Bentham Bees

Talking to the local Beekeepers Association

2012-01-23T10:55:00.001-08:00

Before the talk I felt like I was going into the lion's den! I had no need to worry, though. The talk went well and although there were quite a few challenging questions there was a great deal of interest shown by the group.

I used the presentation that I have used before as a base to talk around and took along an empty hive to demonstrate. Although many of the questions were quite probing, all were presented in a friendly way. The hive attracted a great deal of interest and questions. Possibilities for manipulations were discussed extensively and some found it hard to believe that bees would work along a horizontal hive, as they have been told so many times that bees only go upwards to find honey!

The biggest compliment of the afternoon was to be invited to return next year to talk again and give an up-date on progress throughout the year!

Bottom Board Details

2012-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've had a request for more details of the bottom board that I use and how I count Varroa on it.
The board is just a plank with 8mm quadrant section beading attached around the edges, with the vertical side on the outside.

Bottom Board with Edge Beading

Length and width of the board are the same as the OUTSIDE edge of the hive bottom. A sheet of paper (graph paper makes counting varroa easier) can be cut to fit inside the lip of the board. I also wet the paper with olive oil, which holds it in position and sticks fallen varroa to it to prevent them from re-entering the hive. I've also just spread the oil onto the bottom board without paper, it tends to soak into the wood though.

To hold the bottom board in place I use a very simple, cheap method - 4 screws and 2 lengths of copper wire!

Entrance Side of Hive

Window Side of Hive

Screws with a plain (un-threaded) shank under the head are best to avoid damage to the wire. I wrap the wire 3 or 4 turns around the screw on the entrance side of the hive, and that never gets disturbed. On the window side, one turn of the wire is enough to hold the bottom board in position. Leaving the wire slack will lower the bottom board for ventilation, pulling it tight before twisting around the screw will close the bottom of the hive for cold / windy conditions.

I've heard of hinged bottom boards, but my fear is that hive rubbish and dead varroa will fall off before being checked.

I've found that the board can be held by pushing it gently with one hand against the hive bottom while releasing or attaching the wires, then both hands can hold it level for removing without dropping anything off of it.

Hope that is clear and helps. Please feel free to adapt this idea in any way you see fit.

Natural Beekeeping - A Beginner's Guide

2011-11-24T04:42:00.000-08:00

Well, after much prevarication and preparation, I took the plunge and invited a group of beekeepers and prospective beekeepers to join me for a discussion about Natural Beekeeping and using a Kenyan Top-Bar Hive.

The evening comprised a 30 minute presentation on Natural Beekeeping, that took much longer with the varied and challenging questions that needed to be answered, followed by a discussion of the making and management of a horizontal top-bar hive. I titled the presentation "Natural Beekeeping - A Beginner's Guide" as I am certainly still a beginner!

Including a short break for tea & snacks, the whole thing lasted almost 3 hours! Longer than I had planned, but no-one was getting impatient (visibly!) and the questions kept coming.

All appeared to have enjoyed the evening (including myself) and many asked to be included in future evenings. I can see this format being repeated for other beekeeping topics as interest and experience grows.

Next talk will be in the New Year to the Sedburgh & District Beekeepers Association. I'm expecting some more challenging questions there!

“Bees For Bentham”

2011-08-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone is becoming more aware of the plight of bees and other pollinators.

An acquaintance applied for a grant to promote the welfare of pollinators, and bees in particular, by giving away bee-friendly plants to anyone willing to grow them in their garden. The grant application was successful, and in April, a group of like-minded people gathered in the local pub (always a good place to talk!) to discuss how to go about this and the working name of “Bees for Bentham” was agreed.

Some of the grant money went towards buying a supply of compost from the local green waste recycling company and some seeds chosen from lists of bee-friendly plants (many available on the internet). Some of us then propagated the first batch of plants.

We have acquired posters, leaflets and information booklets relating to bees and some of the problems they face and what we can do about them from Neal's Yard, The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust and Biobees.com. A beautifully made banner has been put together by one of the team to attach to the stall we use.

