Bee hive

[SteveA]

Top bar hives are very easy to make compared to most others so would echo TGBs musings there.

Not sure how practical the cedar bee house would be for controlling Varroa though.

 

We control varroa by giving them local access to a wide range of habitat with no chemicals being applied & we don't feed them any sugar.... regardless of the weather.

 

We've lost a few hives but that's natural (ish) selection for ya!

cheers, steve

[Paul in the woods]

We control varroa by giving them local access to a wide range of habitat with no chemicals being applied & we don't feed them any sugar.... regardless of the weather.

 

We've lost a few hives but that's natural (ish) selection for ya!

cheers, steve

 

Do you know what sort of varroa load the hives have then and have you examined any of the bees to see if they're being affected by the mites?

[SteveA]

Do you know what sort of varroa load the hives have then and have you examined any of the bees to see if they're being affected by the mites?

 

No. We don't inspect for anything unless it's during a box removal.

It's highly likely that all of our hives have a certain amount of varroa.... but we always let them swarm (as in nature) so that's a good way of breaking the varroa breeding cycle.

 

I know of other beekeepers that use varroa control and have lost plenty of hives..... so we're more interested in keeping strong strains of bees that can keep themselves healthy via their own gatherings. Maybe a big part of the problem is that we humans gather too much of their tasty honey and think we can simply replace it with cane sugar & with no adverse affects?!.... honey isn't just a food source for bees, it's also their pharmacy.

 

cheers, steve

[SteveA]

If anybody is interested in building a warre hive (a nice winter project) here's plenty of info to do that: Beekeeping with the Warr hive -- Plans for constructing a Warr hive

cheers, steve

[Paul in the woods]

It's highly likely that all of our hives have a certain amount of varroa.... but we always let them swarm (as in nature) so that's a good way of breaking the varroa breeding cycle.

 

We've just treated our hives with oxalic acid. One that was a young colony from a late swam this year had rather a large amount of varroa.

 

I'd like to move to less intervention but I'm not convinced it is the right thing to do. Agree with feeding no sugar if you can but as humans introduced varroa to UK bees should we just leave them to it?

[TGB]

The bee house/s are opened up at any time. You site them, then leave well alone, after either introducing a caught colony to the box or letting a swarm choose it. The bees look after themselves for the duration of their stay. Be that a couple of years or many years.

 

As to Varroa, I'm of the opinion, that it's best to let the bees sort themselves out. Breed a stronger bee and there's a fair amount of evidence to support not treating and getting a naturally healthier population, compared to treating and still get problems.

[Paul in the woods]

As to Varroa, I'm of the opinion, that it's best to let the bees sort themselves out. Breed a stronger bee and there's a fair amount of evidence to support not treating and getting a naturally healthier population, compared to treating and still get problems.

 

I know there are people selecting and breeding honey bees to cope with the varroa themselves but I don't think it's a simple as just leave any old colony to it. I know someone who didn't treat for several years and in the end the bees became noticeably deformed and they were forced to treat. I would like to treat less though, hence being curious to know what sort of varroa load and general bee health people who've not treated their bees have.

 

With the logs you're not get 'wild' bees unless you live somewhere very remote, you'll get a swarm from a colony that's likely to be used to being treated. The logs also don't seem to have much ventilation which is one of the things that is proven to help bees cope with varroa.

 

Then there's AFB/EFB etc and possibly small hive beetle in a year or two.

[TGB]

And there's neonics to worry about too.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

And there's neonics to worry about too.

 

 

No need to worry about that apparently, the NFU have decided population decline pre-dated neonic use so it can't be that.... 😳

 

http://www.nfuonline.com/cross-sector/environment/bees-and-pollinators/bees-and-pollinators-news/bees-and-neonicotinoids-whats-it-all-about/