BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS

Some Thoughts on Natural and Organic Beekeeping

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Ben Framed:
Have fun doing it as well. Good luck in your endeavor.

Skeggley:
Have you seen this site Phillip?
https://solarbeez.com/2014/08/11/bee-beard-is-back/
Yeah, I know, stick to topic.

Ben Framed:

--- Quote from: Skeggley on August 25, 2020, 09:29:57 am ---Have you seen this site Phillip?
https://solarbeez.com/2014/08/11/bee-beard-is-back/
Yeah, I know, stick to topic.

--- End quote ---

I took a quick look Skeggley. The pictures look like the old bee gums that I read about and was describing in the first post. I am thinking the book was titled Foxfire.

charentejohn:
I have seen the log hives, lots of videos about, but they seem a lot of work.  More fun heavy woodworking than a perfect bee home.
I will me making a couple of hives to put in the trees around me.  When my hives swarm I will try to catch them and put them in there, or maybe other swarms will find them.  They will be sealed and 2m+ up the trees.
I am making them from 75mm (3") thick douglas fir boards as I have a local supplier.  They will be 'shoe box' shaped, imagine the box standing on one end back to the tree.  About 45L (12US gal) which should keep them swarming and a good size colony.
These are my backup bees and will be left completely alone to do what they like.  If I lose a colony I would hope a swarm would come from them, either way I am sure they will be happy there.

I am making it with corners as I am not totally convinced bees must have round spaces, I think they don't care. They end up in round spaces because they live in trees and trees are round.  They like the space behing shutters here and also between roof joists, ceiling and floorboards, a sort of fixed horizontal hive. 
They build comb in strips, sometimes in curves, but fitting comb into the small end of a curve must be tricky.  You can see what they did with an old box they lived in.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/WKVtpai1btREBAxd8  I will make the same general proportions only + 50% volume and way thicker walls.

A local french keeper told me (must be 60yrs ago or so) his father just kept bees in a vertical tube made from four wide planks with sticks in an X for supports. These supplied the family with honey.  The bees built down the tube and every so often he would scoop out a chunk of comb from the top and leave them to fix it and rebuild.  Otherwise left alone.  I looked it up and this was not uncommon. 

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