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Bees as a 'feature'
For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden,
just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. However I'm not that interested in "keeping bees" -- mainly because I think I'd probably ultimately let them down through my natural laziness, or waning dedication after the first flush of interest. So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. [Apologies to any bee-keepers who are insulted by what may appear to be a mere dilettante interest.] John |
Bees as a 'feature'
John wrote:
For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden, just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. Google is your friend! Keywords "keeping bees" filtered for UK only sites. http://www.bbka.org.uk/faq2.php Richard. -- "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." Gene Spafford (1992) |
Bees as a 'feature'
"John" wrote in message ... For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden, just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. However I'm not that interested in "keeping bees" -- mainly because I think I'd probably ultimately let them down through my natural laziness, or waning dedication after the first flush of interest. So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. [Apologies to any bee-keepers who are insulted by what may appear to be a mere dilettante interest.] John Find a local beekeeper - if you help establish the hive, they will even give you some honey..... Nick *** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com *** *** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com *** |
Bees as a 'feature'
John wrote:
For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden, just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. However I'm not that interested in "keeping bees" -- mainly because I think I'd probably ultimately let them down through my natural laziness, or waning dedication after the first flush of interest. My thoughts exactly! So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. 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. [Apologies to any bee-keepers who are insulted by what may appear to be a mere dilettante interest.] Likewise :-) -- Holly, in France Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool. http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr |
Bees as a 'feature'
John wrote:
So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. Hm, difficult. There's a pest at large now (a type of mite) which would mean your colony would not last long without treatment. Also, your "small hive" will quickly fill to bursting point, and throw off swarms all over the place at the right time of year. I have kept bees in a large garden - however, it did cause "neighbour problems", and renders part of the garden unusable. Perhaps you know of some land nearby which a beekeeper could use for an out- apiary? Another *possible* alternative would be to encourage bumble bees, which don't suffer from the mite mentioned, and have far smaller colonies (tens to hundreds of individuals, rather than several tens of thousands). N.B. having a bumbles nest somewhere awkward can be a nuisance, too. |
Bees as a 'feature'
In article , John
wrote: For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden, just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. However I'm not that interested in "keeping bees" -- mainly because I think I'd probably ultimately let them down through my natural laziness, or waning dedication after the first flush of interest. So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. [Apologies to any bee-keepers who are insulted by what may appear to be a mere dilettante interest.] I am a beekeeper, with one colony at the end of my small Brixton garden. I'm sympathetic to what you want, and indeed I like the look of the bees coming and going. But there are three problems: Firstly, there is a parasite, varroa destructor, which is now endemic in Britain, and is wiping out the whole population of wild bees. Beekeepers have to take regular action to keep the numbers down or the population will expand in their own colony until it wipes them oout. In doing this, it will provide a fertile ground for the parasite to expand and infest all the neighbouring colonies of bees. Secondly, even the most peaceful of bees (I virtually always handly my colony bare-handed) can, in certain circumstances, (such as queenlessness) become very vicious, and attack neighbours. If you're not a beekeeper you won't know either that this is about to happen or what to do about it when it does. Three. Unattended, bees will swarm, and you may end up with angry neighbours who have a swarm of your bees in, say, their children's play house. There are two solutions to these problems. Both involve contacting your local beekeeping club. The first is to find someone who wants to keep bees but has nowhere to keep them. This is common, and would suit both parties. The second (and this might easily follow the first) is to learn about beekeeping yoursself. It's fascinating, and incredibly little work throughout the year. Even in the peak season of May/June it involves only an hour or so a week. For much of the year it's about an hour a month. For winter it's nothing at all. I go away for the whole month of August leaving my bees to get on with it quite happily. Incidentally, for a few hours work in September, my colony provided me with about forty pounds of wonderful honey. (For various reasons, city honey is now often better than country honey) Lazarus |
Bees as a 'feature'
By the way, living as I do in a densly populated area, with a garden
thirty foot by (at most) less than twelve, I'd gently and mildly disagree with someone who said that you need a big garden to keep bees. The key is fencing the colony in, or at least facing it against a fence, wall or hedge. this way bees coming and going fly straight up to their normal travelling height of fifteen feet or so before setting off on their one or two mile journey to where they're going to feed. There are other important things, like giving them a good supply of water before they fix on the neighbours' pond or water-barrel, and making sure that you have a peaceful, gentle strain. There's no excuse for keeping bad-tempered bees. I totally agree with Sacha. There are few ways of getting so much enjoyment out of so little work. Lazarus |
Bees as a 'feature'
Lazarus Cooke wrote:
