Keeping bees amongst the trees

[SteveA]

[RDB logs]

Blimey that's clever, just swapped a swarm I picked up in bait hive to proper foundation, complete chaos! Bees everywhere, hope I got the queen back in the box? Couldn't find her before I started, no stings, wallet £80 lighter,

[farmer rod]

I have a swarm at TN8, accessable from the ground on a sapling

 

07876 598188 if you can collect

[SteveA]

Blimey that's clever, just swapped a swarm I picked up in bait hive to proper foundation, complete chaos! Bees everywhere, hope I got the queen back in the box? Couldn't find her before I started, no stings, wallet £80 lighter,

 

It's pretty simple really.

 

There's also a shallow box called a 'quilt box' (with a hessian bottom) that sits on top of the stiffened hessian cloth, and that is filled with dry sawdust to help with humidity & insulation.

 

Important to wash modern hessian sacks though as they usually contain insecticides..... when I washed my hessian sacks the water turned a weird green colour.

 

The quilt box (upside down) at the back of this photo:

[farmer rod]

I have a swarm at TN8, accessable from the ground on a sapling

 

07876 598188 if you can collect

 

Bump

 

Still there Monday lunchtime

[New Boy]

I love bee keeping, very sad! Been doing it for around 5 years, though this year was the first time we tried to harvest our wax, very easy in the end and a lot of fun!

 

Roll on the lip balm, candles and a bit of home grown honey too!!

[hedgesparrow]

there is a bee hive down the woods they have taken over a hole in tree how would you tempt them from tree into a hive so you can then have them as i asume the queen would need to come out for them to move.

like to have a go.

[RDB logs]

there is a bee hive down the woods they have taken over a hole in tree how would you tempt them from tree into a hive so you can then have them as i asume the queen would need to come out for them to move.

like to have a go.

 

There are a few ways

They need to be bit swarm mode, so putting an empty used hive near by can tempt them in this time of year.

 

Cut the tree and get queen and comb

 

Make a bee vac and suck them out.

 

They are probably quite wild bees and could be quite nasty, but usually they are the best honey getters.

 

Good luck and I would wear a bee suit. Let us know how you get on:thumbup:

[Tim Stobart Tree Surgery]

I got asked yesterday to move a 'bumble bee nest' from a chicken coup he's just got, I've fancied having a hive for a while and have plenty of space for it, so, what do i need to do?

 

I guess it's a case of building/buying some form of hive, any advice?

Then physically moving the nest into that hive and transporting it to the new site?

As for protection, I'm guessing a dry suit and gloves would be effective with a decent hat/mozzie net combo up top.

 

I'm looking at it tonight, I'll see haw it looks and post on this thread!

[Inoff the Red]

I got asked yesterday to move a 'bumble bee nest' from a chicken coup he's just got, I've fancied having a hive for a while and have plenty of space for it, so, what do i need to do?

 

I guess it's a case of building/buying some form of hive, any advice?

Then physically moving the nest into that hive and transporting it to the new site?

As for protection, I'm guessing a dry suit and gloves would be effective with a decent hat/mozzie net combo up top.

 

I'm looking at it tonight, I'll see haw it looks and post on this thread!

 

 

If it is a colony of bumble bees, unless they are causing a nuisance or can be moved easily I'd leave them where they are, they will be gone in autumn/winter.

 

Unless the bumbles have nested in a box (they are often attracted to bird boxes) I think you will find it difficult to move them. Although bumbles are not aggressive, if you start destroying the nest while trying to move them they will get agitated.

 

If you want to keep bumbles do a search on Amazon for bumble bee nests and you will get an idea of what to build to house them.

 

If however, they are honey bees and not bumbles then I suggest you enlist the help of a beekeeper to move them because the consequences of getting it wrong could be quite dramatic. A bumble bee nest may comprise 30 or 40 bees, a honey bee swarm could have 20,000.