Holly, in France wrote:

I don't know about how to establish them, but yes, they seem to be able
to look after themselves. We have them in the stone walls in one of the
attics. I tried to make traps/boxes after googling in the hope of
setting up another hive elsewhere but didn't suceeded so now I just
leave them alone. I think alot die off in the winter but enough seem to
survive to keep the colony going and sometimes they swarm and have now
set up a new one. They are nice to have around.

The bees will pretty much follow the queen anywhere. Catch her and the
rest won't be too far behind, given the opportunity. If you can catch
a swarm in a cardboard box and turn it upside down on a sheet leaving a
small gap at one side for stragglers to get in, you should be able to
leave it until the evening and wrap everything in the sheet to take it
to a pre-prepared hive and either just empty them in or make them walk
up a plank into the entrance. Suitable protection for hands, face and
any other bare skin is strongly recommended. This is the way I got my
first colony.

Bees are well able to find their way "home" and it's said that you can
move an existing colony no more than three feet or no less than three
miles, otherwise they'll just go back to where you moved them from.

Approaching the winter the queen slows down egg-laying and the colony
decreases in size through natural wastage. Male bees are kicked out of
the hive to die, too, on the grounds that "there's plenty more where
they came from". The rest form a ball around the queen and survive on
stored food over the winter.

James

Sacha wrote:

And the other thing that is both fascinating and mystifying is to see
a row of say, six hives, with every bee knowing which is its own. I believe
they do it by scent, IIRC.

I've been told that if a number of hives are lined up all in the same
orientation, returning bees can have trouble working out which hive is
"theirs" and for that reason the hives are better off places at an angle
relative to each other. That suggests to me that it's something
geographical that allows them to find their hive. Could be some
combination of the two though.

(Then again, a fair few things I've been taught as "gospel truth" about
keeping bees have later turned out to be just one of a number of
possible alternatives, all of which work perfectly well.)

James

On 15/3/06 22:01, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

Sacha wrote:

And the other thing that is both fascinating and mystifying is to see
a row of say, six hives, with every bee knowing which is its own. I
believe
they do it by scent, IIRC.

I've been told that if a number of hives are lined up all in the same
orientation, returning bees can have trouble working out which hive is
"theirs" and for that reason the hives are better off places at an angle
relative to each other.

Our predecessor here had a dozen hives with their backs to a hedge
lined up in a dead straight line. Each hive had a big number painted
on the side so I expect that's how the bees knew which one was theirs.

Of course. "Come in No. 1683 your time is up". Do you keep bees now?
Replying also to James, whose msg. I didn't see for obvious reasons, I
understand that bees take a sort of video of their hive and its location
and, now that I'm writing about it, I also recall being told that if you're
going to move a hive you can move it to a certain formula. I'm guessing at
either 3 yards or 300 but don't remember that properly. I'm sure someone
will. Presumably the theory is that they can absorb a change of 3 yards and
adjust to it but get 'muddled' if it's less than that so need to start all
over again. And of course, hives are moved when bees are hibernating or -
you hope - asleep.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"OP" here ... Thanks *so* much to all who have contributed: this has
been one of the most valuable and interesting threads I've read on URG,
and there have been many.

I know now that I won't be keeping bees, short-term at least, but I do
know much more about these lovely creatures.

Thanks again

John

On 16/3/06 10:48, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

snip
I'd love to keep bees, we had garden hives in my childhood, but don't
because one of my sons is so severely allergic to the stings I'd be a
nervous wreck every time he comes here. However, a friend bought the
hives that lived here so I still get their honey. Also, I found a
painting for sale of this garden with the hives in it .

Years ago John made me a beehive-lookalike for decorative puposes only.
I stashed plastic pots inside, but it got left behind in the move. The
OP might want to consider that combination..a fake hive to look at, and
buying pure honey made locally.

Now you mention that, I've seen beehive shaped compost bins advertised
somewhere. The Garden, perhaps?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

James Fidell wrote:
Holly, in France wrote:

I don't know about how to establish them, but yes, they seem to be
able to look after themselves. We have them in the stone walls in
one of the attics. I tried to make traps/boxes after googling in the
hope of setting up another hive elsewhere but didn't suceeded so now
I just leave them alone. I think alot die off in the winter but
enough seem to survive to keep the colony going and sometimes they
swarm and have now set up a new one. They are nice to have around.

The bees will pretty much follow the queen anywhere. Catch her and
the rest won't be too far behind, given the opportunity. If you can
catch
a swarm in a cardboard box and turn it upside down on a sheet leaving
a small gap at one side for stragglers to get in,

That is the sort of set up I tried.

you should be able
to leave it until the evening and wrap everything in the sheet to
take it to a pre-prepared hive and either just empty them in or make
them walk up a plank into the entrance. Suitable protection for
hands, face and any other bare skin is strongly recommended. This is
the way I got my first colony.

Well done.

Bees are well able to find their way "home" and it's said that you can
move an existing colony no more than three feet or no less than three
miles, otherwise they'll just go back to where you moved them from.

Hmm, well it's probably just as well I didn't succeed then! I was hoping
to set up a hive in the orchard, but that is only maybe 100yds from the
house. They seem able to move themselves within a few yards or so. In
any case, I decided to give up because gite guests might not appreciate
bees around at low level. At the moment we see and hear them coming and
going but the nests are about 15 ft up in the air so we rarely come into
contact with the bees except when they swarm.

Approaching the winter the queen slows down egg-laying and the colony
decreases in size through natural wastage. Male bees are kicked out
of the hive to die, too, on the grounds that "there's plenty more
where they came from". The rest form a ball around the queen and
survive on stored food over the winter.

Yes, that seems to be exactly what happens here. I thought (must have
read somewhere) that one of the things that varroa did was to make the
bees weaker and more susceptible to the cold. So I thought that was
perhaps why many of them seem to die off in the winter, since we don't
treat them and varroa is a problem around here, but maybe it is just a
natural thing.

--
Holly, in France
Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr