Its good to see the Bees back into the swing of things again, the last few weeks of sunshine was the boost that was needed to get them flying and foraging. Unfortunately, the rain has returned and settled in for the time being. This change in weather will affect the bees ability to build stores up for the winter so lets hope that the sunshine returns very soon.
I plan to show the Top Bar Bee Hives at the Skibbereen market again due to renewed interest from a number of aspiring beekeepers that I have talked to at the market. As always, I strive to improve the hive structure with each new hive that I build. The design originates in the Kenyan style of hive with some modifications to adapt to the Irish climate, such as ventilation to deal with excess dampness in the hive. I still prefer to use Larch timber for its durability and weather resistance.
I am looking forward to seeing some more Top Bar Hives getting out into back gardens and fields. I set up a hive last week in a garden center and I am sure the bees will be very happy with the extended range of flowers and herbs to forage from.
All for now,
Max
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Winter Shelter for Bees in Top Bar Hives
Winter shelter is important for Bees to survive a prolonged cold season and recurring cold snaps that occur well into the spring. This early Spring has seen a number of extended cold snaps that have taken their toll on hives that were not properly sheltered from the bitter winds.
A sun trap is the ideal protection for Bee hives, all it consists of is a wind break from the North, East and West and exposure from the sunny South. The wind break can be made of any material that will stop the wind, such as wood fencing, stone or block walls, straw bales or even a good heavy hedge that will block the wind.
I have often thought that installing the hive in a shed is a good way to keep the hive out of the weather. The bees just need to be able to get in and out through a short tube through the wall of the shed. Excessive heat in the shed on hot summer days could be an issue so thought would be needed to enable lots of ventilation, perhaps removable windows or a roofing material that will not trap heat, such as sod.
What ever approach is used, keep in mind that Top Bar hives do not travel well, do to the unsupported comb at risk of breaking and falling to the floor of the hive. Top Bar hives are really intended to be in a fixed position, they can be moved but are very heavy when full of comb and is best attempted with two people and with minimal jarring or bumps while driving.
Regards,
Max
Sunday, 24 March 2013
The importance of reserves
Having enough to eat during the winter and early spring is an important topic for Bees. Bees store their food source because they do not hibernate during the cold months and must have enough food stores to last until they can get back to foraging when the weather turns.
It is important that there is a variety of honey within the hive, summer honey as well as honey stored from late autumn because honeys from different seasons and plants will store at different hardness. Ivy honey stores, gathered in the Autumn and Winter, is very hard and would be impossible to digest if not mixed with softer honeys.
I saw more activity from my hives in January than I have in March, this is due to a mix of very cold days with milder very wet days neither of which are good days for foraging. So that means the Bees are continuing to eat last years honey until they can get out again. This honey from last year must be very good quality if they are going to survive. I cant expect the Bees to live on sugar water, because there is no nutritional value in this supposed honey replacer, so I don't give them any at all.
My own rule of thumb is about one third of the total stores gathered by the end of August could be harvested from the hive after a very good summer of fine weather. If the summer was very wet, then less or no honey would be harvested. This way I am not interfering with the only source of food and nutrition available. There will be some good weeks of foraging weather in the Autumn and this will boost their stores before the colder weather settles in.
We have all been, at one time or another, without any reserves of cash or cache and it is a frightening situation, so don't overtax your bees by taking more than they can afford to spare.
It is important that there is a variety of honey within the hive, summer honey as well as honey stored from late autumn because honeys from different seasons and plants will store at different hardness. Ivy honey stores, gathered in the Autumn and Winter, is very hard and would be impossible to digest if not mixed with softer honeys.
I saw more activity from my hives in January than I have in March, this is due to a mix of very cold days with milder very wet days neither of which are good days for foraging. So that means the Bees are continuing to eat last years honey until they can get out again. This honey from last year must be very good quality if they are going to survive. I cant expect the Bees to live on sugar water, because there is no nutritional value in this supposed honey replacer, so I don't give them any at all.
My own rule of thumb is about one third of the total stores gathered by the end of August could be harvested from the hive after a very good summer of fine weather. If the summer was very wet, then less or no honey would be harvested. This way I am not interfering with the only source of food and nutrition available. There will be some good weeks of foraging weather in the Autumn and this will boost their stores before the colder weather settles in.
