Sacha wrote:
I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/nest_boxes.htm

Thank you)

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/nest_boxes.htm
--

This is perfect When I set up my bee box I shall join the trial)))

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
A report on radio4 this morning, asking people to keep a bee colony
in their
gardens and even on a balcony (for example) for city dwellers. How
practical is this?


IME, not very.
My German friend keeps bees and when I went over to visit her they
seemed an awful lot of trouble to look after. I saw an article in
the newpaper today too, which suggests they take one hour a week to
look after. Hah! Averaged over the year when they are dormant in
the winter perhaps! All that examining the combs to destroy queen
cells so they don't swarm, setting your smoker going to calm them
down, dressing up from head to foot. All that equipment needed to
spin the honey out, get the wax, treat them for varroa mite..etc.
No. I don't think it's very practical, having seen bee-keeping first
hand. It seems to be a very specialist subject.
It's not like you can get a hive, put it on your high rise balcony
and then ignore it, having done your bit for pollination and in some
ways that's what the article suggested - get bees - do good. No
mention of how high maintenance they actually are.
I think it's an irresponsible suggestion, but maybe that's just me.

Yes, I think perhaps one needs to be very experienced to keep honey bees.
As Phil said, it would better to learn from another beekeeper for a couple
of years before one gets one own hive.

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for bumble
bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made several and
they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of holes are
blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found it a good place
to lay their eggs.






I've a

On 2009-08-05 20:55:41 +0100, "Christina Websell"
said:


"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
A report on radio4 this morning, asking people to keep a bee colony
in their
gardens and even on a balcony (for example) for city dwellers. How
practical is this?


IME, not very.
My German friend keeps bees and when I went over to visit her they
seemed an awful lot of trouble to look after. I saw an article in
the newpaper today too, which suggests they take one hour a week to
look after. Hah! Averaged over the year when they are dormant in
the winter perhaps! All that examining the combs to destroy queen
cells so they don't swarm, setting your smoker going to calm them
down, dressing up from head to foot. All that equipment needed to
spin the honey out, get the wax, treat them for varroa mite..etc.
No. I don't think it's very practical, having seen bee-keeping first
hand. It seems to be a very specialist subject.
It's not like you can get a hive, put it on your high rise balcony
and then ignore it, having done your bit for pollination and in some
ways that's what the article suggested - get bees - do good. No
mention of how high maintenance they actually are.
I think it's an irresponsible suggestion, but maybe that's just me.

Yes, I think perhaps one needs to be very experienced to keep honey bees.
As Phil said, it would better to learn from another beekeeper for a couple
of years before one gets one own hive.

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for bumble
bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made several and
they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of holes are
blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found it a good place
to lay their eggs.

The photo in Country Life looks a bit like that. Someone seems to have
taken a block of wood and just drilled holes in it, so I don't think
anything deeply sophisticated is needed. Weatherproof and out of full
sun is required but otherwise they pretty much get on with it.
Certainly I would never suggest keeping honey bees on a balcony. They
need a good foraging range and a clear flight path. Up and over a
balcony or even through bars or mesh (which would be like letting long
grass grow in front of the alighting board) would be highly
undesirable.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?

Sacha wrote:
The photo in Country Life looks a bit like that. Someone seems to
have taken a block of wood and just drilled holes in it, so I don't
think anything deeply sophisticated is needed. Weatherproof and out
of full sun is required but otherwise they pretty much get on with it.
Certainly I would never suggest keeping honey bees on a balcony. They
need a good foraging range and a clear flight path. Up and over a
balcony or even through bars or mesh (which would be like letting long
grass grow in front of the alighting board) would be highly
undesirable.

noted

In message , Ophelia
wrote
Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?



About 5 years ago I put up 100 empty tubes. In the first year I had
around 10 occupied - the bees found there own way there. Each tube has
4 or five bees with 80% being female. In the next season many of the
bees return to occupy more tubes.

