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Guest indie999

Has anyone got a new Beehaus yet ?

By Guest indie999, in Bees

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Keep hearing about the Beehaus and I saw it on the TV has anyone got one..hope I am posting in the right bit.

 

Hope its going well I like bees since doing a Bee project at school many many years ago!

 

indie :)

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Lesley Eggsistentialist

Lesley

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I haven't, I'm still trying to get my head round it......difficult from photos :D

Now that is has launched people will be able to see it at shows so I expect someone will have one soon, and come along and tell us about it.

 

We have 3 National hives already - only 1 in use - so I'm waiting.

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Melbourne12 Chicken Eggspert

Melbourne12

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We wanted a hive in a hurry last week, but there's a minimum 3 week wait for the Beehaus. So I spent my Saturday morning assembling a wooden hive.

 

If there's going to be a long lead time, we'll wait until the new year before ordering one - no point in spending the thick end of £500 to look at an empty box for 6 months or more!

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Melbourne12 Chicken Eggspert

Melbourne12

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I'm really intrigued to hear how people get along with them, particularly if they've had other hives before , e.g. nationals or whatever - I just think the comparison would be good!

 

I think you'll need to wait until this time next year to find out how they compare during the main part of the season, and until Spring 2011 to get the full story including overwintering.

 

If we get one - and we're very keen - we'll post our experiences and comparison on this forum. One issue may be that even side by side in the same apiary, two colonies may not perform the same, so if a colony in a Beehaus doesn't prosper, that may not be the fault of the hive!

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chickenanne Chatty Chicken

chickenanne

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This is the thing with beekeeping: there are so many variables (hive type, location, treatment, handling, oh, and Her Majesty the Queen....etc etc) that you would never get a definitive "this works better than that" outcome from a normal-sized apiary.

But when people are using different hives you can compare between them for some factors (ease of use, dampness, weight, how robust they are, etc)

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Of course I do not have one, but I do have two Dartingtons which I constructed myself.

 

They are rather large and quite cumbersome but OK for a hobbyist who has plenty of space. Limited portability is a drawback but I run Nationals (jumbos) as well, so the Dartingtons have a niche in my beekeeping activities.

 

I don't think I will be making any more. One may be utilised for colony multiplication next year.

 

The advantages are: ease of manipulation, particularly early in the season before supers are added; easy splitting of the colony to prevent unwanted swarming; lighter 'supers' than other 'normal' hive systems.

 

Disadvantages are: size - you only really use it for 2 colonies during the swarming season; they are a bit fiddly to get everything to fit, like coverboards and the vertical dividing boards; fitting supers is not so easy - they may be light but bees trapped between the 1/2 supers can be a nuisance; harvesting honey from 14 x 12s is an added pain compared to spinning super frames in the extractor, as I prefer radial extraction (as opposed to tangential, which is used for the large frames) - that is not a problem for me as I will generally be using those frames for stores for use in my National broods.

 

The biggest disadvantage of the new plastic hive is cost; if I made any more wood versions, cost would be minimal as most of the materials are findable as packaging offcuts. 1/2 a grand for a bee enclosure is not for me, when I can have 3 or even 4 colonies housed and happy (and more easily movable) for the same sort of cost as one.

 

Considering the usual advice is to start with two colonies, so if one is lost or goes queenless or is weak, you at least have some means of rectification from the other colony, that is a grand.

 

I know that to make things easier on that score you probably need 1/2 a dozen colonies and a couple of nucs. That takes up a lot of time - paricularly if there are any issues which need attention. It is also 3 grand in plastic coops for them.

 

I reckon those that start in plastic will either be the ones who give up, or, if they continue they will invest in one of the more usual systems for their multiple colonies. Beekeeping with one colony is hard work if you know what you are doing. I know from experience. A loss of one colony in winter means starting again; 100% losses.

 

But you have to start somewhere and if you have 1/2 grand to blow, it's your choice. I would certainly watch and wait before I try one (unless I was presented with one to try!!). There are plenty of other plastic hive systems (poly hives) available at a fraction of the cost. The advantages of the plastic might be a huge improvement on the wood version.

 

Maybe all of the above issues, with the wood variant, have been addressed in the design of the plastic version. I hope so.

 

I hope also that many owners will realise they will almost certainly have to buy in fresh queens, as generally, temperament does not improve as unregulared mating occurs. One cannot afford to be manipulating bees in an urban environment if they are not entirely placid. I only keep nice bees in my garden. Most are out in the sticks - and if they are nasty, the queen is changed ASAP. I can select the best and reject the rest (well, keep them out of my garden, at any rate).

