Bees

[jellied]

I confess to owning an Egglu which upon reflection is a rather overpriced piece of kit, but it works, easy to clean, and is far better in all respects than if I'd made one out of wood.

Anyway I've just spotted that they make beehives now.

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Beekeeping&sub=Beehaus

£465 seems toe curlingly over the top, and whilst you could become self sufficent in honey it's not exactly a large part of many household budgets.

[Regulator]

I'm tempted to start saving. 

I really want an Egglu once we get a place with a decent sized garden.

[Bledlow]

I confess to owning an Egglu which upon reflection is a rather overpriced piece of kit, but it works, easy to clean, and is far better in all respects than if I'd made one out of wood.

Anyway I've just spotted that they make beehives now.

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Beekeeping&sub=Beehaus

£465 seems toe curlingly over the top, and whilst you could become self sufficent in honey it's not exactly a large part of many household budgets.

I can't see that as being financially worthwhile. It's clearly aimed at hobbyists.

To me, it's like paying more for vegetable seeds than for vegetables. My home-grown tomatoes are delicious, despite half of them being a supermarket variety, & I like growing them, but I can't imagine paying more for the privilege of growing them (excluding my labour) than I could buy them for. Ditto my herbs & lettuces.

[Hot Flatus]

Hives are pretty easy to knock up, but even pre-made ones should cost a maximum of £120

[Wowbagger]

https://secure.thorne.co.uk/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/millhouse/thorne/shop/springer?ACTION=thispage&THISPAGE=page10012.html&ORDER_ID=765397165

Thorne have their Commercial hive priced at >£200 in the flat. Assembled it's >£280.

Mind you, they are the hives with the Rohloff hubs.

[rae]

Much debate on the Omlet here:

Beekeeping Forum

It's a hive.  There are many designs, with all sorts of advantages and disadvantages.   Plastic may insulate well and look nice (when new), but there are several bee diseases for which the only option is to burn the hive with the colony in it.   Actually, you lob the petrol in first which kills the bees, then burn the lot.   This hive is based on a design called Dartington, which is niche, and rarely used - probably nothing wrong with it, but it is not the "hive to end all hives". 

A national in 1st grade Cedar from Thornes is £180 in the flat, second grade ones are £120 or so.  You can make a hive out of scrap ply for bugger all.    To be fair to Omlet, this is two hives, back to back.

I support their encouragement of bee keeping, but I think the hive is a pointless frippery.   I'd commend bees to anyone, they're lovely things, but don't forget that they do get pissed off and they do sting.   Next summer I'm pretty sure that we'll get a rash of people who've ordered their bees on the interweb losing control of big colonies in urban areas. 

[pcolbeck]

I know someone who lives in a town and has bees. Their neighbours complained to the council about the bees pooing on their car.

[Charlotte]

Next summer I'm pretty sure that we'll get a rash of people who've ordered their bees on the interweb losing control of big colonies in urban areas. 

Yeah, that's what worries me.  There's not the potential for any kind of real problem with chooks - they either live or they die, they lay or they don't.

Bees have the potential to cause a dangerous nuisance and I'm worried that careless owners might also not recognise disease.  The bee population is precarious at the moment anyway - is there the possibility that diseased colonies might make things worse?

Seeing just how much time and effort Julian's parents have put into their beekeeping makes me realise that it's not a simple hobby.

[rae]

I don't see a great problem with disease - a mismanaged colony is far more likely to swarm, die over the winter or get into real trouble with people, thus resulting in the total close down of their beekeeping adventure. 

Disease certainly is a problem if the colony survives - and can spread to other hives.   The most common (varroa, nosema etc) are reasonably treatable, so having a badly managed hive in the vicinity is a pain, but not the end of the world.   That hive is likely to fail anyway. 

The really nasty diseases (the foulbroods) are thankfully pretty rare - but if they become more common, it could be a huge problem. 

[andrewc]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/oct/09/food-and-drink

Bees in The Grauniad..

[Melbourne12]

We were very tempted by the Omlet BeeHaus when it launched.  Only the price and the fact that it's the wrong end of the season kept us at bay.

But as time has gone on, it looks as if there may be a disadvantage of the BeeHaus.  This Omlet forum link Omlet UK • Information contains further links to a series of YouTube videos by a newbie BeeHaus owner.  These are worth watching (a) for laughs, since he determinedly ignores almost all advice offered but (b) for some good closeups of the BeeHaus in operation.

These films show very clearly that the roofspace of the BeeHaus isn't secure.  Bees, wasps, and other insects can get in through the holes where the bungee is attached, and in the gaps between the supers.  That's an invitation to robbing during the honey season, and unless the crownboards are firmly in place, to wasp attacks on the brood later in the year.  At the very least, bees will get into the roof and die, unable to find their way out.

I'm sure there will be answers to this problem, but right now I'm concerned about the security v ventilation v condensation issue that all hive designs have to address.