. Now I have the insulation sorted. Next year I will be running 4 Beehaus.....and at least 1 Dartington. Just depends on how they go through the winter and how many colonies survive!

 

[Madge]

...The paddock below the Bee Yard ...

We have apiaries in Britain, Tremyfro. Or are you an American living in the Vale of Glamorgan?

A very lovely apiary!

 

[BrianO]

Well done on a neat, and smart looking setup, makes beekeeping all the more enjoyable !

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I have a purple Cube too (and a green Eglu aka the retirement home).

I daren't get a Beehaus my mentor is very old school ,his face was a picture when my daughter asked him what he thought about plastic hives....if she hadn't been so young he might have said 'bad words' (she told me afterwards she thought he might explode).

I love the whole pastel hive look, looks very pretty.

 

[Thymallus]

mentor is very old school ,his face was a picture when my daughter asked him what he thought about plastic hives....

I think you very neatly summed up one of the main problems affecting "modern beekeeping".

 

[Tremyfro]

We have apiaries in Britain, Tremyfro. Or are you an American living in the Vale of Glamorgan?

A very lovely apiary!

Thank you....I lived in the USA for a number of years...Georgia.....got used to calling them Bee Yards...well anyway...a garden was a yard too. Partly nostalgia...partly for the grandchildren...its part of our family culture.

 

[oliver90owner]

I like the 'canadian style' barn/shed. I have some plans for one but will adjust them for a non-standard size. Much nicer than most of the normal UK shed designs, IMO.

Just remember that bees and chickens do not always go together too well in confined spaces.....

 

[Tremyfro]

I have a purple Cube too (and a green Eglu aka the retirement home).

I daren't get a Beehaus my mentor is very old school ,his face was a picture when my daughter asked him what he thought about plastic hives....if she hadn't been so young he might have said 'bad words' (she told me afterwards she thought he might explode).

I love the whole pastel hive look, looks very pretty.

Mrs W...you simply can't let people bully you like that...if you desire a Beehaus to keep your bees in...then do it. It's just a hive...admittedly a large hive...but that has its uses. It is only by trying things that we find out what we like.....bet your mentor would love one once he used it and found he didn't need to lift off 3-4 supers each time he inspected his hive. You can also use supers...but they are half size so not so heavy and of course you just lift them sideways onto the other half of the Beehaus. AS manipulations are easy too...just slide the brood nest over to the other half...find your queen....put her back in the original side with new foundation etc. and they come in lots of colours...not all to my liking so I have painted some of mine to blend in with my pastel theme...he he....
I read everything I could before getting my first one. I have found that almost everything I read was untrue or vastly exaggerated or a very slanted view or ill informed. Now I have 4. I still have my nationals too. So no worries about being able to move bees if I had to. However, I can inspect my Beehaus without help but I have to have someone to help me with the lifting with the upright hives.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just remember that bees and chickens do not always go together too well in confined spaces.....

lost two hewns to bee attack last month

 

[Tremyfro]

I like the 'canadian style' barn/shed. I have some plans for one but will adjust them for a non-standard size. Much nicer than most of the normal UK shed designs, IMO.

Just remember that bees and chickens do not always go together too well in confined spaces.....

I was really lucky..I saw it advertised ....they even dismantled it for us...mind you it was touch and go as to whether it would go in the trailer! Just managed it by a whisker! Inside there is a high deep shelf across the back...ideal for storing empty supers etc. so it's secondhand but much loved by the previous owners and now by us. They also gave us the worktop and we were given some kitchen floor cupboards. So lots of storage.
Our chickens are totally free range...its most unusual to see them in the Bee Yard...hence the photos. We let them out in the morning and they roam around everywhere....amazing how they appear as soon as you open a stable door! They love to scratch up the bedding. They must be watching our every move! So far they seem to coexist without problems...but it is easy to move the coops around...we do that regularly to stop heavy poaching and for mowing.
Mostly the bees flight lines take them high above and off across the fields. It's not really clear by the photos but the ground drops away as you pass through into the orchard area.

 

[beeno]

Hi Tremyfro,
I like the barn style building too. Where can one get one of those?

 

[Tremyfro]

lost two hewns to bee attack last month

Gosh! Did you really? How did that happen? Were the bees a nasty lot?

 

[Thymallus]

Normal Welsh natives.

 

[Tremyfro]

Hi Tremyfro,
I like the barn style building too. Where can one get one of those?

It's made by a company called Taylor's Sheds. Or google up dutchbarn style sheds....there are other companies which make them but no others with the window at the front. Be ready for a shock at the price! Glad mine was secondhand.
The style reminded me so much of the barns I saw in America out in the countryside. To be involved in a barn raising is something special.

 

[deanrpwaacs]

Build one . I built mine