Bee Board Survey- poll reopened

[TonyF]

Ummmm, as bees are becoming more populat, hows about a new section for them?

And has anybody tried the type of hive that Carol Klein has installed by Phil Chandler in the program last week. I've just joined his forum and downloaded the plans for his top bar hive (they're much cheaper than building 'normal' types of hives) but I'm just wondering whether anybody else has built or used them?

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Tony,

A beekeeping section sounds good to me, as we have 6 hives ourselves, and I know others on here also keep bees, then it would be a useful place to build a good resource of experience and information!

Top bar beehives arent something we've decided to go with ourselves, yes they are easier t manufacture and are more akin to how bees live in the natural world, but they do have problems.

First problem is that there is nothing to stop the Queen laying wherever she wants, so you can end up with grubs in the comb that you were going to harvest, and secondly when it comes to harvesting the honey, you cant pop them into a spinning extractor, so you cant empty them and return them (largely undamaged) to the bees, which means the bees wil have to rebuild the comb before they can store in it, costing you a good percentage of your potential honey harvest!

Or at least thats how I understand things, please feel free to enlighten me if Im wrong!

[Hilary B]

Mrs D. have you hear of the Catenary hive? The brood chamber is not unlike the 'top bar' type, but a 'normal' supe will fit on it. The info was in a beekeeping book I used to own (lost in fire some years ago) but since we only had 2 hives for a total of about 3 years, and now 25 years ago, I don't claim to know anything really useful!

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Hilary, no, not seen anything on that type, but sounds interesting! We've only had our bees for 2 years, this will be our third year with them, so Im still a novice myself! lol!

[vicky]

I'd vote for a Beekeeping section too, I've booked in to a beekeeping course starting in feb so I'm hoping to be joining you soon!

[Headfry]

I asked quite a while ago, but in those days I was was one of the very few bee keepers on the forum!
Lots more now ......

Please can we have a beekeeping section?

could call it 'The Bee Hive'

[zazen999]

The more people that post here asking, the more likely it would bee....

[Mrs Dobby]

So, how do we encourage everyone on here to sign up to say we want to have a Beekeepers section? Would making it a sticky help at all?

[lainey lou]

I vote too! Don't keep bees myself but I would love to do all I can to encourage people to care for, respect them and show them gratitude. What amazing creatures they are.

[TonyF]

Goodness me, one of my threads has been made a sticky.

Suzanne, I'm looking into the grub and centrifuger things, you can make the hives with straight sides and the widths aren't crucial so I'm wondering whether I could use bought comb bases inside the longer hives - more to follow, I need to get a grip of the bee forum, which seems to be an alternative way to that used and supported by the ?BBA, much more bio/eco and like the hives used in Africa.

[pauco]

You can add a vote from me, for the Bee-Hive. Great idea!

paul.

[Apple Betty]

I'll vote for a Bee Hive too, been thinking about it for a year or so, maybe this year I'll do it.

[Incy]

Although I don't ever expect to have a hive myself. I would find it very interesting to be able to find out more about them and would definitely want to encourage the care of these wonderful insects.

[Nicos]

I'd enjoy a thread dedicated to bees too.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hmm, so there is a bit of interest, but is it enough for the mods to create a new section? I'd volunteer to help run that part of the 'vine if you needed someone with a bit of knowledge. So, what are the chances then mods?