Trunks for beehives

[steve gibson]

Hi. I'm looking for trunks to make into log beehives. They need to be a minimum diameter 18 inches all round and 33 inches long. Species need to be larch, douglas fir, scots pine or sweet chestnut ie something durable. I need up to 10. Preferably in the South Oxfordshire or Berkshire area. Is there anyone on here who could supply these or know of anyone who could? Any help or advice appreciated. I've attached a photo of an example. Thanks. Steve

 

 

[GarethM]

Would be interesting to see how you're putting them together and if they work.

 

Guessing you are going to lathe out the middle for a frame or let them do as they wish ?.

 

I'm sure I remember reading that idea in a natural beekeeping book, but the book was advocating horizontal hives and mostly leaving them alone.

[dan blocker]

Must be plenty of hollow trees about🤔

[coppice cutter]

I'm pretty sure the Natural Beekeeping Trust had links to someone selling ready made wild bee hives.

 

Natural Beekeeping Trust

WWW.NATURALBEEKEEPINGTRUST.ORG

---

Bees in the wild, bees in trees, bees as our teachers

 

[coppice cutter]

12 hours ago, GarethM said:

Would be interesting to see how you're putting them together and if they work.

 

Guessing you are going to lathe out the middle for a frame or let them do as they wish ?.

 

I'm sure I remember reading that idea in a natural beekeeping book, but the book was advocating horizontal hives and mostly leaving them alone.

I was reading up on this and it was quite an eye-opener.

 

Turns out that for all the ranting and raving about bees and nature, modern bee-keeping practices are actually just the equivalent of intensively reared chicken or pork and about as unnatural as you could get.

 

I hope the OP does indeed follow up on this with more detail as his/her project develops.

[GarethM]

I have been reading "keeping bees with a smile" off an on for a while.

 

Definitely is an eye opener, but I think its probably a little less intensive in the UK.

[Bolt]

Keeping bees in a trunk is an inspired idea.

 

Everyone knows that logs are best if you like keepin’ swarm.

[Bolt]

It’s certainly an interesting looking thing.

 

Looks like a pheasant feeder designed to be at a comfortable grazing height for  deer.

 

Not exactly pretty, but then, beauty (as they say) is in the eye of the beeholder.

 

 

 

[GarethM]

You just need the bare necessities 😉

[coppice cutter]

55 minutes ago, GarethM said:

I have been reading "keeping bees with a smile" off an on for a while.

 

Definitely is an eye opener, but I think its probably a little less intensive in the UK.

But even the concept of keeping bees on the ground is unnatural as you're keeping them down where the air is coldest in winter and hottest in summer.

 

I also think the vast majority of beekeepers everywhere now also feed some form of sugar to the bees so they can take as much honey as possible, which is totally unnatural, not to mention unfair.

 

Imagine if you spent all summer growing your own healthy fruit and veg to keep you going all winter, and someone took it all from you and replaced it with a winters supply of Big Macs.