Another local group called BEST (Bentham Environmentally Sustainable Town) were holding a “Garden Food Day” and we had a stall there giving away the first plants. Despite the weather (heavy rain all day) and having a stall outside (under a large canopy) we gave away and estimated 250 plants. Some local people have offered us plants and cuttings which we have given away from a stall at the Low Bentham Street Fair, along with more information.

An unexpected side effect of this has been questions raised about bee-keeping from people who are interested, but unsure of where to start, find the cost of equipment prohibitive, or haven't gotten around to following up on their interest. I've given them all my contact details in the hope that they will contact me, so that I can invite them all to an “Introduction to Natural Beekeeping” evening. I am currently putting together a presentation on this subject which I will use. I was asked to put it together for the Sedburgh & District Beekeepers Association, where a number of beekeepers have expressed an interest. If anyone else in the area is interested, PM me through the Biobees forum or use the Kontactr Me button to the left of the first post on the page.

Our stall in Low Bentham

UK's First Natural Beekeeping Conference

2011-08-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune to attend the first UK Natural Beekeeping Conference held near Worcester from 5th to 7th August 2011. The event was held at the seasonal conference centre created by “Green and Away”, a tented location on an old plant nursery site. The site is designed to have a minimal impact on the environment, having solar water heaters, solar and wind electrical energy, composting loos and wood fired, open-air showers!

The conference was organised by the natural Beekeeping Alliance, which comprises Friends of the Bees and the Natural Beekeeping Trust, represented respectively by Phil Chandler and Heidi Hermann. Speakers included - Phil Chandler, Heidi Herrmann, David Heaf, Adebisi Adekunle, Brigit Strawbridge, James Fearnley, John Harding, Andy Pearce, Nicola Bradbear.

As with all conferences one of the aims was to meet other, like-minded people. There was plenty of time for chatting during tea and meal breaks (and the food was delicious!).

The talks were all fascinating, and it was a joy to not be PowerPointed to death! There were demonstrations of all of the major natural beekeeping hive types, given by regular users (except the Perone hive, which was ably explained by Andy Pearce, who has obviously done an immense amount of research).

It is hoped that another conference will be held in two years (2013). I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Green and Away Camping Field

It's Been a While...........

2011-06-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

….... and there has been a lot happening!

Both of the hives have behaved in exactly the same way! After the split on May 6th I left the hives alone (apart from an occasional peep through the observation window) for 32 days. I expected to see evidence of a laying queen by then, but there was nothing other than agitated bees, one of whom decided that they no longer liked our postman and stung him on the ear!

That colony had to be moved before we would have mail delivered..... no bills? Tempting! My neighbours offered me a space in a corner of their field If I was willing to clear it of weeds and nettles. An afternoon of strimming and a morning of covering with landscaping fabric and bark chips and the hive was moved! Actually I think this is a better spot for the bees as it offers more shelter from the wind.

Advice was sought from the good folk on the Biobees forum. All agreed, queenless hives! I started to search for replacement queens. None could be found locally, so the net was cast further afield via Google. The most promising was from a bee keeper on the Wirral, which would include a round trip of 160 miles. At the eleventh hour, the deal fell through, the viability of the queens could not be guaranteed.

I was getting concerned that by the time queens were located it may be too late for the colonies to support the next generation of brood. Plan B? Find two nucleus colonies.

The day before the 240 mile round trip to Shropshire armed with my credit card, I thought it wise to check the hives again. 41 days after the split, still no sign of a laying queen in either hive, but no laying worker either. Suspicious!

Still, I bit the bullet and collected the nucs, arriving home mid evening I placed the nuc boxes on top of the hives they were to supplement. The weather that week-end wasn't good enough for a chop'n'crop, so they were quickly moved into borrowed national brood boxes, with top-bars placed in the space left. Next week-end the weather was good, so a quick check through the first hive for laying workers before the chop'n'crop and there are capped cells....... capped worker cells...... 49 days after the split that was three days after a swarm (when the queen cells would have been capped. OK, leave them for now and on to the other hive. Yes, more capped queen cells! These girls were slow to start laying!!!