It's taken around 5 years to build up to around 200 occupied tubes and
if I had put out more tubes this year I'm sure I could have had another
300/400 tubes fully occupied.
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?


They just find it, but my garden is very attractive to bees as I grow plants
that they like.

Tina

On Aug 5, 6:00*pm, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
"Martin" wrote in message

...

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 07:55:26 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:

A report on radio4 this morning, asking people to keep a bee colony in
their
gardens and even on a balcony (for example) for city dwellers. *How
practical is this?

Put the Beehaus next to the Egloo?
--

Don't start me on Eglus. *They are far too small to keep chickens in, and
they are plastic which often gives the hens unfortunate enough to live in
them respiratory problems.
If anyone would like keep a few chickens, buy yourself a 6x4 garden shed,
lay some second hand paving slabs in front of it and construct a run made of
at least 2 x 2 timber on top of the slabs, attach weldmesh to this (chicken
wire will not do) and put a roof of cheap corrugated sheets on top of the
run.
You now have a fox-proof place, much larger than an Eglu for no more money.

I've noted that the Beehaus comes from the same manufacturers.

I hate this new idea that everyone can keep chickens in the tiniest of
gardens with an Eglu - and now it seems to be extending to bees.

Tina

Now don't you start me off Christina :-) My hens are out in the
fields all day long, they come back at dusk, they enter the Eglu at
around 10p.m. they are let out at 7a.m. to roam free all day. My
neighbour's chickens, which are kept enclosed in a farmyard, dirt
floor, no grass now, have ALL stopped laying and their nasty cockerel
is very bad tempered, he attempted a peck on my leg the other day, he
had better watch it or he will end in the pot!

Judith

On 2009-08-05 21:20:31 +0100, "Ophelia" said:

Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?

You would need bee friendly plants nearby but things like sedums can be
grown in troughs and pots.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Ophelia
wrote
Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?



About 5 years ago I put up 100 empty tubes. In the first year I had around
10 occupied - the bees found there own way there. Each tube has 4 or five
bees with 80% being female. In the next season many of the bees return to
occupy more tubes.

It's taken around 5 years to build up to around 200 occupied tubes and if
I had put out more tubes this year I'm sure I could have had another
300/400 tubes fully occupied.

Amazing)) Well Done!

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?


They just find it, but my garden is very attractive to bees as I grow
plants that they like.

That is a good plan. Which plants do you consider best for this purpose?

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2009-08-05 21:20:31 +0100, "Ophelia" said:

Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?

You would need bee friendly plants nearby but things like sedums can be
grown in troughs and pots.

Thanks

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:36:22 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 21:57:36 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2009-08-05 21:20:31 +0100, "Ophelia" said:

Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?

You would need bee friendly plants nearby but things like sedums can be
grown in troughs and pots.

We have a bee friendly garden but it must be 2 months since we last saw
even a
bumble bee. There were lots of bumble bees in spring and now there are
none.
On Monday, we put one of those Victorian wasp traps in the garden & got
rid of
the wasp population too. I had to put a few drops of beer in it first.

Pigs are the next thing to have in your garden
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ternative.html

Hahahaha they will be making a pig-glu next

On 2009-08-06 08:14:16 +0100, "Ophelia" said:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2009-08-05 21:20:31 +0100, "Ophelia" said:

Christina Websell wrote:

I am very interested in Sacha's comment, about having a 'hive' for
bumble bees. Have you heard anything about those?

Yes. They are easy to make, have a look on the web. I've made
several and they've all been taken up.
I've also drilled a log with holes for solitary bees and some of
holes are blocked up with clay, so I guess a few solitary bees found
it a good place to lay their eggs.

How do you attract them, or do they just find it?

You would need bee friendly plants nearby but things like sedums can be
grown in troughs and pots.

Thanks

Without wishing to blow our own trumpet, we were asked to make a link
to a local bee keeping society and I made a page that includes a list
of plants that bees like:
http://www.hillhousenursery.com/buzz.html
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon