Lets attract some bee's

It's that time of year when we need to get ready for the swarming period. The bee's are flying, well at least mine are, and producing brood after a very quick look during the last calm sunny day.

That much activity I had to open the second entrance.

Box with lid and frame on bank
where bee's fly down the  garden

This means the scout bee's will be hunting up potential new homes for when the colony decides it's time to go forth and multiply. So what do you need to do. The answer is simple get those bait boxes out. What I hear you ask are bait boxes. Well for those who have just built their hives at the 'big hive build' they will do lovely, in fact each one could be three bait hives if you make more follower boards. For myself I use square flower pots from wilkos, sounds low tech but last year I attracted 3 swarms into my bait hives. 





A little more detail then:- 

1 - A suitable size container, needs to be about 6-9 top bars.
2 - Some old honeycomb if you have any(attached to a top bar).
3 - One or two drops of lemongrass oil(not the aromatherapy stuff).
4 - Lots of patience.

Another on top of the boys play shed destined to bee
'shed bee's ' if any are attracted.

Get your boxes all ready and then put them out, if possible in an area where you see bee's flying on a regular basis and then wait. Every couple of weeks top up the lemongrass.









One word of advice if you do attract a swarm and are going to house it in a full size hive, do it as soon as you can as they will only allow you to do so for a couple of days at most. After that if they decide to stay you will only be able to follow the 3 foot 3 mile rule.

More photos of the first Big Build Part 1.

The day begins with laying out tools and materials, de-nailing the scrap wood, cutting to size, building templates and general tea consumption:

With time moving on the old ones burn the midday oil, supervised by the next generation, as its all hands to the pumps:

But some still find time for a brew!!

Mid afternoon and final assembly of the modules is zipping along, almost like an industrial assembly line. Note that four of the six 4' Chandler hives are fitted with perspex 'windows'.

And by the close of the day we had 6 hives, and Pete's 10 bar special, completed - a very productive and enjoyable day and many thanks to Alison and family for putting up with us.

And look who got the halo!!

Roofs are being built tomorrow (Saturday 20th at Alison's again), all welcome.

Tim.

Hive Building - Part 2

As we briefly discussed at the end of the day last week, those that would like help completing a roof for their new hive are welcome at mine this Saturday (20th) at 11am. Please bring anything with you that you think may be useful - materials, tools or ideas on design! If you can't make it, but still need a roof making, please let me know asap. See you then. Alison

Beeautiful Day!

Mother Nature must have been in support of our efforts to increase the local bee population by providing us with the first day of spring that actually felt like spring rather than the arctic tundra! A fantastic day, thanks to everyone for making it so enjoyable & great success of 6 hives nearly complete - here's to stage 2 & the roof build in a couple of weeks! Alison

Hive Building & Meeting info

Hi all Meeting: As those of us that made it tonight discovered, after many months of uncertainty the Shakespeare has now closed! We reconvened in the Malt Shovel & although cosy, is not v practical for a gathering of above 3, so from next month, our 1st Wednesday in the month meeting will be held at the Harrington Arms, Thulston. Plenty of space, parking, real ale & hospitable landlords. Hive Building: Hive building will be this Saturday (6th April) from 11am at mine - think we have pretty much sorted tools, wood etc, everyone welcome, I will have the kettle going, & bearing in mind the temperature, will probably put a big pan of soup on as well, but please bring sandwiches etc. Anyone need address, directions etc, please email/ring/text me or anyone else in the group you have a contact for (I've been advised not to post address on a public blog thats all!) Look forward to seeing everyone then. Alison

Arabic bees

Saw the first bees at my small feeder this morning. The weather is so warm here that the small trickle of syrup, that leaks out from under an up-turned tomato puree tin, dries almost instantly; but obviously they don't mind. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days to see if the numbers build and hopefully get some pictures. Next I'll have to make tentative enquiries about actually keeping bees and possibly building a hive.

Also, I have been offered a two bed roomed house (villa) on the outskirts of the city which may also make beekeeping a more practical proposition.

Watch this space!

Boyd
Doha, Qatar

PS Good Luck for the hive building day!

The Big Hive Build event - 6th April 2013.

Will this cold weather ever end (and then give way to April showers and spring storms!!)? Sitting at home here, in front of a roaring log burner at noon for goodness sake, my mind is casting forward to next week's big event - the hive build.

So far we have requests for a total of four hives as far as I'm aware - with Sarah from Melbourne asking for the fourth yesterday. I've started to assemble 4 foot side panels from 20mm tongue and groove board that used to be the roof of a neighbours shed. Won't be pretty without a coat of paint but near no cost. I should have enough for the side panels of all 4 hives. I'll then do an audit for the end panels and follower boards. Does anyone have suitable gash timber for 16 legs each up to 40 inches long? I'll pop over to Screwfix next week for BZP M8 threaded coach bolts (£11.29), BZP M8 nuts (£3.32 for 100 nylocs!!) and large flat M8 BZP washers (£0.73 for pack of 10 and each hive uses 8, so 4 packs needed so far).

So along with sustenance, power, wear on the tools, transporting materials, etc I don't think that a nominal charge of £20 to £25 per hive would be unreasonable, especially as some components of the hives will have been preassembled and drilled (I'll be using 19mm entrance holes as these fit trimmed wine bottle corks - I don't drink enough champagne or get invited to the right parties to have larger corks floating around).

The other areas to consider are top bars, hive bottoms (solid - shallow or deep, mesh or open), and roofing. If I can make the space I can rip down top bars from suitable boarding but I may have to actually buy this unless someone has some old floor joists, off cuts or something similar I can use, ideally 17 inches long or more.

Any thoughts, comments or offers on any of this would be helpful as we don't have much time after Wednesday's meeting to get some of this done. Please use the comments below.

Happy Easter to you all,

Tim.