So now I have four functioning colonies! How do I explain that to SWMBO? Happily I knew of someone nearby who wants to get a colony for a top-bar hive, so a quick phone call and a deal was struck! They are still in a National box on top of a top-bar hive at the moment. We had hoped to get them installed this week-end, but the weather is dire again.

My neighbours are happy to have a second colony in their garden, so I now have three. Result!!

Swarms and Splits

2011-05-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

The colony has been building up very well and I've struggled to keep up with them! After about 10 days of not being able to check through the hive because of work, weather and family, they swarmed. I wasn't too shocked, but a little disappointed. Hopefully the swarm has found a good home (hive or feral) and will survive. If they go feral, I hope they will provide plenty of swarms in the future, a good local supply of "survivor" bees.

On Friday afternoon, I took advantage of a break in the weather to go through the hive. There were still plenty of bees, brood and stores. As the hive was still so full I was concerned about cast swarms, especially as there were around a dozen capped queen cells visible! I took the opportunity to remove them from the conversion hive, doing a chop'n'crop (demonstrated here) to remove the frames, and split them between two new Kenyan Top-Bar Hives, one 3 foot (which will stay in the garden) and the other, 4 foot (which is being moved to a friends house where they will hopefully help pollinating his fruit trees.

The Three Foot Hive

I'm using a selection of top-bar designs in the new hives to see which works the best at preventing cross-combing. Cross-combing was beginning to become a problem. The last few combs were becoming more curved rather than full-on crossing the bars. Spacers between the bars was not helping. Most of these bars had just a wax filled kerf. You should be able to see in the picture that I have routed a chamfer on the edge of the bars to make a more complete barrier to cross-combing (I hope).

Waxed Kerf, V and Popsicle Stick

Now patience is needed again as I wait for the new queens to hatch, fly and mate, then start laying before I can be confident that all is well.

Early Season Inspection (the first!)

2011-04-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

A pleasant day, at last, that was good enough to open the hive. I'm pleased to say that it was all good news!

Plenty of stores left, brood at all stages, capped drone brood even spotted the queen (briefly). They seem to be expanding rapidly. All remained very calm throughout (although I was quite excited). One piece of crossed comb fell into the bottom of the hive (about 4 square inches). Upon removal, it contained honey that was almost ready for capping. Just enough for one slice of toast! Delicious! I'm looking forward to a little more soon!

Workers continued to fly from the entrance and most went below the bars as they were closed up. For the reluctant ones, I closed the bars up to a bee space, then used a piece of card to gently push them down, close the bars onto the card, remove the card then finally close the bars completely. All very easy and they didn't seem to mind.

A look in the debris on the bottom board showed a drop of 3 varroa mites over 5 days! No action needed!

Next objective will be to get them out of the conversion hive!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2011-03-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

We have had a few very nice days recently with temperatures reaching highs of about 15C.The bees have been flying frequently and returning loaded with nectar and pollen. The pollen was light yellow and orange and can be seen on the rear legs of some of the bees in the following video.

A brief check in the hive on Friday showed that they have plenty of pollen and honey stored with fresh nectar being brought in. Great news as this means they are raising young. The new season begins and all seems well with their world!

I could happily sit and watch them coming and going all day, but I had to drag myself away to make a start on the garden or we'll be short of vegetables this year! I could still hear them working though.....

First Pollen!

2011-02-26T01:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day this year that I have been at home when the temperature has reached 10 C. There was a pause in the rain too!

The bees were out and about. I assumed they were on cleansing flights, but some were bringing back some pollen!

A check of the locality and of my pollen chart showed that it was from Yellow Crocus (light orange colour). There are a few around in gardens, neighbours and ours.

I was surprised that they seem to have been flying around and over Snow-drops (pink pollen, loads of flowers) to get to the crocuses! I'm sure they know what they like, though.