We have all been, at one time or another, without any reserves of cash or cache and it is a frightening situation, so don't overtax your bees by taking more than they can afford to spare.
Friday, 15 March 2013
Natural Beekeeping for Children
Trevor Danann is instructing a Natural Beekeeping course for Children in Leap, West Cork on May 12. He is the ideal instructor as he is himself 12 years old and has been a certified Beekeeper for the last four years.
After attending and passing the FIBKA Gormanstown Beekeeping Summer School, he has participated in managing several Top Bar hives, as well as assisted in numerous hive builds, Bee installations, inspections and extractions.
Trevor has also been assisting in the previous 10 Natural Beekeeping Courses and is keen to present this course himself to an audience of children.
The course is designed to introduce children to the skills of Natural Beekeeping, covering topics such as: Bees, Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Natural Beekeeping, Bee Health, Getting started and Research. The two hours duration of the course will include time outside observing Bees around the onsite hives.
Any younger children attending the course must be accompanied by an adult. The cost is €25 per child.
Trevor can be found at the Skibbereen Farmers Market every Saturday at our stall and ready to answer any queries on the Hives on display or Natural Beekeeping in general.
Regards,
Max
After attending and passing the FIBKA Gormanstown Beekeeping Summer School, he has participated in managing several Top Bar hives, as well as assisted in numerous hive builds, Bee installations, inspections and extractions.
Trevor has also been assisting in the previous 10 Natural Beekeeping Courses and is keen to present this course himself to an audience of children.
The course is designed to introduce children to the skills of Natural Beekeeping, covering topics such as: Bees, Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Natural Beekeeping, Bee Health, Getting started and Research. The two hours duration of the course will include time outside observing Bees around the onsite hives.
Any younger children attending the course must be accompanied by an adult. The cost is €25 per child.
Trevor can be found at the Skibbereen Farmers Market every Saturday at our stall and ready to answer any queries on the Hives on display or Natural Beekeeping in general.
Regards,
Max
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Natural Beekeeping Course
First of all, I would like to thank everybody that came out to the Natural Beekeeping course on Sunday, braving the cold blustery conditions. It was a productive day with loads of interesting questions. The group was a mix of experienced Beekeepers with several hives of their own as well as non-experienced but interested aspiring Beekeepers.
There is another Natural Beekeeping Course scheduled for April 14, taking place in Leap, West Cork. This course is a repeat of the March 10 Course and is intended to introduce Beekeeping through Natural methods rather than the usual Commercial program. The courses are open to Beekeepers of all levels and cover the following topics: Bees, Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Natural Beekeeping, Bee Health, Disease, Poisons, Getting Started, Equipment, and Research. There are empty Top Bar hives on display and working Top Bar hives on the premises for viewing as well.
If there is enough interest expressed, I will run a Top Bar Hive building workshop sometime before the end of April. Any one interested can contact me at maxdanann@gmail.com
Regards,
Max
There is another Natural Beekeeping Course scheduled for April 14, taking place in Leap, West Cork. This course is a repeat of the March 10 Course and is intended to introduce Beekeeping through Natural methods rather than the usual Commercial program. The courses are open to Beekeepers of all levels and cover the following topics: Bees, Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Natural Beekeeping, Bee Health, Disease, Poisons, Getting Started, Equipment, and Research. There are empty Top Bar hives on display and working Top Bar hives on the premises for viewing as well.
If there is enough interest expressed, I will run a Top Bar Hive building workshop sometime before the end of April. Any one interested can contact me at maxdanann@gmail.com
Regards,
Max
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Building a Top Bar Bee Hive
One search for images of Top Bar Hives on the internet will show you how many variations that have been developed in different regions of the world. It is nice to see so many beekeepers building and using Top Bar Hives, the interest has certainly grown exponentially over the last few years.
I have found that proper ventilation is key in Ireland to deal with the excess of rain that is a year round constant. Also being able to fit National frames into the box ease the start up or transition to Top Bar Beekeeping. Most of the hives I build are made from solid Larch, which is a long lasting timber that stands up to the local weather without much need for coatings. My hives are also free of any toxins, glues, paint, sealers or preservatives to provide a toxin free environment, essential to the health of the bees.
