Natural Beekeeping Forum

This forum is funded by
Friends of the Bees.

It is free to everyone. If you can spare £1 per month, please become a supporter so we can keep it that way.

UK beekeepers join now and benefit from £5M Public Liability Insurance FREE with membership.

Natural Beekeeping Network
low-cost, low-impact, sustainable beekeeping for everyone

Forum FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register
Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in

biobees home \| how to start beekeeping \| courses \| 2013 UK events BFZ campaign blog \| beekeeping library \| articles \| bee news \| videos \| links contact \| podcast \| iTunes App \| Android APP

Friends of the Bees 2013 unConvention
NOW BOOKING!
Tell us what you want to see there

Get the free BeeAlert newsletter Free UK SIM with £5 credit

WORLDWIDE

Ask Amazon to stop selling bee-killing pesticides

* The Bee-Friendly Zone
* Global Beekeeping Calendar
* Natural Beekeeping online course

Help us remove
bee-killing garden 'pesticides'
from sale!

* Natural beekeeping courses
* Natural beekeeping events
* UK Swarm Catchers Database
* UK Plants database by postcode
* UK advisory info

HIVE PLANS

* How to build a top bar hive
* Warre hive plans

Share |

beekeeping forum

Please enter your username and password to log in.


Username:
Password:
Log me on automatically each visit:

I forgot my password

Join the
BeeAlert news list

Occasional natural beekeeping newsletter
(max. 1x monthly)
Please click here to sign up.

Advertise on this site

High Quality Top Bar Hives from Devon, UK

Constructed by an experienced carpenter from locally sourced, seasoned and sustainably-grown larch with oak legs. The standard measurements are: length 1m overall x 605mm overall width (roof) x depth 470mm (bottom of floor to top of roof) x height 990mm (ground to top of roof). The hive has a pitched roof, internal top bars and dividers and a stainless steel woven mesh bottom - (badger proof!) with a protective hinged wooden cover. The legs are oak for durability and are removable.

Price: £195.00 + postage and packing. Collection can be arranged. Ten pounds of this amount is donated to Friends of the Bees.

Bee Friendly Optional Extras:
Natural, organic oil/wax finish: £20.00
Larger hive - 1.2 m long: £20.00
Feeder shelf: £7.00

Natural weatherproof finish contains no toxic driers.

Call 07930285690 or email greyfieldtimber@googlemail.com

Also available: nuc boxes and portable/bait hives.
Please call for details

Protected by Anti-Spam ACP

Barefoot Beekeeper Podcast

Listen now

Subscribe in a reader

If the player misbehaves you may need the latest version of Quicktime.

You can listen to previous natural beekeeping podcasts and if you want to listen on your iPod, iPad or iPhone you can install the Barefoot Beekeeper app on iTunes. If you like it, please rate and review it!

Get the Biobees iTunes App

Get the Biobees Android App

Conserving wild bees

Advice from Jessie Jowers of the Bee Guardian Foundation:

All the research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.

There is a spectacular display of wild bee hotels here

You can find out how to build homes for bumblebees or you can buy a ready-made bee house here.

This forum is funded by
Friends of the Bees. It is free to everyone. If you can afford it, please become a supporter so we can keep it that way.
UK beekeepers benefit from £5M Public Liability Insurance FREE with membership.

Get the free BeeAlert newsletter
Free UK SIM with £5 credit

Resources

NEW BOOK

Learning From Bees:
a philosophy of natural beekeeping

A collection of essays by
Phil Chandler

Now available in paperback and ebook format from offthebookshelf.com

Kindle and other ebook formats here

Buy The Barefoot Beekeeper A4 format printed edition from Lulu.com available worldwide

Printed locally to you and delivered fast.

Buy The Barefoot Beekeeper here as printed book
or downloadable PDF file

Third edition now available in 9"x6" format
(now available worldwide - print US$15.00; PDF US$9.99)

Printed locally to you and delivered fast.

NOW for KINDLE - low-cost, text-only version for ebook readers, Kindle, iPod, iPad, etc. Get the text-only Barefoot Beekeeper here for only US$5.99

You can also order The Barefoot Beekeeper from your local book shop using
ISBN 978-1-4092-7114-7.

Join theBeeAlert news list