Looks like a nice day coming today. Must get my camera out later!

New Roof

2011-01-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

I lifted the lid on the hive recently to check how it was standing up to the weather. There was a small amount of damp on the pillow case full of wood shavings I put on the top-bars for insulation. I'm pleased to say that it hasn't got through to the top-bars so the bees are fine and still humming away contentedly. I had been wondering about "upgrading" the roof from a paint finish, so now would be a good time!.

A search through Google turned up aluminium sheets that have been recycled form the printing industry at Fragile Planet. I have bought from them before and like their ethical stance with using recycled packaging when they send out purchases. These aluminium sheets are approximately 660 x 570 mm and have some print, possibly on both sides, according to the site, but I ordered 10 and they are all clean on one side.

The printing on one side of the sheets

The converter hive that the bees are currently in has a very wide roof and these sheets are not quite wide enough to completely cover the roof, but the gap is only about 1cm on each side and that is over the overhang of the roof! Two and a half sheets saw the bees protected by a new shiny roof!

The new shiny roof!

With the other sheets I've also covered the roofs of the two hives and two bait hives that I have built and are current stored in the garage. For each of these the sheets were large enough to fold over the edges of the roof to give really good protection to the wood.

A very productive Saturday afternoon!

Winter - Trying my patience!!

2010-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

The bees seem to cope with the cold better than I do! We've had about a month of below zero (C) temperatures now, which is unusual for England! Snow has caused disruption to rail and road travel, but I've still been able to get to work (an hour by road) :-(

There have been quite a few drones expelled from the hive since the snow started. It's a shame to see the bodies lying in the snow!

My first thoughts were that it was very late in the season for the drones to have been allowed to stay, but a post on the Natural Beekeeping forum soon elicited a response. It seems that as the colony was fed quite late into autumn, they tolerate the drones for much longer. I guess they see that food supplies are still coming in so the season isn't ready to change!

My neighbour has commented that a few still come out for a short flight around mid-day if the sun is on the hive, even when the temperature is around zero (C)! Hardy little girls!!

After work, although it's dark, I always walk over to the hive and with my ear close to the entrance I can still hear that wonderful contented hum, so I feel that all is well with them.

Winter - a time to be patient

2010-11-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

The first three weeks of November saw some frosty nights, but many of the days were sunny and warm enough for the bees to fly. A few had been spotted coming back to the hive with small amounts of pollen.

This week, winter has arrived with a vengeance! We've not had as much snow as the north east and Scotland, but now have around 6 inches laying in the garden and temperatures have plummeted to as low as -8 C at night and daytime temperatures barely make 0 C.

Now is the time to hope that they have stored enough honey to see them through the winter. I'd like to see them survive without any supplementary feeding, but not having had them when it was warm enough to check through the hive, I've no idea of how much they have. Just have to hope for a break in the weather at some point so that I can check, I guess.

It is reassuring to be able to hear their hum by listening at the entrance! I check every morning and evening at the moment....

Now to practice my patience!

Comb or Art?

2010-11-09T04:28:00.000-08:00

When I bought the hive, the previous owner had moved a piece of "problem" comb to the back of the hive. My better half is a science teacher and as soon as she saw it thought it would be good to show the children at school something of the secret life of bees.

She is now armed with this beautiful creation and a few dead bees (drones and a couple of workers) collected from outside of the hive. This and use of the school microscope will hopefully open the eyes of a few of the children to a fascinating new world!

Orientation Flights

2010-11-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Despite a cold, frosty start to the day, the sun came out and hit the hive. By mid morning the girls were out to play and looking around the garden. Lots of bees hovering in front of the hive, so they can recognize their new home, and gradually moving away in increasing circles. It didn't take long for them to disappear back in to the hive when the clouds came along!

Orientation Flights

Bees - At Last!

2010-11-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

During the swarm season the excitement rose as bees showed interest in the bait hive and the garden hive, then dropped as swarms failed to appear........ repeatedly!

