Bee House

[Mellifera Crofter]

On our windswept hill I often wish for a bee house or bee shelter as in some of Calum's photos. Surely a shelter might give some protection?

I often wonder how flying bees in a bee house could find their way back into their hives without having to first find their way out of the bee house and then back through the pouring rain. Would it help if the hives had two entrances - one open to the outside, and a smaller one at the back?

There is a little diagram in Ted Hooper's 'The Beekeepers' Garden' (1988) on how to position a hive inside the bee house. I've made a pdf copy of that page, but I don't know how to attach it to this post - so if anybody wants a copy, just send me a private message.

You can also Google for 'An Introduction to Bee-houses' by David F Bates. It's a help, but still leaves me with a lot of questions.

Here is a link to the Finsbury Park bee house: http://www.honeyshop.co.uk/Bee.html.

Kitta

[Calum]

hi Kitta,
the problem with a small entrance on the inside is that it increases the chances of 'silent' robbing, 10 mm window gap is fine (also helps keeping smoke levels down), I'll take more pictures the next time I am in my new bee house.

[SueBee]

I made a (removable) bee shelter out of some scrap timber which I use during winter (and again this MAY!). It keeps the worst of the weather off the hive, has an open front, the slatted sides allow ventilation, and the clear corrugated top allows the sunshine to warm the hive. Only problem I have with it is that I feel the need to tie it down with guy ropes just in case of a huge gust of wind.
Just took it off last week, but will put it back on this evening to take a photo and show you.
However, looking at the open bee houses, I am getting grander ideas...

[Troutnabout]

I got the idea for a bee house from a book my dad gave me "How to Keep Bees Without Finding the Queen" by Paul Mann, ISBN 978-1-904846-30-7, published by Northern Bee Books. The bee house is basically a shed with a gap in the roof that allows the bees out. The Bee House Chapter is short - 2 pages of text, 6 small B&W pics and a small line sketch of the house. The auther does say he has plans available for houses that take 8, 12 and 16 colonies, £5 per set.

Looking at the set up, I reckon the only form of swarm control that would be practicable would be a shook swarm.

[Mellifera Crofter]

hi Kitta,
the problem with a small entrance on the inside is that it increases the chances of 'silent' robbing, 10 mm window gap is fine (also helps keeping smoke levels down) ...

Thanks Calum - so would a bee house with a large roof overhang help to keep the bees dry on their way back to the hive - in other words, not like the Finsbury bee house I mentioned earlier? (Or am I being silly?)

Kitta

[Calum]

Hey Kitta,
Finsbury Park bee house - nice looking but I'd never again keep bees on two levels - one of the bee houses I work has bees on two levels.
Working bent over on those is really a pain in the back, and you offer a nice siloutte as a target.
The large overhang in one of the pictures in my album enables a row of nucs to be placed on the ground in front of the hut and be sheldered from the rain (I guess they dont like it druming on the roof...).

Turnabout, you'll need a hell of a lot of solar lights.. And white shows the dirt so well - unless you use a material you can wash off..
a skylight is a great idea though!

[Alvearium]

I remember in our association years ago there were two elderly beekeepers who had a beehouse and seemed quite successful. When I kept bees up north I came across 3 abandoned beehouses in the hills near Tomintoul. One still had bees in it. They were in a very isolated spot. They were probably built by David Emslie from Elgin in the years before the last war. I have attached an old Scottish Beekeeper advert. There is also a picture of these beehouses built on wheels in the Cummings & Logan bee book. They had little skylights at the top of the roof space to allow flying bees out. Our association apiary manager is dead keen on one of these for the future. Hope the attachments are there! By the way the beehouses I found were on metal runners so they could be winched on to a truck for moving.
Alvearium

[Calum]

Pictures of my newest bee house (the third one I am in). I'll try and get pictures of the other one that is missing from my album..

[The Drone Ranger]

Great pics wish I had a bee house now

[wee willy]

I recall seeing pictures of a bee house fitted with a 'Lantern exit' in the roof . after manipulation, curtains were drawn over the windows admitting light for the operator to see by, thus leaving the 'Lantern exit' as the only light source/ escape route.
I shall have to look it up again.
WW