[amscott]

Has anyone seen the Bee movie (boom boom) QUEEN OF THE SUN yet?
I'd love to view it. I intend to make my own Warre hive, and ideally catch a wild swarm, too Idealistic? Moi? In the wild, wet and windy west coast?

[anderso]

all teh best for having a go with the Warre hive it do's the job but remember that it is the type you put boxs from the bottome not on the top - and this throws a lot of people of using the hive - if you have problems with your back stick with Top bars african hives or change the national and fit top bars

[amscott]

Thanks for that. And what about catching a wild swarm? Or rather making a rather attractive home, putting it in a fantastic location and wait for some scouts to find it? Is it possible ?

[OhLaLa]

Warre Hive; I have one. Hard to work with and incompatible with everything else I own. 

I'm getting the bees out of it this year and will be using it as a bait hive because it smells of bees and so will be attractive to them. But as a bait hive from new, I wouldn't bother with one. No appeal whatsoever.

Go with Nationals or Commercials. Lovely.  

[amscott]

Thanks Ohlala. what about covering the new bait hive with citronella or beeswax (I have a tin of beeswax polish thats going spare), could that work?

[OhLaLa]

Beeswax polish. No. Citronella. No.

You could try buying some swarm lure from somewhere like Thornes. I've never had any success with it myself but it's better than nothing and is probably the best option for a new, empty hive.

Other things I've heard of being done is putting a few spoons of local honey inside, and 'scraping' the inside with a block of pure beeswax. I've tried both out of curiosity in the past, again with no success. I've even tried a couple of homemade swarm lure recipes (from the internet), but again nothing.

The best thing is to put clean drawn comb in there, perhaps you have a beekeeper close by you could have a chat with? Although, very unlikely he/she will have a Warre hive so their kit won't necessarily be compatible with yours if that's the route you decide to go down.

BUT if you are able to get hold of drawn comb, the next concern is that it is free of disease.....

....join your local beekeeping assoc - that's a must anyhow in my opinion - as besides making contacts you will learn a lot about bees.

 

[anderso]

Hi - with regard to bait ask at the local bee club/association for a couple of old frames with the wax in and use some of that in all your empty hives. don't go baying swarm lure as one you have to keep it the freezer two for me it never worked - I have always used old comb with the box based not to far from a active hive -

if you ask around your location you might find where some honey bees are in trees/walls/bathrooms (had to remove a colony from a grade one house) also if you can put your box up in the air over head height you will have a better chance.

[amscott]

Thank you. There is an emerging local bee keepers group, I've just been to the first meeting, and it may become an Association. So I will ask one of the bee keepers for some old wax. I'm reading around the subject as much as I can, and want to buy the 'Queen of the Sun: What the bees are telling us' DVD but it is £22 on Amazon! I'm very interested in finding out about Natural Beekeeping, and well everything to do with our little friends the Bees

[anderso]

Hi - good to see you are wanting to read I would make sure you go to the local library and get as many diffrent books as possible - down side most books only talk about movable frame beekeeping (national hive etc) this type of beekeeping brought in to being by the Victorans

if you go on the search engines of the web and type in top bar hives, non frame honeybees you should get a couple of hits - there is loads of good stuff out their and extra loads of stuff not so good

Remember that most beekeepers are conservative and don.t take to change

In the past I have been told that this will not work or that is not the way to do things as it is not in the book
just enjoy your beekeeping

[Moleskins]

Hi - good to see you are wanting to read I would make sure you go to the local library and get as many diffrent books as possible -

My advice would be to find the book that the bees have read and go by that one!!

[Laurieston]

Yes, I watched Queen of the Sun last night.  Interesting.  My moustarch is not long enough to stroke my bees ( a bit strange that particular man I thought), but overall interesting.  Made me think and worry too.

I liked the imagery and was shocked by the huge almond fields.  I had not realised how HUGE and barren they really are.  Is it any wonder that insect life, life all together, is getting knocked out of kilter, when we treat the environment like that.

I think it would be good for more people to see the film and think a little more.