Who Keeps Bees?

[Keela]

Love it Chris - great clip!

A local club ran some queen rearing sessions that I attended - fascinating.

Sadly our bees have not faired well. We went into last winter with 3 hives, and had 2 by spring. One got completely confused and despite re-queening attempts ended up with laying workers....

The last seemed to go from strength to strength, but suddenly faltered in late August. Then it rallied a little and we fed fondant in late Sept/early Oct.

Sadly it seems they tried to swarm sometime after this, leaving an unopened queen cell and only a very few bees in the hive.... which all probably died of the cold.

All very disappointing and confusing! We are hoping to get started again in the spring - I've been taking the Intermediate Bee Keeping classes.

So it's a case of sterilise everything (not actual sign of disease, but can't be too careful) and possible relocate the apiary to a site with a slightly more southerly aspect. (Also away from our boundary hedge....)

And fingers crossed.......

[biffvernon]

The British Government is completely free to ignore recommendations from European safety regulators that controversial nerve-agent pesticides should not be used on crops visited by bees, MPs were told.

Herman Fontier, head of the pesticides division of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), told a Parliamentary committee that his organisation’s recommendation two weeks ago that neonicotinoid pesticides, widely blamed for bee declines around the world, should be kept away from bees, was merely a risk assessment – and it was up to individual EU member states whether or not to act on it.

In Britain the Environment Secretary, Owen Patterson, has already indicated that the Government is likely to ignore the recommendation and is opposed to an immediate ban on three neonicotinoids highlighted by the EFSA report, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, made by the gian

http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 83916.html

[clv101]

The title is misleading. The British government will ignore the EFSA recommendation - not the (forthcoming?) European ban, which without leaving the EU it has to comply with.

[biffvernon]

Good point. Let's all support the EU.

[UndercoverElephant]

OK...might as well put this in this thread rather than start a new one.

[rant]

I am currently investigating bee-keeping, from the perspective of a total newcomer. I have read "Bees at the Bottom of the Garden" by Alan Campion, and done some research online. My first impression is that "traditional beekeeping" stinks. It stinks of elitism. It seems to me to be a bunch of people who think things can only be done their way, that you have to buy loads of expensive equipment and learn endless amounts of jargon, control every aspect of the bees' lives, etc, etc, etc...

What a pile of crap. People have been keeping bees for centuries, and all this crap didn't exist. People keep bees all over the developing world, and they do it without all this crap. The crap is there to "make life easier for the beekeeper", to maximise the honey crop, or make it the highest quality. But it also makes the whole thing very elitist and exclusive and discourages normal people from keeping bees.

What we actually need is to encourage as many people as possible to provide homes for bees in the form of top-bar hives. "Top-bar hive" doesn't appear in Campion's book, of course. No, that would be the WRONG way to do it! After all, you can make your own hive instead of buying one, and that wouldn't impress the local beekeeping society much, would it?

What would be gained by large numbers of people having top-bar hives in their garden would more than compensate for what is lost in terms of efficiency of each hive.

[/rant]

Having said all that, I know very little about beekeeping so I wait to be told I've got it all wrong!

[clv101]

My first impression is that "traditional beekeeping" stinks. It stinks of elitism. It seems to me to be a bunch of people who think things can only be done their way, that you have to buy loads of expensive equipment and learn endless amounts of jargon, control every aspect of the bees' lives, etc, etc, etc...

I expect folk like what you describe are also the loudest - and therefore the most likely for you to come across. Yes, I'm sure there are people like that, but there are also a lot of other beekeepers who aren't (they just don't ram their opinions down your throat as hard!).

It's also worth nothing that beekeeping in the past was very different today - varroa is new and seriously damaging. It's very hard for bees to survive without intervention - and why wild colonies rarely last more than a season or two now.

Top bar isn't 'the answer'. There's nothing that top bar does for the bees than can't also be done with National (or other) hives. In fact, top bar colonies, 'owned' by relatively inexperienced beekeepers are more likely to harbour diseases, that'll spread wider. Top bar hives aren't the only hives you can make yourself - I've made three to National plan.

The think what's changed in the last few decades are the pests and diseases - you may quite rightly, lay the blame for this with the 'modern beekeeper', but we are where we are, and ignoring the issues is unlikely to end well.

[UndercoverElephant]

Top bar isn't 'the answer'. There's nothing that top bar does for the bees than can't also be done with National (or other) hives.

It can be done a lot more cheaply and simply with a top bar.

In fact, top bar colonies, 'owned' by relatively inexperienced beekeepers are more likely to harbour diseases, that'll spread wider. Top bar hives aren't the only hives you can make yourself - I've made three to National plan.

How hard was that?

[Little John]

OK...might as well put this in this thread rather than start a new one.

[rant]

I am currently investigating bee-keeping, from the perspective of a total newcomer. I have read "Bees at the Bottom of the Garden" by Alan Campion, and done some research online. My first impression is that "traditional beekeeping" stinks. It stinks of elitism. It seems to me to be a bunch of people who think things can only be done their way, that you have to buy loads of expensive equipment and learn endless amounts of jargon, control every aspect of the bees' lives, etc, etc, etc...

