Originally Posted by Joe

Ta, for the information about recycled plastic. By traditional I meant the ones used before the national or whatever hives i.e. the woven basket types. Beehive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is also one called a 'Top Bar Hive', which is a much lower intensity way of keeping bees. They make their own combs on the bars, so no supers, and when you want to harvest the honey, you just cut the comb off the bar.

If you follow this link The Barefoot Beekeeper, it should take you to The Barefoot Beekeepers website where you can get building plans and information.

Originally Posted by NOG

Not wanting to be padantic but there is a diferance between being recycable and actually being recycled. Councils are only interested in Recycling in this country to prevent them from being fined for not reducing their landfill useage. They only recycle Type 1 and 2 cos they cant be assed to do the job properly.

There are 50 types of Plastic which are broken down into the 7 recycling Groups although 7 is a catch all for the 44 types that are not covered in numbers 1-6. The harder plastics can be (and are) recycled by chipping and adding back in to pressing process.

Carrier bags made from recycled rather than virgin polythene use two-thirds less energy to produce, the process creates only a third of the sulphur dioxide and half of the nitrous oxide and two-and-a-half times less CO2 with a reduction of water usage by nearly 90%.

1.8 tonnes of oil are saved for every tonne of recycled polythene produced.

Couldn't agree more about the coucils only being pushed into doing anything by the concept of LATs however, it's still a fact that it's very hard to recycle plastics properly in this country and in reality we'd be a lot better buying decent quality and keeping using it - sorry throw away society really bugs me and isn't what this thread is about!

Have just had another look at them and still don't like them, would much prefer something more natural looking rather than something that looks like it was made by Fisher Price.

Hope to see first hand one of these Beehaus in action soon. My old swarm is now living in a white one - See my post in 'wildlife' 'bee project'
I love my National hives, but think it good that someone had dared to do different - I wish them all the best!

Originally Posted by Headfry

Hope to see first hand one of these Beehaus in action soon. My old swarm is now living in a white one - See my post in 'wildlife' 'bee project'
I love my National hives, but think it good that someone had dared to do different - I wish them all the best!

Do you think it will actually work then HF? I can't help thinking that their stuff has the consumer in mind rather than the creature living in it, but you're our bee guru, do you think it will work as well as the 'tradtional' hives?

I thnk its a lot of money to spend to get it wrong.

ooohh nooo I'm no guru Have you read my tales of woeful beekeeping

Beehuas-
It has some great plus points....The height at which you work could be so much better for your back. The height of my National kills my back....you seem to end up 'hovering' over the hive, holding quite heavy frames and supers. So the extra height would be good, also the supers are smaller and therefore lighter when full. I can only just lift a full super (this is the part where the bees store the honey) the Beehuas has four smaller chambers. Much more easy to lift when inspecting or taking honey.
As for plastic, Mrs D is thinking same as me in that you can not 'torch' the hive components should you need to sterilize your hive due to infection or other. I am sure the Omlet guys will have thought of this though.
My meeting with the Omlet guys was pure chance as you may have read in my other posting (wildlife bit)....I spoke to Mr Omlet Monday and hope to see perhaps my old swarm in a Beehuas in the coming weeks, I am looking forward to this very much.
I like the idea of the splitting of the colony to help with swarming- a good idea.
People have kept bees in cities for many years so this aspect is not new. I do hope that the buyers of all types of hive realise that they are taking on a responsibility in the keeping of bees. Bees swarming all over the show is not a good PR move for beekeepers and bees in general. Then there is the issue of yesterdays 'in' hobby becoming tomorrows neglected and possibly diseased colonies.This could happen using wooded hives just the same. I think a few people are worried about this - dare I say it - new rush of beekeeping interest. I am delighted to see more interest in beekeeping, so long as its for the right reasons and not just because its the 'in' thing.
Another wee thing........it's about time someone did something new with the beehive, it's been stuck in a wooden rut for sometime now.
The cost is a bit on the ouch side but it may deter some who are not maybe so serious about the whole beekeeping thing, who may just want to say "oh yar, we are of course beekeepers darlink" ooops sorry for that comment

I wish the guys the very best of luck with this and cant wait to see one in the flesh!

Ah, but you've got real life beekeeping experience, so your opinion is very valuable to those of us thinking about starting with bees. Thanks for your thoughts, it would be good to know how you get on with yours.

Thanks Pumpkin Becki will keep you posted!
and.....go for it, but please take a course first to see if it is for you or not. I'm sure you will love it.....and like me become addicted!