Each hive I have built has been an improvement over the previous ones, applying what I learn from beekeeping into each new hive. I guess that I must be on the 6th or 7th generation of design adaptation resulting in a robust hive that will last for years, providing a safe, dry and clean space for the bees to live.
Beginning each new project is first spent visualizing what I what to make and then looking at the material at hand to see how it can be used efficiently. Sometimes it takes longer to plan the hive than to build it and a proper plan means less waste of material. I have added a few machines to my workshop since I first started building hives but basic hand tools are all that are really needed to build a hive from scratch.
I will be hosting a Top Bar Hive building workshop this spring and hope to see both old hands at beekeeping as well as aspiring beekeepers take part.
Regards,
Max
I have found that proper ventilation is key in Ireland to deal with the excess of rain that is a year round constant. Also being able to fit National frames into the box ease the start up or transition to Top Bar Beekeeping. Most of the hives I build are made from solid Larch, which is a long lasting timber that stands up to the local weather without much need for coatings. My hives are also free of any toxins, glues, paint, sealers or preservatives to provide a toxin free environment, essential to the health of the bees.
Each hive I have built has been an improvement over the previous ones, applying what I learn from beekeeping into each new hive. I guess that I must be on the 6th or 7th generation of design adaptation resulting in a robust hive that will last for years, providing a safe, dry and clean space for the bees to live.
Beginning each new project is first spent visualizing what I what to make and then looking at the material at hand to see how it can be used efficiently. Sometimes it takes longer to plan the hive than to build it and a proper plan means less waste of material. I have added a few machines to my workshop since I first started building hives but basic hand tools are all that are really needed to build a hive from scratch.
I will be hosting a Top Bar Hive building workshop this spring and hope to see both old hands at beekeeping as well as aspiring beekeepers take part.
Regards,
Max
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Thinking outside the box
The standard beehive, as most people know, is a square box. This box contains all the latest and greatest in beekeeping technology, but still just an ugly square box. No wonder then, the growing interest in a hive that does not look like a box or even a hive for that matter.
Top Bar Hives buck the trend of sticking with what everybody else is doing. They are so different from standard commercial hives that most beekeepers scoff at the very idea that they could even work. When in fact, its the Top Bar Hive that has been around for hundreds of years and the commercial hives that are the new and strange way of beekeeping.
The basis of the Top Bar Hive design lies in the simple hollowed out log, which was used by early beekeepers to create a copy of the naturally formed hives found in old hollow logs or hollow tree trunks. These are the same bees that get into your attic space and set up house. These bees are not looking for a box to move into, a box is not a natural shape. What the bees are looking for is a sheltered spot to build their hive without risk of disturbance.
Bees forced to live in a modern box are under stresses that include crowding, dampness, lack of proper ventilation, diseases, pests, toxins and removal of most of their precious winter stores. (The winter stores are then replaced with a sugar water that offers no nutrition) All these symptoms of box life result in a far weaker hive population that is easily susceptible to disease and parasites.
Its no wonder that people are looking for an alternative to the box and Top Bar Hives are the answer for a steadily growing collection of beekeepers that are looking for a better way of keeping bees healthy.
Top Bar Hives - Thinking outside the box
Top Bar Hives buck the trend of sticking with what everybody else is doing. They are so different from standard commercial hives that most beekeepers scoff at the very idea that they could even work. When in fact, its the Top Bar Hive that has been around for hundreds of years and the commercial hives that are the new and strange way of beekeeping.
The basis of the Top Bar Hive design lies in the simple hollowed out log, which was used by early beekeepers to create a copy of the naturally formed hives found in old hollow logs or hollow tree trunks. These are the same bees that get into your attic space and set up house. These bees are not looking for a box to move into, a box is not a natural shape. What the bees are looking for is a sheltered spot to build their hive without risk of disturbance.
Bees forced to live in a modern box are under stresses that include crowding, dampness, lack of proper ventilation, diseases, pests, toxins and removal of most of their precious winter stores. (The winter stores are then replaced with a sugar water that offers no nutrition) All these symptoms of box life result in a far weaker hive population that is easily susceptible to disease and parasites.
Its no wonder that people are looking for an alternative to the box and Top Bar Hives are the answer for a steadily growing collection of beekeepers that are looking for a better way of keeping bees healthy.
Top Bar Hives - Thinking outside the box
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