What a pile of crap. People have been keeping bees for centuries, and all this crap didn't exist. People keep bees all over the developing world, and they do it without all this crap. The crap is there to "make life easier for the beekeeper", to maximise the honey crop, or make it the highest quality. But it also makes the whole thing very elitist and exclusive and discourages normal people from keeping bees.

What we actually need is to encourage as many people as possible to provide homes for bees in the form of top-bar hives. "Top-bar hive" doesn't appear in Campion's book, of course. No, that would be the WRONG way to do it! After all, you can make your own hive instead of buying one, and that wouldn't impress the local beekeeping society much, would it?

What would be gained by large numbers of people having top-bar hives in their garden would more than compensate for what is lost in terms of efficiency of each hive.

[/rant]

Having said all that, I know very little about beekeeping so I wait to be told I've got it all wrong!

Bollocks to em UE. Go your own way. Some of it will work, some it wont. So what?

[clv101]

How hard was that?

A hive is no more than a box, it can be as easy or hard as you want it to be. This is the first one I made: http://chrisvernon.co.uk/2012/06/buildi ... -bee-hive/

A 'National' hive is just one where the internal dimensions fit National frames. You don't have to use 'frames' in a National sized box, empty bars could be used - but inspection would be harder, and any honey extraction would destroy the comb.

[UndercoverElephant]

How hard was that?

A hive is no more than a box, it can be as easy or hard as you want it to be. This is the first one I made: http://chrisvernon.co.uk/2012/06/buildi ... -bee-hive/

A 'National' hive is just one where the internal dimensions fit National frames. You don't have to use 'frames' in a National sized box, empty bars could be used - but inspection would be harder, and any honey extraction would destroy the comb.

I don't want to produce vast amounts of honey. A small amount every now and then would be nice. Having bees in the garden as pollinators (and providing them with a home to do a bit to help bees in general) is just as much the aim. I do not intend to buy a centrifuge.

At least for a while, if things work out, I'm going to be in a situation where I have a house with a decent-sized garden, but very little money. My goal is to create something resembling a permaculture garden, but as cheaply and simply as possible. This is partly for my own future, but it is also an experiment in to what is possible if you got plenty of space and time, but very little money. In the coming years, many other people will find themselves in a similar situation.

[UndercoverElephant]

OK...might as well put this in this thread rather than start a new one.

[rant]

I am currently investigating bee-keeping, from the perspective of a total newcomer. I have read "Bees at the Bottom of the Garden" by Alan Campion, and done some research online. My first impression is that "traditional beekeeping" stinks. It stinks of elitism. It seems to me to be a bunch of people who think things can only be done their way, that you have to buy loads of expensive equipment and learn endless amounts of jargon, control every aspect of the bees' lives, etc, etc, etc...

What a pile of crap. People have been keeping bees for centuries, and all this crap didn't exist. People keep bees all over the developing world, and they do it without all this crap. The crap is there to "make life easier for the beekeeper", to maximise the honey crop, or make it the highest quality. But it also makes the whole thing very elitist and exclusive and discourages normal people from keeping bees.

What we actually need is to encourage as many people as possible to provide homes for bees in the form of top-bar hives. "Top-bar hive" doesn't appear in Campion's book, of course. No, that would be the WRONG way to do it! After all, you can make your own hive instead of buying one, and that wouldn't impress the local beekeeping society much, would it?

What would be gained by large numbers of people having top-bar hives in their garden would more than compensate for what is lost in terms of efficiency of each hive.

[/rant]

Having said all that, I know very little about beekeeping so I wait to be told I've got it all wrong!

Bollocks to em UE. Go your own way. Some of it will work, some it wont. So what?

Cheers. Although I've never been stung by a bee...

It's an experiment. What's the worst thing that can happen?

[biffvernon]

This set slides may be of interest:
http://www.immenfreunde.de/docs/PKB_engl.pdf

and his website, much of which is in foreign: http://www.imkerdemo.de/

Basically, he's saying that pesticides allow Varroa attack.

[biffvernon]

And also http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/neonicotin ... -mite.html

[UndercoverElephant]

This set slides may be of interest:
http://www.immenfreunde.de/docs/PKB_engl.pdf

and his website, much of which is in foreign: http://www.imkerdemo.de/

I very rarely use pesticides anyway. I'm a big lover of amphibians, and for that reason alone I would avoid using anything in my garden that might cause them a problem.

Not that I've much experience of growing vegetables on a decent sized patch. I've been restricted to pots and small beds until now. But even in a larger area, I will have plenty of time on my hands - enough to keep a close eye on the pests and take action before they get established without having to resort to chemicals because the infestation is out of control.

[biffvernon]

Of course, but your bees will be getting their neonicotinoid fix from several miles around.