Natural Beekeeping

I am being asked questions relating to Christmas Beekeeping gifts: what to give the natural beekeeper for Christmas.

Well other than a Warre beehive, or a Top Bar Horizontal beehive, not much!

Suggestions could include a Warre spring feeder, a bee escape, more top bars, natural beekeeping books… A nucleus of bees in the spring…

Do feel free to contact our helpline or email us if you’re struggling to find suitable gifts or book titles. Even if they are not of our supply we can generally give you the right contact details to help you with your Christmas gifts.

Happy beekeeping, David

The ideal text book configuration for wintering Warre Beehives is-

. A Two Box only configuration

. Turn the hiveboxes90deg so the comb is square onto the hive entrance rather than comb end on.

.The bees have ample stores of their own

Whilst most of our Warre Beehives we will configure as above, a few of our beehives we will do different.

You must also assess your beehives individually; any questions always call on our help line. Somebody told me this is probably the original natural beekeeping telephone helpline (not internet forum) and still unique in its openness and availability to all. So do please call.

So what are we going to do different- Two of our Warre hives have comb right down to the floor of the bottom hive box (Previous year the bees would beard if the bottom box was anything other than empty. Next blog I will tell you why this was possibly the case, but I want to check a few theories first)

The hives we are referencing were originally four boxes high (each box full of comb) and I have only harvested the honey in the top box, the Warre beehive remains heavy and I judge they have ample winter stores.

Therefore I will leave these beehives as a Three Box configuration (if the bottom box had been empty or only partial comb I would have removed it and wintered on two boxes) the theory being the broad nest is in the bottom box.

Also I am not going to turn the boxes, instead leave in the summer configuration. Reasons for this, the bee nest / colony in the wild would not change orientation and also I’m wanting greater ventilation to avoid the possibility of damp.

I will also put a slither of wood between the top of the quilt box and the Warre roof to aid the breathing (not ventilation) of the hive, again to avoid the possibility of dampness. I also have the beehive tilted forward by a degree or two so moisture can run out of the hive entrance rather than puddle on the beehive floor.

Finally over the next couple of weeks I will fit a mouse guard. Please do check these guards as they can become blocked.

Now, I am not too worried by a cold winter, the Warre provides the best warm environment of all available beehives. A cold winter is actually better than a mild winter. What we should wish for is a good Spring on-time with a gradual improvement in weather and temperature leading into Summer 2012.

Best wishes,

David

Out of the four Warre bee hives and two Horizontal Bee hives we currently run I believe we will remove truly excess honey from two of the Warre Bee hives. The other hives we will leave undisturbed.

However one of the Warries (new colony this year) is currently looking low on stores; I am trusting in a good autumn to avoid the emergency requirement for feeding.

To remove the honey I am going to use a bee escape, this time of triangular design and inset below the top box only. In theory the bees will return to the queen / broad nest leaving the top box of excess honey relatively free of bees, making honey harvesting easier and less stressful for the bees and I hope the beekeeper.

As I recently discussed via email with a fellow beekeeper, I recommend inserting the bee escape the day before harvesting, checking the weather so you’re pretty certain you know this is going to happen.

If you find when you open the top Warre bee hive box you have a lot of bees I suggest you gently remove the bee escape and leave the hive undisturbed.

The reason for this is that possibly the queen was actually in the top box when you inserted the escape. I would generally leave the hive alone for two or three days before trying again.

Any questions on harvesting excess honey do please call.

Best wishes,

David

Recently I attended the first Natural Beekeeping Conference. Unknown to me at the time, you can see me in the David Heaf Video; I am the person with the red jumper. I would like to say I am not standing up-straight because my head was touching the tent roof! See the Biobee website- www.biobees.com.

The conference itself was excellent and well attended- beginners, experienced beekeepers, bee farmer and academics. Certainly it was an excellent stage for voicing a variety of view points and bee husbandry methodologies that arguably are encompassed by the banner natural beekeeping.