 

But I still quite like my Dartingtons.

 

Regards, RAB

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pdcambs Chicken Eggspert

pdcambs

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Hi Rab

 

 

Great post, thanks.

 

I bought two Dartingtons second hand from someone who was cutting back last year (he had about ten Darts I think) I got them partly because I like to play with different hive types, and partly so I could over winter 4 nucs on top of each by running the Darts with a colony in each end.

 

I find the Dartington a pain to work as it effectively is like working a 14x12 cold-way from the back (i.e. lifting large frames with one hand close to you and one far away rather than lifting with both hands the same distance from your body) which plays havoc with my back.

 

I've also found the roofs blow off easily so I have to strap them down; but I understand the Beehaus has straps to prevent this from happening.

 

I've also have very poor honey crops off these this year, although it's not been a good year here anyway ... too dry!

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pdcambs Chicken Eggspert

pdcambs

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I like the idea of them, but when i have a bigger garden!:)

 

One thing tho, they are expensive, would the cost of startup outweight the benefit? how long do the bees live for etc?

 

Soz if dum questions! i have no idea about keeping bees :)

 

 

I like to think there are no dumb questions, just questions we don't yet know the answers to.

 

 

In the height of summer a bee is likely to live about six weeks. However, during the winter when the colony is clustered up in the hive, life expectance can be several months rather than weeks. The short summer life span is largely down to wing wear on foraging trips.

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chickenanne Chatty Chicken

chickenanne

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I like the idea of them, but when i have a bigger garden!:)

 

One thing tho, they are expensive, would the cost of startup outweight the benefit? how long do the bees live for etc?

 

 

I guess it depends on what you see as being the benefit as to whether it outweighs the costs :D !

The queen will generally be replaced by bee keeper every couple of years (some do it every year, some less often); basically the workers are being continually replaced with new bees as the queen lays eggs all spring/summer and into the autumn.

The life of each individual bee is kind of irrelevant, it's how long the colony can live for that's important (this is also how the bees "look at things"!). Which with good management can be an indefinite period.

They are truely fascinating creatures, and the more you learn about them the more you get sucked in to how intriguing they are!

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pdcambs Chicken Eggspert

pdcambs

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ok cool

 

so does it cost anything to keep bees? once you've brought the beehive?

 

 

Some expensive items like extractors can sometimes be borrowed from the larger associations; otherwise they are from £200 to £600 (some people crush and strain or melt out combs)

 

Feeding and medications can be a cost if you do them.

 

Jars and labels have to be bought if you get much honey.

 

You'll probably make or buy a solar wax melter to process spare wax.

 

Frames, and foundation if you use it, need rotating and replacing, 1/3 each year is considered good practice.

 

Other equipment is needed for candle and polish making if you go down that route.

 

Then there are catalogues full of beekeeping stuff you can buy if you want to, check out www.thorne.co.uk

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pdcambs,

 

How to start beekeeping for free

 

Beesontoast did say 'almost for nothing'

 

Everything is relative. I would agree with that comment in the context of this forum.

 

Removing 1/2 a grand from the equation is 'almost nothing'

 

Home made veil, second hand smoker, screwdriver (or old wood chisel), and you could be up and away for peanuts in costs. Not necessarily recommending it, but....

 

One was a book title, one was just the plans that were free.

 

I could build a Dartington entirely from pallets and s"Ooops, word censored!" packaging, so leaving a few screws and maybe some glue, oh, and something for the floor (2 layers of a mesh which just happens to have been bought and paid for, for another job). Paint from the recycling plant?

 

Of course not all have the tools, the expertise, the time or the inclination.

 

BTW, time was not a consideration in the costing either, so it must be made in your 'free' time.

 

Ymmv.

 

Regards, RAB

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I bought a Beehaus :o

It took ten mins to build the box and about 30mins to build the frames. 8)

I am getting a Nuc of bees from easy bee on Saturday so as I can get my guys overwintered and established :wink: .

Yes £500 is bit steep but you do get two hives for the price, you also get everything [except a feeder] and my yellow haus looks really cool!

My neighbors are cool about the whole think [especially as I bribed them with free honey next year] and i think it will look nice in the top of the garden. So nice I have bought a ground spike so as to chain the thing to the ground.

I am sure that the thing about the whole concept is that like me lots of people will try bees for the first time, and i think the easy maintenance of the hive will most definetly be a winner.

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