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Author Topic: Layout advice please  (Read 1946 times)

Offline Wombat2

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Layout advice please
« on: March 04, 2015, 03:54:50 am »
I'm facing a siuation that the best location for up to at least 12 maybe more hives is in a straight line along a dam wall running east west with the hives facing north (southern hemisphere - sub-tropical with no winter to speak of)

I read here and elsewhere there can be a problem of drift in such a situation.

Anyone have ideas on geometric shapes and colours to paint on the fronts of the hives to tell the bees which is theirs?

David L

Online Michael Bush

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Re: Layout advice please
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2015, 08:39:38 am »
>Anyone have ideas on geometric shapes and colours to paint on the fronts of the hives to tell the bees which is theirs?

Paint them however suits your fancy.  The bees will figure it out.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline little john

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Re: Layout advice please
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2015, 11:08:30 am »
If you Google "bee houses", "Slovakia", "Carniola" etc, you'll soon come across Eastern European methods of hive placement and paint schemes. Quite often hives are stacked 3 or 4 high, maybe 20 or more in a row, butted up close together - and yet the bees seem to manage to find their own entrances ok. Often they have trailers stacked like that, too.

If you Google "Anton Janscha", you'll see some exotic examples of painted hives, although most of the guys over there settle for block colours - squares, circles, diagonal stripes and so forth ...

LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

 

anything