Bee Keeping

I was just wondering how one might go about making a hive and populating it with bees?

Just asking...

Steve,

You could try this search for starters

MichaelG.

Well they are made of wood so probably the first thing you need is a router.

Then you can get routed...

G'day.

A build thread on beehives. Now that would lay a few ghosts to bed.

As for 'engineering' related, a couple of local blokes have come up with a real beaut design, and made quite a few bob out of their invention **LINK** . Now that's engineering!

At the end of the day, without bees there's much less food, and with less food it's more expensive and so there's not much cash left over to spend on lathes and tools.

At least this thread title gives one the option to STAY AWAY, but in reality it may just sting a few whingers into action.

As Ned Kelly famously said (just before the trapdoor opened beneath him) "Such is life".

* Danny M *

I used to live in Kenya , I bought a 'Kenyan top bar hive' which was a very simple trapezium shaped hive that anyone could have built. The clever part of the design was the top bars, they had a groove machined along the bottom that had a line of beeswax in it. You hung the hive up and the smell of the beeswax attracted the bees. I had bees in my hive after a couple of months. If you Google "Kenya top bar hive" you will find a dimensioned drawing and details of this type of hive.

Edited By norman valentine on 14/11/2015 00:03:07

Edited By norman valentine on 14/11/2015 00:04:44

An absolutely brilliant piece of engineering. I saw it on TV and couldn't believe how simple they have made it. But they raised $1.4million for a production start up that needed only $70,000. Sounds more profitable than anything I've done in the shed so far!

I don't know about bee keeping gadgets, but the usual problem with crowdfunding campaigns for electronics projects on Kickstarter and indiegogo is that they seriously underestimate the cost of developing a new product and getting it to market.

I agree. In an earlier life I worked as part of a team building software solutions for NC machine integration - basically trying to solve the problem of how do you connect a myriad of different NC controllers to Ethernet, purely for the companies machine shops. The boss decided and then persuaded the board we should take our solutions to market.

What we had working + publicly demonstrable (got a slot on the Money Programme!) on the shop floor took years of serious effort and cost a small fortune to take to market as "Product". I suspect the 'packaging' cost as much as the development and build of the solutions.

Another interesting Thread started.

All I can say is "KEEP THEM COMING!"

This video had my eyes popping in disbelieve for the most obvious reason, so need Clive to explain please.

This one should interest you Clive, as it just shows what can be achieved with very little effort.

Geoff - A fascinating subject, as I found with my 'hive'

I made a couple of hives to the national standard some time ago. A time consuming job as it needed to cut and plane a lot of small parts. On reflection, I think it is much better to buy the kit for the National hive and assemble it yourself. This will ensure that all the internals fit such as the foundations for the honey.

I have just come across this post so here we go, naturally bees will use a cavity, this will be approx 18" x 18" and will expand vertically or horizontally as it does not matter which as all they want is warm and dry!

From the video they are extolling the horizontal method where the bees will expand there wax combs as they build up from the Spring and this method has the advantage of being accessible in the flat direction so that combs can be removed without have to lift heavy boxes of combs vertically. This has advantage for older persons or disabled. A disadvantage is that the horizontal hive stands on 4 spread legs and is easily blown over as it's C of G is high. Also it is not easily moved taking more space etc.

Traditional beekeeping has nearly always been in the vertical so you add boxes and the bees will also expand the wax and combs, but in boxes that are easily transported and manipulated, I am an exponent of the vertical method in National Hives. There are others like WBC's and Commercial hives but even I cannot lift a box weighing 60lb easily.

Beekeeping is a personal thing and the choice is one you live with as if you have 2 or even 3 types of hive you have to source equipment for all 3 types, ergo, better stick to one type of hive as it can be expensive.

Now, all wood hives should be made of Western Red Cedar, but of late some white wood hives have appeared and they are cheaper but will not last as long. basically buy a flat pack brood box and shallow boxes with a base board and a Crown board and a roof. then get your bees. One very important thing that novices never take into account is bee space, that s that bees will fill any space over 5mm with brace comb. Hives are built in such a way that bee space is included in the make up and measurements. I often have to break down a hive and rebuild the boxes as they have no bee space.

A novice beekeeper has very little knowledge of bees, their ways and actions so it is better to have a person with some experience to mentor while you learn. Never take all the honey, leave one box above the brood box and that is the bees reserve for a harsh Winter/Spring period.

Look on bee keeping as a philanthropic hobby, but if you go commercial then you will need to engage in the sale of beekeeping hardware and engage with customers and the beekeepers who may have more experience than you. There is no money in just taking honey and selling it as the overheads will kill it dead. A Gross of 1lb jars is £75, A hive complete empty, flat pack will cost £350 in Cedar. Start small and the bees will build up slowly. At one time I ran 15 hives and it took all my time, I now run 8 hives and make a reasonable harvest and sell locally. Farm shops etc. Remember you have to conforming to labeling regs. and weight conformity and origin of the honey by law. Hygene is also on the list as if you sell honey they can inspect the processing place and it has to be separate from any other food process.

Sorry, long post but needed it seems. Clive I am happy to expand explanations if needed so please ask.

Geoff, Clive

Thank you for this interesting, amazing subject.

Alan

Steve, missed your query, there are several beekeeping concerns that supply beekeeping equipment. Maisimore and Thornes, they will supply all your hardware needs as well as a bee package. Currently a bee package from them is £155 on 6 combs with a proven Queen and brood.

Best you find a local bee club and do an induction series of lessons and stay under their wing as you will find they will help you through any process including getting a suitable package of bees as a swarm.

Nothing like old gits to help you through the formative early period of beekeeping as they will go out of their way to help you.

Clive

> Maisimore and Thornes, they will supply all your hardware needs as well as a bee package. Currently a bee package from them is £155 on 6 combs with a proven Queen and brood.

I recall that a beekeeper used a package like this to set up a hive on one of our nature reserves in my previous life.

It worked very well.

Neil

I see even our regular ME suppliers are now getting in on the act, I'm sure there are a few here who would find a use for this tool that Chronos can now supply

Thank you Clive - fantastic.

Now can anyone explain why, when there is so much knowledge from accomplished people who are delighted to share that knowledge for free, why anyone would want to "Direct" ie restrict posts to a limited set of things that involve a lathe tool?

The forum is for Model Engineers to share experience and knowledge - leave it at that. The majority of posts will be self directing to the majority interest. I posted some work on a 1090MHz RF filter I was making, got some great help from Jason and one or two others, but it didn't kick off any massive interest, so it's not a topic that persisted, even though the filter is 80% milling 10% lathework and 10% drilling and tapping. That's how this works.

If we make the title of any post explicit so readers know what to expect, then readers can pass over Bee Keeping if it's not their thing. The post titled "Can anyone help" isn't helpful, but If a post is titled "Can anyone help - can't get a smooth finish in a cast iron bore". Jason will pile straight in to help out + a number of other regulars. Others will pass over to other posts that draw them in.

Steve

PS: I'm dead. My wife just handed me the last Galaxy Cake bar. Apparently it was the last one to split between us and I just inhaled it while typing this.

.

Steve,

I agree 100%

Your words should be 'writ large' in a banner headline

MichaelG.

It's over 25 yrs since I kept bees with annual trips to the heather on the north yorks moors local to us,we made polish from the beeswax with turpentine & last year I was clearing out one of our sheds & came across a couple of dozen jars of honey,some of the lids were a littly rusty but the honey is good & we're eating it now, it keeps for years & it's an antiseptic too.

.

Yes ... Inclusive OR