August and the chance of a swarm gone, but another new beekeeper a few miles away thought they had some swarm cells and would I like one with some bees? WOULD I LIKE SOME???? Well, a more experienced beekeeper went to my friends hive to help harvest the swarm cells, but couldn't find a single swarm cell in the hive! Another disappointment!

This beekeeping is full of highs and lows!

We are well into autumn now and given up on the idea of getting bees, then, on the Natural Beekeeping forum a post offering a colony complete with a National to top-bar conversion hive, and only 10 miles from where I work! Contact made and a visit on November 1st. A few bees had been flying during the day and collecting.pollen. A colony of Carnolian bees installed from a nucleus in June and looking well. Almost no evidence of Varroa, but having a small amount of supplementary feed going into winter. Offer made, deal done.

I collected the bees on November 4th after work. The hive was sealed and put into an old duvet cover which was then tied shut. The journey home (50 miles) although nerve racking was uneventful. Soon after arrival the heavens opened and dropped a rain storm of biblical proportions! Result, the hive was carefully placed in the garage, the duvet cover removed and some syrup added to keep them going.

Next morning, the weather is cool, but dry. Upon opening the garage door I was greeted with a loud buzz. A closer listen and I could hear them chewing on the tape that was still over the entrance. After the final prep of the area, we carried the hive to it's new location.

Removal of the tape over the entrance resulted in a lot of bees coming out to see what was going on. Realising they were now in Yorkshire, not Lancashire, they started to circle to re-orientate. As the temperature wasn't great they soon started to head back into the hive and hang out at the entrance.

It wasn't long before the weather came back - it's now raining again and I'll have to revert to patience mode!

Feeding 2:1 syrup for a while to make sure they have enough stores to get through the winter. They were being fed by the previous owner, but I'll make a judgment if/when I can get into the hive for a brief inspection (weather being the issue at this time of year in the north-west of England!) or when they stop taking it.

As well as a first colony I also now have the conversion hive. An ingenious device that looks like a Kenyan top-bar hive but, at one end is a vertical sided box that can take 5 National frames from a nucleus. In their own time the bees can expand into the top-bar part of the hive. Bars can the be moved to a normal top-bar hive.

2010-05-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

At last the hive and bait hive are positioned and waiting for bees. Both are baited with lemon-grass oil and a pheromone phial.

I fear I am now a hive building addict; I've decided to build another hive in case I am lucky enough to get a swarm in the bait hive AND in the main hive. I always was an optimist!

There was a little bit of interest shown in the bait hive yesterday, so who knows!

Main Hive

Secret weapon to prevent ant access

Bait Hive location

I am also now on the list of two local swarm catchers. Keeping my options open!

Bait Hive

2010-03-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

The next step is to double my chances of catching a swarm, with a bait hive. It's built to the same design and dimensions as the main hive (Phil Chandler's design), but half the length, that's 18 inch sides instead of the 36 inch of the main hive. The roof is a single slope on this one, too.

The Bait Hive

This will have no legs, but will be placed a couple of metres above ground which is where the bees apparently (hopefully!) prefer their nest.

Just need to weather proof them both and I'm ready for bees!

Wax Guide for the Top Bars

2010-03-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

As previously described, I have now filled the Top Bar grooves with bees wax. The smell of honey as the wax was melting made the whole process worth while. I used a small pyrex (glass) beaker (an advantage of living with a science teacher) to hold the wax and placed it into a pan of boiling water to make sure that the wax didn't get too hot.

Melting the wax

Pouring the wax was a challenge. Not, as I expected, getting the wax into the groove, but just pouring it! Pyrex does not conduct heat very well, so despite containing molten wax, I could pick it up without any gloves or other protection. However, as the wax reached to cooler parts of the beaker, it set very quickly. As a result I was constantly returning it to the pan, scraping off the set wax and waiting for it to melt again. I must get a stainless steel jug for the next time!

Completed Top Bars

But what a delightful result! The colour of the wax against the wood combined with the aroma of honey and wax made it all worthwhile!

