Grow Your Own Magazine

I feel very concerned about the fact bees are disappearing all of a sudden from our developed countries, some advance the theory that the radiation from mobile phones interfere with their navigation system, and they simply dont come back to the hive and die...
Help the bees, build a shelter for them! its very easy, just a batch of hollow branches ( bamboo, elder tree, has to be wood) tied together, closed at one side...put those little houses in a well protected area if possible south facing.
here some pictures

Marialittlebzz, I have just taken up bee keeping and this winter will be the my first winter with my little hive of bees. So far so good but now is a very dangerous time for the honey bee so my fingers are crossed tightly. There is something called colony collapse disorder and it is wiping out many hives, though they say it is not in the UK yet, bee keepers are sure it is! It's has the nick name of the 'Marie Celeste' disease as that it what the hive looks like when you open it after the winter....EMPTY!
All our native bees need as much help as we can give - plus some!
My 'girls' were working very hard yesterday, lots of mouths to feed and still not much food to be had!

Pity they can't make it to my garden Headfry - my heather garden is blooming beautiful!!

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

I can't keep any bees here as we are in the housing area. I do have regular bees (plus bumble bees and several types of wasp) visiting our garden.
I have 2 lady bugs houses, 1 at my front and the other at the back garden. Unfortunately no ladybugs want his modern house and instead, couples of bees has been visiting it .

I heard lots of bees were killed last year (in the Netherlands) due to virus, hopefully they are ok this year.

I like your bees house, very lovely .

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

I am living in London zone 2! this house is for lonely bees, not for a colony, just to provide shelter for flying bugs... urban zone have very few natural places for them to nest or simply rest!
I will try this year in my back garden, just hope it will not house to many wasps feeding on barbecue left over!
I thought of lady bugs house as well, anyone else has good results with them?

You might be interested in joining the Bumblebee Conservation Trust - they are very new but up-and-coming charity. It's long overdue that bumblebees get their own Trust and get some cash for doing specific bee work. Plus, I know some of the guys that work there and they are sound!

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

Like I said, our lady bugs house were not popular, the lady bugs actually overwinter in our garden, found them here and there in between peebles, bamboo fence, on the pear tree (splits trunks) and under the roof .
Good luck with your bees project .

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

We call them 'solitary bees', one that you often see 'readymade' homes for is the Mason bee (red ones and blue ones).

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Please tell me more about bee keeping. Do you need the suit and gloves etc? I was thinking about a very small hive, which I wouldn't get the honey from iyswim?

I've read that bees are seen as an indicator species for the wider health of our ecosystem, so the fact that they are disappearing is really gloomy.

There are some types of bee that like to nest in upturned flower pots filled with straw - couldn't be much easier to make!

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Resistance is fertile

Paul
That's interesting, I saw a v large bee investigating my chicken poo pile today and that has a lot of straw in it. It now looks like a two humped camel as I didn't want to dump any more where the bee was in the middle so had to put it either end!
Is it best to site the pot anywhere specific, ie in a flowerbed, facing the sun or anything?
Sue

Just found this for you Sue:

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/abo...BoxLeaflet.pdf

I think I'll give the two flower pot designs a go on our orchard allotment... Interesting what it says about mouse nests. Shorty PM'd me a while back about this, asking if I thought one of our pet rats' nests would do the same thing (her dad's setting up a hive). I have no idea, but I've posted her one anyway. Fingers crossed!

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Resistance is fertile