Mar 11
Here’s a great video from YouTube. It’s a trailer from the movie “Vanishing of The Bees” and spells out the consequences of losing all our bees through Colony Collapse Disorder. Personally, I think it is a very moving piece of film, and a real wake up call.
Watch it and see what you think – and don’t forget to leave a comment below!
Mar 09
Bee safety is an important issue for beekeepers and non-beekeepers alike. Beekeeping has several safety issues, but the biggest concern, particularly for beginner beekeepers, is of course bee stings.
Despite the popular misconception, fuelled by media stories about ‘killer bees’, bees are not aggressive creatures. They do not attack for no reason, and only sting in self defence.
But if you work with bees you have to accept that there are times when you will get stung. However, sensible bee safety means avoiding bee stings as much as possible. As a beekeeper you also have a responsibility to make sure you are not putting others in danger of being stung.
So here are a few basic bee safety tips to help keep those stings to minimum.
1 Wear proper protective gear
Ideally wear a full bee suit, but at least a veil, and gloves. More experienced beekeepers sometimes do not wear protective clothing. Experience makes your bee handling skills better, and after multiple stings you’ll find that you hardly notice them anymore! But as a beginner, always take full precautions.
2 Wear light colored clothing
Bees are much more likely to see you as a threat if you are wearing black or dark clothes. You should also avoid woollen type fabrics as the bees can get caught in them which just makes them angry. Of course, wearing a white bee suit will solve both these problems.
3 No perfumes
Do not wear any perfumes, aftershaves or other scents, as these can make the bees more aggressive. Natural odors are fine!
4 Work your hives at the right times
Open your hive around midday when many of the bees are out foraging. Late evening is not a good time as the hive will be full of bees and you will cause more disturbance and stress. Do not open the hive when it is very cold or raining. Especially when it has been raining for a few days, the bees will be frustrated at being stuck in the hive and can be a little bad tempered.
5 Don’t rush
When working your hive, take your time and avoid sudden jolts – smooth gentle manipulation will cause less stress.
6 Avoid sudden movements
When bees are buzzing around you, do not flail your arms about – it just irritates them and makes them more likely to sting. Let bees land on you and then gently brush them off.
7 Let the bees win
Sometimes your bees will become too aggressive to continue working with them. This can be because of the weather, or some other stress beyond your control. If this does happen, close the hive as quickly as possible and turn and walk away. Do not try to continue working with angry bees – come back another day when the bees have calmed down and try again.
Do not let the fear of stings spoil your enjoyment of beekeeping. Keep the stings to a minimum by following these 7 basic bee safety tips.
Feb 23
When you start beekeeping, there are certain pieces of essential equipment. Most of these, you will have to buy, but when it comes to the beehive itself, you have a choice. You can buy one (either ready assembled or as a flat pack for self assembly). But you also have the option of building your own beehive.
Obviously, this will not be for everyone. You do have to have a certain level of basic skills to be able to build a beehive. But you certainly do not need to be an expert carpenter – it is surprisingly easy to build your own beehive if you have a good set of plans and follow some basic rules.
The main advantage of building your own beehive is that it is much cheaper. Beehives can be quite expensive to buy – particularly fully assembled beehives, which have extra shipping charges because they are bulkier. You can build a beehive for a fraction of the cost. In some cases, you might be able to use recycled materials, making it even cheaper still – and doing your bit for the environment into the bargain.
As well as saving money, it is also immensely satisfying to build your own beehive. Beekeeping itself is a very rewarding hobby, but it really is the icing on the cake knowing that you built their home with your own hands!
So, if you would like to give it a go, here are some tips on how to build your own beehive and help to ensure that it turns out as you hoped – well-built, attractive, and long lasting.
Choose the right beehive plans
When building a beehive, you will need detailed plans and instructions. You can easily get free plans on the internet, but they are often very poor quality and difficult to follow – particularly for a beginner. Make sure that the plans you are using are comprehensive and easy to understand. The best plans include pictures from each stage of the building process or, even better, video.
Fully read the instructions before you begin
It can be difficult to resist the temptation to just get started, before you are properly prepared. Resist the temptation! Read your plans from start to finish before lifting any tools. This will give you an overall picture of the whole job. Without this, you will be likely to get confused and make mistakes.
Use untreated wood
When you are buying the wood for your hive, make sure that it has not been treated in any way. A lot of modern methods of pressure-treating wood use chemicals which can be poisonous to honey bees, so stick with untreated materials.
Do not take shortcuts with the glue
As well as nailing the parts together, be sure to use glue. Apply this just before nailing. It is easier to just rely on the nails, but glue provides extra strength and the extra effort will pay of in the long run.
Keep your beehive square
It is not essential that your boxes and frames are perfectly square, but they need to be reasonably square to allow the frames to fit properly. Use a carpenter’s square to make sure they are as true as possible.
Use paint or wood preservative
Hive bodies must be treated with wood preservative or paint. Apply a coat of good quality latex base paint, followed by an exterior latex paint, or else just double coat with an exterior wood stain. Either is equally effective – which you use is down to personal preference. Do not paint or stain the inside of the supers.
In very hot locations, painting the beehive white will help to stop it getting too hot in the summer. If you are going to keep a lot of hives in one location, it can be a helpful identification aid to the bees if each hive is a different color, although this is not essential.
Hopefully these tips will set you on the right path. The key really is having good plans. Nick Hampshire, a well known natural beekeeper, has produced a set of plans and detailed instructions (which now actually include video and audio) for building your own Warre hives (Warre hives are just vertical top bar hives).
If you would like more details about Nick’s plans, click here.
Oct 11
Welcome to the BestBeekeeping Blog.
Bees are fascinating creatures, and here we’ll look at all things beekeeping – why keep bees, what you need to start beekeeping, diseases and other issues to watch for, honey and other bee products and their uses …. the list is almost endless!
Beekeeping has never been more popular, but paradoxically bees have never been more at risk
Bees are under serious threat from pests like the Varroa mite, diseases like American Foulbrood or European Foulbrood, and more recently from Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD).
Of course the revived interest in beekeeping is partly because of the increased media interest caused by these threats. People are more aware of how important bees and beekeeping are for our food supply (one third of everything we eat depends on pollination, and 80% of all pollination is done by honey bees).
But I believe beekeeping is also rising in popularity because more and more people are beginning to realize that just maybe there is more to life than work, money, material possessions… and then some more work.
Bees and beekeeping have a unique power to allow you to switch off from the pressures of everyday life, to de-stress and unwind.
From the outside, it looks like mayhem. 60,000 bees buzzing about their hive in a seemingly bewildered and incoherent way. But each one has a specific job to do, and together they accomplish more every day than you could possibly believe.
Fascinating is a word that is probably overused when it comes to describing bees, but they really are fascinating .
You are reading this, so you are obviously interested in bees and beekeeping. So stay tuned, we’ll be posting to the blog very often. If you have any questions or suggestions we’d love to hear them, so please leave a comment below, or email us.