When I decided to place my new Bee Beard Log Hive I considered many things. I wanted it placed where it would get the morning sun shining into the entrance, well beyond the long reach of the tree shadows in winter, and protected from the raging winter winds that blast from the southwest. Also I wanted the hive to be visible if possible, on the edge of the garden, so we could observe the bees whenever we worked outside. The placement of the hive in front of the bamboo satisfied all the requirements. What I didn’t know is that bamboo attracts wasps. When I started seeing all the wasps on the bamboo I started to panic. What are they doing around my log hive? I started recalling the stories at the bee meeting about all the hives that are lost to wasps. How did I know bamboo attracts wasps? Is that common knowledge?
Wasp on Bamboo leaf over Bee Beard log hive.
The bamboo was leaning over the log hive…are the wasps going to attack my bees? What to do?
I plugged the last gap by stuffing the inner tube into it. Wasps won’t get in here
Found a piece of bamboo that fit the 1 1/2″ (3.81 cm) hole. This reduces the hole making it easier to guard against wasps.
After consulting the internet about bamboo I found out that wasps gather fibers from the bamboo for their paper nests. That’s what they are doing on the bamboo, not attacking the log hive,
We feel that wasps have a place in our garden. We won’t kill them because they really aren’t bothering us or the bees, The ground hive is almost never used the next year and once the cold weather hits, it will be inactive.
I shot a short video showing the wasps on the bamboo as well as the very active ground hive.,,
Back in February, I listened to a podcast interview with Matt Reed of Beethinking.com. He talked about the Warre Hive. Now I didn’t really want to get into another type of hive, but it sounded so intriguing and easy to use, I decided to give it a try. I liked the idea that the boxes stacked in a vertical orientation, mimicking a hollow tree. It sounded like the most ‘natural’ type of hive that wasn’t actually a tree. I also liked Matt’s approach of not using any chemicals inside his hives. So I ordered a kit with observation windows and a screened bottom in case I wanted to do a mite count.
I didn’t want to order package bees because they might not be acclimated to the wet area we have on the Oregon Coast. I had passed up the ordering date and was nervously waiting for my bait hives to catch a swarm, but nothing was happening. Then I got the call about a swarm that had just formed about an hour ago. I threw everything into the car and was on my way.
A Swarm in a Bush…A made-in-heaven low swarm for my first experience.
A Swarm in a Bucket…I was able to cut branches and shake most of the bees into this 5 gallon bucket.
A Swarm in the Warre Transferring the swarm into the Warre was easy…tap the bucket on the ground once or twice, then pour into the hive. I replaced the bars on top, installed the quilt box and the roof.
Did I get the queen? Bees can be seen fanning the pheramone that the queen is ‘in the building’!
July 7, 2012 This shows how much natural comb they built in about 5 weeks. I wonder when they will start on the bottom box.
I anxiously wait. The bees don’t build into the bottom box. I consult the forums where suggestions are made to add an empty box overhead. “The bees don’t like having an empty space over them.” On July 23, 2012, I add a third box, this time on top.
After I drilled a 3/4″ hole for the bees in the top box, I waxed up some top bars and put the whole thing in place.
July 24, 2012. I like this…I can get a view through the observation window looking down at the occupied middle box or up to the top bars in the top box.
August 3, 2012 A view of the comb in the middle box…still no building in the top or bottom box.
August 20,2012 Looking into the Warre, plenty of bees, plenty of honey,..but they are STILL not building any comb in either the top or bottom box.
I consult the forums…”can a Warre get through the winter on only one box?” It’s getting late in the summer and my efforts to get them to build either on top or in the bottom box have been fruitless. The answers seem to imply I’m a reckless beekeeper if I don’t consider feeding them.
Partially built feeder box for Warre
After looking at the forums, I found the answer. Build a feeder that is accessible from the outside. If it becomes necessary to feed the bees I can do it without opening the hive up to the cold air. The hive is kept intact with no extra holes drilled into it for the sugar water.
I want to thank Colobeekeep for providing photos of how he built this.
Front view of feeder box on right side of Warre
Back view of feeder box on Warre
Lid open, no jar yet. Bees can access the sugar water, but not the feeder box. Bottle can be changed without opening the hive. It’s placed near the rear of the hive to discourage robbing.
