tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80941315345210654202024-02-07T04:54:58.089+01:00BeesWing.netViews on Bee Centric BeekeepingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-58082688380156952872017-05-08T11:11:00.002+02:002022-10-10T14:34:35.229+02:00Passing MemoriesIn 1930 my Grandfather won a prestigious silver cup for his honey at the annual London Honey Show held at the Crystal Palace. A year later he returned the cup and was given this tiny silver replica cup. As a child I remember the cup lived on the shelf by the stairs, my eye was always drawn to it as I ran up and down the stairs. After he died his oldest surviving son, my uncle, looked after and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-4232964951736521242017-02-05T10:14:00.000+01:002017-02-05T10:14:50.203+01:00Paleo Diet for BeesPaleo diets for humans is a simple concept; we don't eat the same food as our ancestors, and our bodies simply cannot adapt fast enough to the changes in the modern diet. Even changes brought about by the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry 10,000 years ago occurred too recently on an evolutionary timescale for the human genome to adapt. A Swedish study found that 75% of calories Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-42644477127425381392016-07-05T14:32:00.000+02:002016-07-25T09:31:14.702+02:00Non Treatment for Varroa Appears is Working for SomeOnce again interesting winter loss figures* from Clive and Shân Hudson from Lleyn & Eifionydd BKA comparing the winter losses of 1096 colonies not treated for Varroa with 477 treated colonies.
Interesting to note that during hard winters the gap between the two approaches increases, revealing otherwise hidden stresses in the hive.
Bees allowed to find their own solutions is the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-86787633303555586642016-04-14T23:35:00.000+02:002016-04-14T23:35:45.644+02:00Lovely hackle
Last Saturday I had the privilege of teaching this lovely group how to make an oak log hive complete with a bio-dynamic rye hackle for their pollinator sanctuary located in an organic small holding. This sort of project really chimes with me: local people getting together, having fun making a hive and a pollinator sanctuary not for honey, but for the bees.
The Zeidler (tree beekeeper) ofUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-39951268087865927262016-04-06T09:49:00.001+02:002017-05-02T23:25:38.081+02:00The Tree Beekeeping Field Guide"The Tree Beekeeping Field Guide" - Everything you need to know if you want to make a tree hive is now published.
It is designed as an eBook for iBooks, but it should work in any reader that can handle epub 3.0 format. There are many browser plugins for eBooks. If you do not have a reader, then the link below also provides a web view of the book and even a pdf. The readers give better navigationUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-44627302582704928312016-03-08T23:25:00.002+01:002016-03-08T23:25:37.237+01:00Learning from Wild Bees and Tree Beekeeping
Photo by Piotr Piłasiewicz of Bractwo Bartne
I recently completed an article for The Beekeepers Quarterly, issue 123. You can find the article here.
I have been thinking more about how tree beekeeping has been used in the past, and how tree beekeeping might be used in a completely new and inspiring way in the future: A platform for the Bee message as we move into a challenging period for Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-62917587112820642802016-03-02T14:50:00.001+01:002016-03-02T14:50:31.417+01:00Tree Beekeeping Climbing with a LeziwoMy tree beekeeping friend Tomek demonstrates an ancient form of tree climbing used by Polish tree beekeepers, or Bartnik. In Poland the skill was almost lost after World War II, but Tomek painstakingly (I think he fell off a few times!) recreated it from old archive footage, and he now teaches this skill to others. The technique is also used in Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Tomek makes it Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-30048705085885187852016-02-09T13:14:00.000+01:002016-02-09T14:43:25.173+01:00Past and Future ZeidlersA thoughtful piece by Michael Joshin Thiele on past and future Zeidlers (tree beekeepers)
my own, not quite so eloquent Zeidler faces interview ...
and one from my good friend Przemek who has done so much to revive Tree beekeeping across Europe
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-68718095941395112152016-02-04T17:11:00.001+01:002016-04-06T10:23:52.966+02:00Is it Feral or Wild bees ?
WILD - and that applies to ALL bees. Bees have never really been domesticated. In my view the term “feral” (having returned to an untamed state from domestication) is inappropriate. Often I see the phrase "escaped unmanaged bees" where the author wants to separate bees from native wild bees.
Does it matter? I think so, as some people seem to think bees need us. They just need us to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-53333482474642574372016-01-29T15:26:00.001+01:002016-01-29T15:26:15.521+01:00Tree Beekeeping Course - PolandA great opportunity to learn about Tree Beekeeping from experts, on an Tree Beekeeping International backed course ... and have a fantastic experience.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-33437706637169239522015-12-17T14:17:00.001+01:002015-12-18T11:20:07.493+01:00My Log Hive VideoI hope you like this log hive video on the new Zeidler channel (German for tree beekeeper), if you do, please share and give the thumbs up as the feedback is always encouraging. I am making an ebook on tree beekeeping which I hope to release at the end of January. A little later than previously indicated due to several other bee projects, which I hope I can talk about soon. My thanks to Jan Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-76936099190950872015-12-09T00:37:00.000+01:002015-12-09T08:02:59.647+01:00The Parliamentary Debate on NeonicotinoidsI have to apologise for suggesting that signing the "don't kill our bees" petition here might be useful. I didn't realise that forcing a parliamentary debate with almost 100,000 votes would be such a useless exercise.
The format is: A proposer, followed by a string of "speeches" which are interrupted almost every other sentence by other MPs in the debate. Then the government Minister responds toUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-70578334577140732972015-11-08T13:55:00.001+01:002016-04-14T22:29:27.680+02:00Video - How to make a Tree Hive
My good friend Jan made this video of me teaching how to make a tree beehive in Normandy. I hope you enjoy the video. If you would like to learn more about tree hives, please download this article about this ancient way of keeping bees akin to their natural preference.