Speakers included Heidi Herrmann of the Natural Beekeeping Trust who inspired us with her hive and biodynamics presentation, David Heaf discussed Apicentric beekeeping, the Warre beehive, a leaning towards sustainability and Phil Chandler passed on his leading practical natural beekeeping skills, guidance and vision.

I now look forward to the next Natural beekeeping event. Until then I leave you with Phil Chandlers encompassing natural beekeeping guidelines-

• Interference in the natural lives of the bees is kept to a minimum.
• Nothing is put into the hive that is known to be, or likely to be harmful either to the bees, to us or to the wider environment and nothing is taken out that the bees cannot afford to lose.
• The bees know what they are doing: our job is to listen to them and provide the optimum conditions for their well-being.

Best wishes, David.

This year two of our hives have comb filling the bottom box; previously the bees had always bearded even when the bottom box seemed only ¼ full!

However, I have held off from adding a 5^th box for the following reasons:

• The brood chamber of the colony is no longer expanding
• There has been no sign of bearding
• The additional comb built in a new bottom box would only be partial at this time of year and require removing for the winter
• The weather over the last week and a bit has been mixed for the bees
• This is the time of year that the bees tend to be more aggressive, defensive of their winter stores

Ideally, I wish to winter the colonies on two hive boxes only. This helps to maintain greater heat within the hive and reduce condensation and the possibility of mildew in the comb. Again compact (not crowded) being the best option.

At the moment I expect we will over winter on three boxes, potentially the top box truly being excess honey (No Sugar).

I will let you know more about this later in August. However we will only remove honey if it’s defiantly safe to do. Our goal is not to feed any sugar unless it’s a true emergency.  (If you like, we are bee guardians not beekeepers, honey for our toast is a real luxury.)

Fingers crossed for a good August.

Questions welcomed, or if you wish to privately (not an open forum) discuss your own beehive status please call our natural beekeeping helpline.

Tel. 01736 785777.

Many thanks,

David

Relocating Warre beehive, very early one summer morning

With the help of a few friends we relocated two of our Warre Beehives to a quiet corner of an organic farm. Many thanks for the kind generosity we have received.

We moved the bee colonies in the early hours of last Saturday morning; in fact I was out of bed at sun rise! approx 4.30 am to quickly staple in place a bent section of verroa mesh over the entrance of each Warre beehive before any bees started foraging for nectar and pollen.

Now both these bee hives have been doing really well, hence they are four boxes high. This meant they would only just fit into our beehive delivery van with the pitched roof removed. Therefore, we removed the roofs and taped plain lining paper over the top of the quilt box to help maintain the temperature. Then we strapped the whole bee hive firmly together with a ratchet strap. Through the top of this we slid a carrying pole and then lifted the bee hive. The hive remained perfectly upright and we walked slowly to the van.

As a precaution we did dress in our bee suits, but I am thankful to tell you the whole operation went smoothly and I would use this method of slinging the Warre beehive the next time I have to move any beehives.

If you should have any questions reference the positioning of your beehive, or relocating a Warre beehive please do not hesitate to call.

Best regards,

David

We now have a new Apiary within a short walk of our house in a wonderful copse, many thanks to our neighbours kindness and hospitality.

The new apiary has three beehives spaced wide apart and consists of two new Warre bee hives and one horizontal African top bar hive. We also now have for sale horizontal top bar hives, please do call for details.

Whilst two of the colonies were nucleus allowed to develop on the correct size top bars for our hives the third colony was a swarm.

Now I had been keeping a close eye on the garden south beehive that has over wintered without Varroa treatment and on its own stores. Despite having a higher Varroa level than I would have wished this hive just seemed to go from strength to strength and very quickly went from their wintering Warre beehive two box setup to three and then four boxes.

Suspecting a swarm I positioned several bait hives hoping to slightly increase my chances of capturing the swarm. Now I can see the hive from my office window so I felt relatively happy I had a good chance to observe the bees if they should swarm and be ready to catch them.