The Roof

2010-03-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

The roof needs to slope to cope with the British weather (rain!). I've decided to go with a ridge roof so that the water is not all shed on one side.

Complete!

Fortunately, I inherited a lot of strips of galvanized steel in the green house when I bought the house! One has been used to weather-proof the gap in the marine ply roof.

Just need to melt the wax into the top-bars, then coat the exterior with bee wax and linseed oil, then get some bees!

The Top Bars

2010-02-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

After much thought and research, I decided to spend extra time on the top bars in an attempt to discourage the bees from building each comb on more than one bar. This is necessary to allow the bars to be raised for inspecting.

View of the Underside of a Top Bar

The groove along the centre of the bar will be filled with bee wax. The bees should build their comb using this as a guide. As a secondary precaution, the chamfer on the edges of the bar will also help to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Using my trusty router, a full set of bars, plus a couple of spares, took about an hour to complete. Most of that time was used in setting and adjusting the router.

Looking like a hive!

2010-02-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight I've added the mesh varroa screen, cut a bottom board to size, put the legs on and cut the top bars to size.

It's looking like a proper hive now!

Must trim those bolts before someone walks into them!

Two decisions still remain to be made:

top bar shaping - I will have a wax-filled groove, but am also considering tapering the bars to the groove to (hopefully) encourage staight comb from the bees
roof design - ridged or sloping and what material, my usual construction methods result in robust but heavy!!

Time to think while doing other jobs over the week-end!

Construction

2010-02-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

After a few days of being busy with other stuff, I made a few hours to get to grips with construction. The hive building instructions from Biobees is easy to follow with good photos.

The end board shapes were marked and cut. Holes were then drilled through the legs and end boards ready for assembly.

Then I marked out and cut the shape of the follower boards. The top bars were then created with the use of the table saw to get the right size and attached to the body of the followers.

Next step is to assemble the body of the hive using the follower boards as a template to ensure the correct shape. Beginning to look like a hive at last!!

I have cut an opening into one side for the observation window. The window is perspex, sealed with wood adhesive and held in place with flat head pins through drilled holes in the perspex.

To save wood and for ease, I've decided to use the wood cut from the side to make the window opening to make the bulk of the window closer. It has an oversize cover over it to exclude all light and is hinged with slide bolts to hold it closed.

Hive inverted showing the cut-out for the window back in place to provide insulation

Hive the right way up showing the window cover over the replaced cut-out

Detail of window cover, hinges and bolt latches. Follower boards are visible through the window

Play by FoxSaver®

The Beeginning!

2010-01-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

The table saw arrived on time and was duly assembled. Screwfix are great! 18 hours from order to delivery!

The planks for the sides and ends of the hive are sawn to length and glued together and held with sash-cramps while the glue is drying (to be left for 24 hours).

The legs have been cut to length too.

I hope to make the follower boards soon, which will be used as a profile for the assembly of the main hive box. I think I'll make a spare follower to use as a template for further hives and for a follower/feeder.

Should be something worthy of a photograph soon!

The Plan

2010-01-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

So I fancy my chance at beekeeping.

I started with "an Introduction to Beekeeping" courtesy of the Lancaster Beekeepers Association in November 2009. Being impatient, I've been doing a lot of research on the interweb, and found biobees, the home of natural beekeeping! With all of the question marks around bee diseases and insecticide use, and being an organic vegetable gardener, I feel these principles are more sustainable and therefore the ones I'll try to follow.

I now have a pile of wood in my garage that will shortly be transformed into a "Kenyan Top Bar Hive" (KTBH) roughly following the Phil Chandler plans (Biobees) but with a few tweaks and extras. The main addition will be a viewing window with aim of entertaining the grandchildren.

This is how it should look when completed, except I will have side entrances (not holes in the end as seen here, but in the middle of the long side opposite the viewing window, which must have a cover to keep the hive dark!):

My bench saw arrives tomorrow, then battle will commence!

Coming soon - KTBH Construction