[Swing Swang]

It’s something that I’ve been meaning to do for sometime - start keeping bees again that is. I sold my stuff before I went to 'varsity well over 20 years ago, and am now shocked at the price of equipment.

After trawling the net it seems that there is a movement towards top bar hives. This low-tech option is extensively elsewhere in the world, and indeed on my travels I’ve seen them hanging from many a tree in sub-Saharan Africa often consisting of half an oil drum covered in short poles and hessian sacking. Moreover they are quite easy to make, which will reduce the costs considerably, and I’ve got plenty of time to get things ready in time to house an early May swarm. For personal consumption I'm quite happy to have honey in the comb and wouldn't be bothered that I couldn't extract it properly.

I wouldn’t mind hearing from anyone who’s had experience of this type of beekeeping, pitfalls, warnings, problems with disease control (I gave up before varroa) etc. Or even just a pointer to some good publications or websites.

Any takers?

Regards,

SS

[poultrygeist]

Can't help directly SS, but a few months back a member in Ireland made his own hive after getting some pointers and it looked a good job. You could do a search for beehive and see what comes up.

Kate's mum has got some bees and there were a few others interested in starting up.

If you post in the Chicken Chat you may find a good response, since most of the mad folk hang out in there  

Rob

[Trillium]

Just noticed this thread. In the past I've highly recommended you find a local beekeepers club and join. They'll inform you of all current pests, regulations, problems, etc and offer lots of help. I believe there's a similar problem in the UK as with Canada with specific pests, and even home hives not selling honey must be officially inspected to ensure those pests aren't about and/or thriving and posing  a threat to other beekeepers. It isn't what you'd want to hear but all people keeping bees must be responsible for controlling current problems.