As they say bees will be bees and nature has no consideration for the fact that I might be out of the office for the day. Yes, unobserved by me a swarm landed in our neighbours’ garden, ignored the bait hives and was eventually captured by a neighbouring beekeeper who very kindly handed the bees over to Melanie in my absence. Many thanks!

Stop Press- This weekend we are also repositioning the garden beehives again thanks to a very kind offer. I will let you know how we moved our two Warre beehives, both of which are four boxes high to their new bee apiary location.

Best wishes,

David

Our Warre bee hives are now known as Garden North and South.

The North beehive did lack stores in April and this did hold them back, however the bees are doing well with a significant increase in honey bee numbers and I can see new stores through our Warre inspection window. This bee colony is still only on two boxes but I am going to add a third box later this week.

Our South Warre beehive is just going from strength to strength and is four boxes high! Two weeks ago I thought they were going to swarm; a beard of bees had formed on the Warre hive entrance. I added the fourth box just in case they wanted more space and this quickly resolved the situation. Therefore so far my bait hive has not been tested for suitability by any scout bees.

The South Warre bee hive wintered totally on its own stores and without any Varroa treatment. They do have Varroa, but this does not seem to hold them back in terms of strength. They are actually aggressive, any approach towards the beehive is quickly noticed by several guard bees and a quiet retreat is required.

Therefore, we are going to move them from the garden to a more rural setting thanks to a kind offer of a sheltered corner of a field, organic I am pleased to inform you.

In my next blog I will let you know how the moving the bees to a new location goes and how the bees settle into their new environment.

Any questions do please ask.

Best regards,

David

Now is the time of year you may be returning home with your first bee colony in a Nuc box.

Here is a summary of actions you will properly carry out:

• When you get the bees home, position the Nuc box on your landing board in the exact location and direction that your assembled Warre beehive will eventually be in.
• Take the stopper out of the Nuc box entrance and watch your bees fly.
• After a day or two place two Warre boxes on the Warre floor and landing board and put top bars with wax starter strips in the bottom box.
• Place a sheet in front of the hive taut from landing board entrance to the ground.
• Carefully lift the top bars with natural comb and bees (keep in natural vertical position) and place into the top Warre beehive box. Keep the bars in the same order.
• If your Nuc is on frames see chop and cut video on www.biobees.com.
• Use a feather to brush the honey bees away to prevent them being trapped under the top bars. Shake any bees left in the Nuc box into the Warre beehive. Try to make sure that all of the bees fall into the hive or onto the sheet.
• Place the Nuc box on its side so that any remaining bees (I expect there will be some) can walk into the hive up the sheet.
• Now is also a good time if you wish to dust the bees with sugar.
• Place the quilt, quilt box with insulation and Warre roof onto the top of the beehive.

Other than returning later to take the empty Nuc box and sheet away your bees are now transferred to your Warre beehive.

I have also been asked by several of our customers to recommend a good reading book on bee behaviour on the landing board and entrance to the beehive. I recommend “At the Hive Entrance” by H. Storch. Try-

http://www.beedata.com/nbb/olderbeebooks.htm

Very best regards,

David

Now is the time of year that for the new beekeeper the winter’s beekeeping courses and reading turns into reality.

Purchasing a bee nucleus, discovering bees in your bait hive or catching a swarm, you’re naturally going to be apprehensive about installing bees into your new Warre beehive.

Do read our very first blog posts to see how we got on. To help make your natural beekeeping enjoyable here are just a few hints and tips:

• Plan what you are going to do carefully. Have a plan B as well.
• Carry out all practical beekeeping operations quietly and smoothly.
• Do have suitable bee suits and gloves; make sure you are tucked in, bees loving climbing upwards into any open clothing.
• If you do get stung, remove the sting as soon as possible; use a peppermint spray to avoid other bees stinging you in the same area.
• When positioning bee hive boxes / lids, slide rather than place, use a feather to gently brush bees out of harms way.
• Replace bee smokers with a fine water spray; its less stressful. Some people use a very dilute sugar solution as a spray.

Also for all our customers do use our natural beekeeping helpline.

Best wishes,

David