By the way, living as I do in a densly populated area, with a garden thirty foot by (at most) less than twelve, I'd gently and mildly disagree with someone who said that you need a big garden to keep bees. snip I totally agree with Sacha. There are few ways of getting so much enjoyment out of so little work. I know we have bees in one of the roof spaces of the terrace we live in. I've never found out which, but the most likely candidate is between ours and the house next door over a ginnel. They swarmed in 2004, frightening the neighbours, who didn't know what was happening. We called the local beekeeper who came and took them away. I would love to keep a beehive at the end of the garden but feel that it would go down like a lead balloon with my neighbours. My father kept bees and I find them absolutely fascinating. I could always keep them on my brother's paddock but he lives five miles away so I wouldn't get the benefit of them being close by (although I would get the honey). I've always fancied making mead. |
Bees as a 'feature'
Sacha wrote:
However, once the Queen produces more queen eggs Somewhat OT, but there's no difference between eggs to be raised as workers or queens. I won't go through the rest, as there's a beekeeping group. |
Bees as a 'feature'
On 15/3/06 11:36, in article
alid, "Lazarus Cooke" wrote: By the way, living as I do in a densly populated area, with a garden thirty foot by (at most) less than twelve, I'd gently and mildly disagree with someone who said that you need a big garden to keep bees. The key is fencing the colony in, or at least facing it against a fence, wall or hedge. this way bees coming and going fly straight up to their normal travelling height of fifteen feet or so before setting off on their one or two mile journey to where they're going to feed. There are other important things, like giving them a good supply of water before they fix on the neighbours' pond or water-barrel, and making sure that you have a peaceful, gentle strain. There's no excuse for keeping bad-tempered bees. I totally agree with Sacha. There are few ways of getting so much enjoyment out of so little work. You don't need loads of space as long as the hive is facing the right way and they have a good approach path, you're quite right. My garden had a tiny pond and they used that as their source of drinking water. It always fascinated me on hot days, to stand near the hive and hear the immense humming noise coming from inside as they used their wings to cool the hive down. 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. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon ) |
Bees as a 'feature'
In article , JanieB
wrote: I would love to keep a beehive at the end of the garden but feel that it would go down like a lead balloon with my neighbours. When I first began beekeeping, I asked my teacher about this. there are two answers: 1 - they need never know. Really. Keep the hive hidden from sight and there's a fair chance that none of the neighbours will ever find out. You can also, of course, keep the hive in a shed with a way out, facing in the right direction, at the top. 2 - A present of a jar of honey does wonders. Many people are really interested. L |
Bees as a 'feature'
On 15/3/06 12:02, in article , "Chris Bacon"
wrote: Sacha wrote: However, once the Queen produces more queen eggs Somewhat OT, but there's no difference between eggs to be raised as workers or queens. I won't go through the rest, as there's a beekeeping group. No, it's the manufacture of Queen cells that sets off that process, strictly speaking. You're quite right. I know there is an American bee keeping group but perhaps there's a UK one now? -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon ) |
Bees as a 'feature'
John wrote:
For a few years now I've rather fancied having a beehive in the garden, just to have bees coming and going, and adding a little more to our flowery garden. Although large-ish [*by modern building standards only*!], this garden belongs to a 60s semi-detached; we keep it hedged with shrubs and small trees. However I'm not that interested in "keeping bees" -- mainly because I think I'd probably ultimately let them down through my natural laziness, or waning dedication after the first flush of interest. So: is it possible to establish one small hive, wherein the bees look after themselves? I'd look after them to the extent that I look after our frogs and other creatures, in that I'd make sure the environment suited them as well as possible. To add to what others have already posted: Whilst you can keep honey bees in even quite small gardens if you plan things properly, because of the varroa mite it's unlikely that an unmanaged colony would survive very long -- I've heard it suggested that wild colonies aren't expected to last more than two or three years these days. There are also diseases which are notifiable and it wouldn't really be responsible to keep a hive and not look out for those. It's probably also preferable to keep two hives rather than one, just to provide a bit of insurance against a colony dying out because it is unable for some reason to produce a new queen when needed. If keeping bees doesn't pique your interest sufficiently to join a local bee-keeping group who can teach you the basics and loan equipment when necessary, perhaps you would be better off creating potential homes for bumble bees or mason bees instead. Different types of bee (and there are many) prefer different plants for gathering pollen and nectar -- the bees and the plants have "co-evolved" to suit each other. For example, I think I'm right in saying that honey bees don't tend to visit apple trees because their tongues aren't long enough to reach the nectar in the flowers. If you want to watch honey bees at work without the effort of keeping them, maybe planting suitable types of plant would achieve that. Honey bees are fascinating creatures though and operate at a level of complexity which is mind-boggling for such a small animal. If you'd like to find a bit more information before making your decision, you could probably do a lot worse than having a read of Ted Hooper's "Guide to Bees and Honey" or Alan Campion's "Bees at the Bottom of the Garden". The former is a "hard facts" book that many regard as the definitive text for beekeepers, whereas the latter is apparently somewhat more light-hearted (I neither own it nor have I read it). James |
Bees as a 'feature'
I'm a little miffed that my reply earlier only seems to appear on
google so this is coming from there. We eventually found our local beekeeper through someone we knew. Surfing using the obvious criteria only got us something to do with MGB cars. Both the local gov website claim to have knowledge but are not available at the weekend, and the police (who are supposed to keep a directory of such people) didn't comprehend what we were asking and suggested the council pest site (not open at the weekend). The site to look at is www.bbka.org.uk. They are absolutely brilliant and the chap who came and collected our swarm told us where they were going, invited us to see them when we wanted and if we wanted our own hive to help us establish it. |
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