Top bar hives

[lindsay s]

Earlier this week a lot of news sites covered swarms in the cities and it was even picked up by Radio 2. Here are some of the headlines.
“Middle class urban beekeepers blamed for town centre swarms. Expert says new beekeepers don't know how to manage hives effectively, causing more swarms in cities”
“Yes, bad beekeeping is to blame for unwanted urban swarms”
“Urban beekeepers behind rise in city bee swarming “ there’s a nice clip at the end of this link. http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-13/u...-bee-swarming/
The Jeremy Vine show “Menace of Amateur Beekeepers” and he also called them “amateur hipsters”
Before we all head to our bunkers (or bait hives) it is swarming season and it was a slow news week. The usual guff was spouted by the newspapers but I do think there is some truth in the matter. While I’m hoping all the trendy’s will get bored and move on Monty Don has just gone and encouraged the next lot of bee huggers to start off with top bar hives. Things started nicely with bee friendly plants but when he moved on to top bar hives I thought” Monty how could you do that. You don’t know half the trouble you’ll be causing!” It’s time to head back to the bunker. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...015-episode-10 12:40

[madasafish]

I've still got my TBHs and lang jumbos. Guess which ones are healthier and stronger? Not the TBHs..

I will use them to provide frames for queen rearing.

[busybeephilip]

“Urban beekeepers behind rise in city bee swarming....... “Menace of Amateur Beekeepers” ......

This is unfortunate but to some extent true. In Ireland the FIBKA beginners course/exam concentrates too much on text book beekeeping and not enough actual useful beekeeping practice, the result being that beginners often dont know how to deal with a hive that is trying to swarm. Most beginners cant even find a queen let alone clip and mark her. After taking the beginners course a percentage of beginners would join a club for a year then never be seen again. Difficult issues to address but the consequences of this could be a council ban on keeping bees within residential areas as is practiced in the USA.

Many beekeepers are happy to offer their services to collect and remove swarms so showing a level of responsibility, others refuse. Each year, swarms in inaccessible places causing concern to the public is becoming more frequent, and complaints to councils are on the rise. Pest controllers, wary of court action due to applying poison to which other bees could access, often refuse to destroy bees even after a beekeeper has failed to remove a swarm.

Its only a matter of time before bees are banned from towns.

[madasafish]

Its only a matter of time before bees are banned from towns.

So tree bumbles will be banned (75% of all calls I get as a swarm collector are tree bumbles).? Nasty and aggressive when nests are disturbed by vibrations..

I will be interested to see how that works..:-)

[busybeephilip]

So tree bumbles will be banned (75% of all calls I get as a swarm collector are tree bumbles).? Nasty and aggressive when nests are disturbed by vibrations..

I think the point being made is that novice beekeepers can act irresponsible through ignorance of controlling their bees in the swarming season. There is a big difference in perception between a bumble bee or wasp nest being discovered than having a swarm of bees come down your chimney and fill your front living room or a bedroom and your local beekeeper or pest controller refusing to help. As a beekeeper you might think nothing of this but to a member of the general public it causes extreme anxiety to be suddenly confronted with thousands of potentially stinging insects which will often make it to the news column of the local rag.

Dont forget, in the mind of the public, its the nearest beekeeper that gets the blame whether they are his bees or not.

[Jon]

The problem is that beekeepers are not receiving enough practical training before taking bees home.
We are trying to address this locally via beekeeping courses and a summer programme.
Madasafish, I don't think tree bumbles have made it over to Ireland yet.

http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=con...-hypnorum-2014

[Adam]

I've still got my TBHs and lang jumbos. Guess which ones are healthier and stronger? Not the TBHs..

I will use them to provide frames for queen rearing.

Why do you think the bees in the TBH's are not so healthy or strong?

[Adam]

[QUOTE=Jon;30177
Madasafish, I don't think tree bumbles have made it over to Ireland yet.

[/QUOTE]

I assume they will. They have traveled across the mainland rather quickly and therefore must be doing well. Now if they consume the same foods as our native bumblebees; could we conclude that neonics - which will be common to both species' food intake - are not to blame for the demise of bumblebees? (I have no view or evidence either way - just point it out for interest). As the tree bumblbee nests above ground (should be called the tit-box bumblebee or I-have-bees-in-my-roof-get-them-out bumblebee) they don't get in the way of our native ground-nesters so the competition is mainly food I assume rather than nest-sites?

[madasafish]

It's basically because the design is heat inefficient. And whereas in a lang jumbo, thr bees can concentrate in two seams - and there are a lot in two seams, in a TBH they would be on 5-6 combs. So a less dense cluster .. Coupled with heat losses through top bars (although I insulate a LOT)

[Neils]

I'm actually sorry to hear that you're going to stop using tbh, I get why, but I've always appreciated your lack of "woo" that frequently accompanies keeping bees in them.