Natural Beekeeping Network

David Maloney · Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: Beekeeper from Ireland says hi

Hi,
I have keept bees for five years and have always fealt that keeping them in as natural way as posables is the best for them and us. My first year was somewhat amaising as i had bought some emty hives of a beekeeper and had set them out as bait hives. I coaght 8 swarms that way, and then later that year I picked one up out of a tree, so I ended up with 9 going into the winter. I could not beleave my luck. > this year has been the first time that i have fead some of them sugar as the summer must have been really the worst in Ireland were im living. We had rain all the way throu the main honey flow. I only use natural treatments against varroa and i use no harmfull chemicals on the hive body .last year i decided to start a comercial enterprise and am aiming at 100 hives ,am at 17 going into the winter right now. I make alot of my hives using not wanted materials and had quit the sucsess with that ex.plastic barals for roofs , oyster bags netting for varroa floors and ofcourse useing pallets for the hive bodys and frames.I would really like ideas on this . I taught a beginers introduction course and that went quit well, i think i'm just very interested in encuriging as many people as posable to start with bees themselfs so im hoping to show that one can go into beekeeping with even very litle outlay.And lastly you have probaly realised that my spelling is very bad hope that wasnt a prob. best wishes David Smile

Norm · Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject:

Hello David & welcome. Smile

My Great grandfather was from Rathowen, Westmeath. Whereabouts do you hail from? Please tell us more about your natural treatments and how you plan to increase your holdings. Will you be changing the location of your apiary or apiaries? If you have to feed 17 sugar syrup, doesn't that tell you the situation won't support 100+. Great to hear about using recycled wood for hives, I am a bit of a pallet fiend myself! Razz

Love to see some of your photos.

Norm
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professor · Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

Hello David Smile

Good luck with your enterprise.
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Just as dogs love to chew bones, the mind loves to get its teeth into problems. That's why it does crossword puzzles and builds atom bombs.- Eckhart Tolle

jeezlebarf · Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:27 pm Post subject:

Yo! hi David! Someone else on the island! I think there are two other Ireland members here, one in Mayo, the other doesn't say. I'm in the north. Good luck with keeping a hundred hives going if you get up to that number.
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'Leave your bees alone' Charlie Nothing

David Maloney · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:06 pm Post subject:

Hi there,
So the natural treatments that I use are, thyme in the form of apiguard in conjunkshion with the varroa floor. Then for trachea mites i use obasoil witch has wintergreen in it. I am also trying an old herbal
treatment whereby you take some fresh sage and heat it in honey in a water bath.Just for general wellbeeing don't know the results to that one jet.This year i exspierinced a prob with chakbrood witch i think is due to the high rainfall as we have had a lot of fungi probs in the garden aswell.
Sorry i didnt explain about my probs with the feeding sugar very well, the hives are in 3 diferent lokations,the real problem was that i made alot of splits this year.(with mostly 4 out of 4 sucseading,probaly due to the nice weather before the flow) Those that made new laying queens had then very litle honey stores, so when it came to the time of colecting the main flow, they were firstly smaller and then also they did not have a chance to colect for there was not one day in 6 weeks were they could fly.Really scary.So ,i did not get any honey this year as i gave some to the splits and left some on the better ones,i also united some that werent worth keeping,some with old Queens. So lastly thanks for the welcome and my general area is in west Cork.best wishes David
P.s How did you fare up there in the north how was the weather treating you
pp.s The power of now really is a great book

biobee · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject:

Hi David and welcome.

Watch out for thymol - it is in fact a synthetic, and not extracted from thyme.

I hope to visit Ireland again one day - had a great time there 15 years ago...
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David Maloney · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

Hi biobee
Thats not good, as i took it in good faith that this was a complietly natural produkt . Have you got any addvise on what i could use otherwise also its really easy for me to get thyme essencial oil so do you know what the aplikation rate would be.You are also very welcome to pop by if you are ever back in ireland. Best wishes David

biobee · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:48 pm Post subject:

I have put the odd drop or two into a water spray occasionally, and in syrup - mainly to stop fermentation - but I can't say what would be a safe/effective dose.

You should probably read this first, though - http://www.springerlink.com/content/7287n5777t454026/

"Bee mortality was evident only in treatment with thyme oil." rings alarm bells in my head.
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GarlyDog · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:02 am Post subject:

Hello. Welcome to the forum.
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Ken · Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject:

Hi David,

I grew up in Cork Ireland, and just started with bees last spring. Know what you mean about the rain, Cork City was under water last week! In fact when I visited in July we only had about 3 sunny days out of 20, but we had a great time all the same.

Look forward to hearing more about your business venture and natural treatments too.