Where does the time go?

It has been a very long time since I last posted please accept my apologies so many things have happened I would not know where to start so each week I will post about 1 item and look forward to hearing from you in return.
Oh yes not forgetting a link to somewhere different CLICKHERE

The Apiary of Dreams (if you build it they will come)

Hi all I post today with a real sense of trepidation, excitement and eagerness, you see I went to visit a local bee keeper who has almost stopped keeping, due to the rising costs of bees, varroa mite destroying his colony's and yaffle's pecking through the side of his hives and eating his bees, He has gone from 30+ hives to almost 0, Dave has very kindly offered me space and hives in his apiary all I have to provide are some woodpecker protection, bees and foundation, he has also said that I can learn from his experience, 30 years worth, now that is an offer to good to refuse, so very soon I will talk to Dave about cleaning up a couple of hives ready for next year. Exciting or what?
 You may be thinking why the title of this post? well David thought his beekeeping was about over but when he walked down to his hives a couple of days after I had called him to his joy he discovered a swarm of bees had just taken up residence in one of his hives, from out of the fields "came the players" so as to speak, a lovely gift for a nice gentleman.

Please check out today's link HERE I really think you will like it, as usual I am not letting on where it takes you just click and see.

Mobile phones to blame for colony colapse disorder and loss of bees

It seems we all might in part be responsible for the death of millions of our tiny buzzing friends, what do you think I would love to read your views?

Check out this link to the Independents article HERE and please leave your thoughts back here for us to read.

ECO WARRIOR

I must confess to you I am no Eco-warrior however it has been my conscious effort to reduce as much as possible my carbon footprint in developing my beekeeping.
Hive building was to be the key area for this activity I am now building what I think is the most carbon neutral hive I can, topbar, yes I know I was going with Dartington hives but the amount of ply wood involved just made me gasp, big carbon foot print.Instead I am now using recycled wood, very few fixings and a lot of hand sawing,I have allowed myself to use a battery drill/driver and my band-saw but that will be all the power tools I will use.
So next stage is roof building and covering material considerations assuming my new "Eco-warrior" stance I am not sure what to use yet but I will post when I know.
Please check out the link HERE it takes you to an interesting site about reducing your carbon footprint.

stung and loving it

Hi all, finally got to see inside a beehive the other day I got stung twice, being brave or rather trying to "experience things properly" I decided to go commando with the bees, well, not no undies commando but no veil commando, you see if I live in fear of getting stung it will become a controlling factor in my approach to my beekeeping, so I decided to experience it first hand and yes it hurts, but not as much as I thought it would, its scary because you can hear the bees but you can't see them. As my friend opened the hive 1 or 2 guard bees decided to go on the rampage and I got "hit" as they say.
So, I now have first hand knowledge of the consequences of bee keeping which includes running around someones garden flapping your arms and pulling off layers of clothing because your not sure where the little buggers are. Highly amusing afterwards though.
My concerned friend was very kind but I bet he laughed later when I had gone home and rightly so.
Am I put off? you may ask, "not on your nelly" I reply, no I feel sure that this is the way forward hive construction continues at a pace and there has been an offer of another site for later use, more later about that.
Long post I know but worth the read I hope?
Check out this link HERE for info on honey bee pollination you will be suprised at what bees do for us.

My daughters blog

CLICK HERE




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's happened a new element of the sticky programme is becoming reality;

The first hive has been started, my first hive has been started, construction went pretty well, as my tools are limited, it could have been better thought out, and maybe I should have followed the plans? however being male that just wouldn't do would it? but I am happy with the outcome. I will post a piccy soon.

Meanwhile please note my email has changed it is now patrick@thestickybeekeeper.co.uk

HERE is a link to another cool site well I think its cool, and as this is my blog it must be cool.

It's all about to change;

Hello all its all about to change for me I have decided to take on a domain name I may change my email address and I may setup my own web site? More will follow but for now please enjoy the link to a favorite site of mine HERE I wont tell you what it is but its not about the bees.

oop's I did it again;

Our house isn't the biggest house in the world, it isn't the best dressed des res out there, but it is loved, shared and very well used, especially the dinning room table, that table has seen some of my most extreme "hobbies" and shared in supporting all manner of "money making schemes" for example wine making, beer brewing, photography, radiator cabinet making, bicycle maintenance, to name but a few lets not forget model airplane building, basic wood work, on and on goes the list in fact it ought to write its own biography it would have a tale or two to tell.
Well it has started again "poor old table" now we are building bee hives YES construction has begun the ideas I had before have changed a little and I intent to start with a topbar hive, the table became a work bench for a short time and got covered in glue and splinters as per usual.
However the ends and sides are drying as I write this post, so, more to follow I have included a link to a really good topbar site check it out HERE

Rosslyn Chapel Stone Beehives

Stone masons looking at the flower entrance and the honey comb in one of the stone hives.



This place seems to crop up almost everywhere and in almost any subject I read about, now they have found another aspect of it, the whole building and its history just blows me away, the people who built the chapel must have had a totally unique view on life? I would love to get your views or read your stories about the place, please feel free to comment or leave links for others.

Check out this link STONE BEEHIVES for the full story.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Plans have arrived

The plans have arrived, after a long process to decide which hive to build I have decided on the Dartington Long Deep hive , persuading a good friend of mine to post the cheque for me to Robin Dartington, rewarded me with a copy of his instructions on how to build his design of hive. I researched a lot of methods on beekeeping before deciding on the idea that the topbar method of brood rearing was kindest to the bees and national hive size frames would make it easy to store and extract the honey.

As I have now worked out how to include them  below is a link to Robins site.

Robin Dartington
 

All credit to Robin Dartington for many years of research and for giving us this design of hive.

Just to stress again my choice was based on the fact that,

1.Bees should be allowed to produce a colony and cell size of their choosing reducing stress for them.(This opinion is shared by many)
2.We should be allowed to enjoy there generosity in storing more honey than they could eat and have it reasonably easily available.

So there you have it the choice is made Dartington Hive.

I will post some pictures soon of the proposed apiary site without giving away the location, and some of the hive construction progress.

20 years of waiting

It has taken 20 years to get here, I have decided to start keeping bees (I think?).
This year will be spent doing the research and accumulating the equipment and next will see the bees in place, if all goes well.This blog is all about the whole process from beginning to end, starting at some point with the first time I heard about bees and what motivates me now 21 years later to begin the process, hope you find it interesting.

There will be posts relating to all sorts of sites of interest and I would encourage anyone to post on here with comments.