Note, the hive is designed so that the tree is not harmed and will continue to live for many, many years to come. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-33173489004019463262015-10-28T14:40:00.001+01:002015-10-30T11:26:47.540+01:00Through Natural Selection, Bees, Varroa and DWV Reach a Stable State
A recent study finds that letting natural selection do its work, bees find a stable state with varroa induced Deformed Wing Virus (DWV):
http://www.mba.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Mordecai-2015-Press-release-FINAL.pdf
http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ismej2015186a.html
A Varroa-mediated transmission cycle can cause two DWV virus types (normally only found Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-71881486723697081592015-10-27T11:43:00.000+01:002015-10-29T10:16:41.729+01:00Faith in the Bee
When a swarm leaves the security of their hive in which they have invested so much energy, they leave with only a few days of food into the unknown. They do not know that they will find a better home, they trust the scout bees will find a home, they have faith in the wisdom of the swarm. This is not a timid faith, a swarm has powerful energy and total belief.
When they find a new home, they Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-6196747496886084872015-10-14T22:51:00.000+02:002015-10-14T22:52:50.385+02:00Support the "Don't kill our bees!" Petition
I have said in previous posts that I believe queen re-productivity has been compromised by pesticides. You can find a couple of these posts here:
Silent Hive
Is the Jewel of the Bee Hive Affected by Neonicotinoids?
Two recent studies really caught my attention as they support the anecdotes of many beekeepers who feel a similar way to myself. To keep this post brief I have picked Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-53183771465581299202015-09-13T16:25:00.000+02:002015-09-14T10:38:53.695+02:00Silent Hive
It has been a difficult summer for the bees in the south of the UK, and for the first time I fear the summer losses more than the winter.
Three of my five hives have suffered queen failure; the queen has stopped laying abruptly or a new queen has failed to mate. This includes my strong sun hive from last year featured here and my precious log hive featured here. My friends have Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-12922429119720171572015-08-19T22:15:00.000+02:002015-08-25T11:50:33.504+02:00The Bee Guardian Tree
On my 100th post I would like to thank my friend Tom for sharing this video of the "Bee Guardian Tree". While the shots are hand held and sometimes blurry, it just adds to the sense of discovery as we climb the tree with Tom.
A tree is a symbol of antiquity and enduring strength, the bee a symbol for abundance, productivity and love. Together they are magical.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-47346295296885475552015-08-01T09:26:00.000+02:002015-08-01T20:40:14.870+02:00Bee Breeding and Importation - A Broken Relationship
Together with their environment, bees represent a single sphere of unity, held together by thousands of dependent mutual relationships. It includes relationships: to pollen, between the individuals in the colony, to local hives, to their comb, to the bacteria in the comb, propolis, local plants, the queen, the local climate, and for managed hives, the beekeeper. When bees get sick, it is a sign Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-3595852990566395562015-07-10T15:50:00.000+02:002015-08-04T13:46:09.797+02:00The South West Natural Bee Convention 2015
Gladstone Solomon from Trinidad
prepares log hive at the convention
I was privileged to be able to speak about Tree Hive beekeeping at the wonderful South West Natural Bee Convention organised by Bryony Huntley from The Westfield farm natural beekeeping group and supported by the North Somerset Sustainable Bee group.
Over 16 speakers and demonstrators generously shared their Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-65597714399745088052015-06-22T16:51:00.000+02:002015-06-23T14:43:59.559+02:00Bees - Each a Thermal Engineer
The skill of the bee is often hidden inside the hive, but in this picture we get a glimpse. The queen failed to find the entrance to a hive while I was walking this small swarm in. So they camped outside for the night and each bee orientated to form the perfect thermal shape to minimise heat loss for the night. The next morning I gently scooped the cluster off the side wall and placed them Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-88932431510296947982015-05-14T14:36:00.001+02:002015-08-04T13:47:42.463+02:0040 Percent of Bee Hives Died - USA very worrying report from US Department of Agriculture report on bee losses with many signs that bees are at their stress limits. "What we're seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there's some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems," said study co-author Keith Delaplane""What shocked the entomologists is that is the first time they've noticed bees dying more in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-65134537836174828112015-05-08T23:08:00.000+02:002015-05-12T10:04:52.358+02:00New Bee Bacteria Casts Doubt on Conventional Beekeeping Practice
Each month, new research finds another component to bee health which conventional beekeeping has ignorantly trampled on for many years. In this case, the routine application of antibiotics in sugar feeds by commercial beekeeping is likely to be making bee hives weaker.
Recently reported studies carried out by USDA-ARS, describe a newly discovered bacteria Parasaccharibacter Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-9609599571511145282015-05-03T13:20:00.002+02:002015-05-26T14:56:18.070+02:00New Hives for Swarming Season
Dear bees - choose this hive
I'm so looking forward to swarming season. Yesterday I set-up my log hive with new roof made from biodynamic rye, hand cut by my good friend Brock.
This is set-up as a 'bait hive', which I hope a passing swarm will find irresistible. The key to a good bait hive is a couple of drops of lemongrass oil just inside the entrance (topped up every few weeks) Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094131534521065420.post-50340174422852803542015-04-17T11:49:00.000+02:002015-04-21T15:56:39.441+02:00The Super-charged Apiary - Bad for BeesI recently listened to an interesting talk by renowned bee researcher Professor Thomas Seeley comparing natural tree hives to apiaries.
Natural tree hive
High off the ground
Small nest (40 ltrs median volume)
Small hive opening
Thick hive walls covered in propolis
Queens live long on small brood comb (1Msq)
Hives well spaced (1 hive per Sq Km)
Regular annual swarming
Brood nest consists of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0