Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

These are some links to useful bee keeping sites.

As someone who just inherited a hive, I have found these to be invaluable.
http://www.backyardhive.com/blogcategory/0/

and

http://www.biobees.com/index.php?blog


both of these sites have freely downloadable plans for building a different style of hive, which looks a lot simpler and easier to manage.

anyway - we need bees for our plants to pollinate well, so have a look.

Aj

Yes the top bar hive is what Im going with in the spring...

mother earth news online has a pdf with step by step instructions to build one

http://www.motherearthnews.com/uploaded ... r_hive.pdf

jT

Yes, this is the same one from one of my sites - it is ok tho, as the more places we can get em is better for all.

You can find some beekeeping documents in the CD3WD collection:
http://cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/cd3wd/index.htm
You'll have to use your browser's search function (ctrl-f) though.

Some more documents (pdf):
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/agrs93.pdf
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/M ... tarted.pdf
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/beekeeping.pdf

Awsome - Thanks!!!

I'm about half way through building the Warre Hive, I have two boxes, the roof and quilt made up. I'm going for about five boxes on this hive.

I'm using recycled Oak so it's taking some time as I have to clean up the wood, laminate it to thickness then cut to right dimensions for the individual boxes.

I got the plans from this site, http://thebeespace.net/ he also has construction details there as well.

Hey ajajaj, Do you have contacts as far as a swarm or a nucleus colony?

Hi guys. I am an avid beekeeper. I have 15 hives and started out keeping bees in Top bar hives about three years ago. This year I am hoping to harvest 150 to 200Kg's of honey. I actually started harvesting supers today! Beekeeping is fantastic and everyone should have a hive in their backyard or on their roof. I would be glad to help out with any questions you guys may have.

himzol - I will keep my eyes out.

cheers

Oh, and Brian? thanks for the offer - I am the guy that bees see and the rush at me.

Hah.. I was working around them the other day all day doing some digging and stuff, and as soon as the mobile ph rang and I answered it, they all charged at me, only got stung once, but I dont go down there any more.

It may be just me, but I find that behaviour perfectly understandable.. (I hate mobile phones too)

Himzo.

Bees don't like the smell of freshly cut grass and plants. They also don't like the smell of sweaty people and they don't like the smell of alchohol on a persons breath. so that's probably at least two things that could of triggered the stinging as you where digging and stuff and would have been sweaty as a result . As far as not going down there anymore, that is not necessarily a good idea. Bees are IMO highly aware creatures and if you can get them used to your presence around the hive without anything bad happening to them then it is better. Guard bees will also sometimes attack dark things moving near the hive. They cannot easily detect lighter shades like light yellow and white and pale orange so be carefull what you wear. A white overall is King in this regard. Working on hives inevitably requires a lot of bending over and that exposes ones lower back to the elements so an overall eliminates this. Wear boots with elastics around your pants. Clumps of bees fall to the ground sometimes and then they crawl up, you work out the rest.

A quick note about TBH's. Fresh comb full of honey is fragile and heavy and breaks easily. this is particularly frustrating when your comb collapses when it is covered with bees... messy. Keep the comb space for TBH small and they are a lot easier to manage. A 8mm dowel rod running through the centre of the TB down helps as the bees atatch their comb to this giving good support where you need it most. IMO You can get all the benefits of a warre hive in a langstroth by simply using starter strips instead of full foundation sheets, and providing good roof insulation like polystyrene with a correx inner lid. A hole in the top of the super provides bees with the option of ventilation at the top. In My limited expierience the bees usually close these holes up with propolis. The best hives are the most insulated hives in positions where temps stay more constant. Kind of like fish tanks.

I was raised on a farm with an outdoor toilet, we had a hive in the wall for years the bees would clear the doorway when they heard the toilet flush, on odd occasions one or two would come in while you were there but we never got stung. We also had ducks that used to love eating the bees as they came and went from the hive Funny thing was the bees never seemed to care, maybe it was because the ducks were white.

The only bees I have are the native Australian sting less bees - when I looked into possible moving them from the bessa blocks below one of my small redclaw tanks into a hive I found that I would most likely lose the hive (they would move off) - not that they are a problem where they are) So I will simply let them "bee"

would luv a native hive, however, down here they dont survive. We have native bees, but not the ones that hive.