Hi everyone - Brum England :)

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

Feel free to ask lots of questions! We're all here to help.

 

[drumstick diva]

glad to meet you

 

[gander007]

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[Garona]

Thanks so much everyone!

Rebrascora: we are very much so interested in bee keeping but have not yet found the appropriate materials to make a hive so any tips on that would be wholly appreciated! I love your cabinet hutch idea. The bedside cabinet broody box had a similar door opening feature as a ramp but alas it has now broken off

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again Steph

If you are building yourself and want something that is sustainable, then a Top Bar Hive is the way to go. You need to do some research though, so that you understand the basic needs of bees. I particularly like the biobees forum.

I was at a Natural Beekeeping Conference in Lancashire last month and a lady there had built a top bar hive from old car tyres. She had no previous knowledge of bees or beekeeping other than having attended a 2 day local natural beekeeping course. She went home, looked around at what she might use. Found the tyres and applied the principles she had learned. Built 2 hives from tyres and put them in her postage stamp size garden and within a few weeks 3 swarms turned up. Two of them moved in of their own accord and the other she borrowed a bait hive from someone else to catch it in and gave it away....

I would probably recommend building your first hive from wood though (there are free plans on the biobees website) you can use reclaimed wood but need to be aware of anything that it may have been treated with. I've built one from an old corner cabinet and another from some tongue and groove panelling that was ripped out of a local clothes shop when it was refitted. Some people have used old pallet wood, but preferably heat treated, rather than chemical treated. If the wood is not very thick, (my panelling was just over 1/2 inch), I made the side panels by laying lengths vertically and then horizontally and screwing and gluing them together. The benefit of this is that they don't twist or warp, which can be a problem on 3-4 foot lengths of wood.

Unfortunately I am unable to take and post photos, but if you do a google search on Top Bar Hives and/or Natural Beekeeping you will find lots of examples, in many different shapes and sizes.

If you want any more info, please feel free to PM me.

Best wishes

Barbara