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this is where our bees will live.
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alison
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My MIL lives about 2 miles from Thornes in Windsor.

Trouble is, next time we are down there they are shut for Christmas shut down

hedgewitch



Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

alison wrote:
My MIL lives about 2 miles from Thornes in Windsor.

Trouble is, next time we are down there they are shut for Christmas shut down


Honestly, local shops, eh?

Mrs Fiddlesticks



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

National. Wanted something that would be easy to get spares/frames for. WBC looks pretty but....

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 5:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote:
National. Wanted something that would be easy to get spares/frames for. WBC looks pretty but....

you are paying for a lot of unneccesary timber.
Commercial brood boxes are good as they are large enough for the most prolific queens & you can put national supers on top, but nationals are more plentiful.
Trouble with national & WBC brood boxes is they aren't big enough for a good sized colony so get an extra brood box or two.
If you try & keep them in one box you will almost certainly have swarming problems.


jamanda
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's a lovely spot. I'd like to keep bees - but like you we couldn't really have them in the garden. How often do you need to visit them if they are away from your home?

We did have a colony of fuzzy little bumblebees living in a hole under a slab last year. No honey, but they were sweet.

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Jamanda wrote:
That's a lovely spot. I'd like to keep bees - but like you we couldn't really have them in the garden. How often do you need to visit them if they are away from your home?

We did have a colony of fuzzy little bumblebees living in a hole under a slab last year. No honey, but they were sweet.

About 15 to 30 minutes per hive each week through the season which
is from April through to September generally.

squirrel01



Joined: 16 Oct 2006
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 06 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ive got 15 acres of old bog land, how would bees do on the heather....

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 06 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

As long as there is sufficient nectar & polen you can keep them almost anywhere.
Bees will range up to 2 miles from the hive any further & the energy they expend counteracts the energy gathered.
There is hardly anywhere in britain where they couldn't find sufficient supplies although obviously some sites are better than others.
Heather honey is superb. Willow pollen is an excellent early protein source necessary for the young larvae to develop.
Don't look at your own land but the area around you.
Hawthorn, sycamore, rosebay, clover, lime trees all good nectar providers. The list is endless.

Bodger



Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 06 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Just a thought Mrs F !
Do you think that you might need some protection for your hive from badgers ?

I know that in the wild they dig wasps nests out.

Alchemist



Joined: 02 Mar 2005
Posts: 123
Location: Aberdeenshire
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 06 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

If you're still having trouble contacting the local society, you may be able to get through to them by talking to the BBKA and getting a different contact or the location of the next meeting. Joining the local society is definitely worthwhile though. If it's anything like ours you'll find that second-hand hives are always coming up for sale at reasonable prices. Also they may have extractors and such available for loan. Hive hardware can be tremendously expensive if you have to buy everything yourself.

PS Good luck, beekeeping is great fun.

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 06 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

bodger wrote:
Just a thought Mrs F !
Do you think that you might need some protection for your hive from badgers ?

I know that in the wild they dig wasps nests out.

They will attack bee hives & when they do it can be an expensive process as they tend to rip the hives to bits to get at the comb.
But in twenty odd years of beekeeping it's never happened to me so I would say it happens but not common.
I would talk to other beekeepers in your area before taking measures.
This guy is good for hive parts. https://www.stamfordham.biz/
I haven't found anyone cheaper for frames & his hives are cheap as well.
He doesn't do western red cedar so they need treatment but the commercial broods I bought from him are doing fine.

Mrs Fiddlesticks



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 06 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

finally got a response from our local BBKA branch. They do have extractors for hire and a demonstration apiary in a school in the county. We've been invited to their honey show in a couple of weeks to meet them and get a flavour of the organisation.

alison
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 06 8:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

https://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=198599&command=displayContent&sourceNode=198598&contentPK=15821843&folderPk=96192&pNodeId=198811

This is my friend Ruth, who I did my course with, and who got her bees a couple of months before me.

Camile



Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland
PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 06 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hello,

We have our own bog as well .. and it's full of heathers, broom and so on .. and we've been told it would be the best honey ever:



So it's now been 5 weeks since we joined the "Suck Valley Bee Keeping Association", well actually only my girlfriend is an official member, but we both go to the workshops because we are learning how to build a hive ourselves, and I do the woodworking, and she will do the beekeeping.

And next meeting is actually tonight .. so far we made a brood box and it's actually pretty straight forward to make ..

Camile

squirrel01



Joined: 16 Oct 2006
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 06 11:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the suck valley bee keeping Association, where do they meet...

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