I really DON’T want to resort to feeding them. From what I read, sugar raises the pH of the hive making it more susceptible to Nosema, but I also don’t want to lose this little hive. I definitely won’t use High Fructose Corn Syrup because it is made from GM corn which is treated with clothianidin, a systemic insecticide highly toxic to bees. I’ll pay close attention to the honey stores by looking through the observation window. If they get low I’ll be able to supply either 1:1 or 1:2 sugar water without opening the hive.
This short video looks into the Warre hive through the observation window (slight reflection issues) to see waggle dancing and daisy-chaining. The last frame shows the natural comb built as a result of the daisy-chain.
More Waffling…After going to the work of building the ‘side feeder,’ I observed the comments made about moisture in the hive. Well, I’m not going to say we live in a rain forest, but we do get buckets in the winter time. Should I worry about the moisture issues…yes. Okay, I’ll build an over-the-top ‘dry sugar’ feed frame.
This shows the sugar resting on the 1/2″ hardware cloth. After this photo was taken, I dumped out the sugar and inserted a layer of blank newsprint between the sugar and the wire. That should hold up the sugar so it won’t drop down into the hive…I hope.
Sugar pressed into frame ready to slide into place
Installing sugar feeder Oct. 25, 2012. This will let the bees go upward to access the sugar from within the cluster. Quilt box goes on top. Then I wrapped with red tape to seal the cracks.
When I checked with some coastal beekeepers at the bee meeting, they said they feed with sugar syrup, no problem. “Don’t you worry about the moisture issues?” “No.”
In anticipation of the wet stormy weather that the Oregon Coast is known for, I closed up some gaps on the log hive with a bicycle inner tube.
Bee Beard gets a headband to protect against the cold winter winds.
Bee Beard with headband as seen from side
Bee Beard as seen through the observation window 10-8-12. Bee-built tunnels provide access to the honey.
The large number of unfilled cells is a concern, but the bees are still packing pollen, so hopefully they will get filled with something.
This truck inner tube covers the gaps in the ‘wood plug’ that covers the observation window. It’s removable so I’ll be able to look through the window from time to time.
This log hive has exceeded my expectations for the summer. It has built up fast, didn’t swarm like my hive last year, (swarmed two months after I got it), and has out performed the Warre hive even though I got it going about the same time. Now for the real test…will it make it through the winter? I haven’t taken any honey from it, I’m not going to medicate or hang miticides, and I’m not going to feed it. It came from a natural living tree hive and made it through the winter last year without intervention so I feel it has a good chance. The only intervention I have given it is to peer through the window from time to time. If I get a swarm from it next year, I’ll count it as a success. Maybe I’ll have my next log hive set up in time.
Growing poppies is a long term affair. We planted these under lights in the house. After two to three weeks in a plastic bag to keep it moist, the very fine seeds have sprouted.
Poppies ready to be transplanted into bigger pots. The plants in the foreground are St. John’s Wort (Hypericum).
The poppy seed was planted in February. It is just now blooming in September. I think we’ll start earlier if we want poppies in spring or summer for the bees next year.
Here’s the beautiful result of our labor of love…
The poppy has finally opened up. I wonder when the bees will find it.
A couple of days after this first one opened up, we had a bee doing something strange (to me). It faced away from the center of the flower, beating her wings rapidly, vibrating the pollen off the stamen and onto her body. After getting a layer of purple pollen, she landed on the outside of the flower and groomed herself with her middle legs, pulling the pollen off her back and into her pollen baskets. It was incredible. I had my little pocket camera with me and got some video of it.
Quite a mouthful. This photo was taken the evening before.
The bees started being very active fairly early in the morning. I ran to get the video camera to document what was going on. They grouped up on the outside of the hive entrance. The group slowly moved up the right side of the hive and then under the nose. My wife thinks this was a bunch of drones hatching, because they look bigger. I couldn’t get couldn’t get a good fix on the eye pattern. The next day was normal activity. Any ideas? We welcome your comments.
Two years ago we wanted to quit having to mow between our blueberry bushes. We laid down landscape cloth, covered it with sawdust, and our mowing days were behind us. That year we watched the bees pollinate the blossoms and the berries grew like never before. We had a huge berry crop but couldn’t eat a single berry because as they ripened, a family of robins spotted them first…each bush was clearly visible from a bird’s eye view and as the berries ripened, the birds easily picked them off before we could. We laid fake snakes on the ground. We hung shiny wind socks to distract them. We thought about netting them, but it would have been difficult to pick them. So we let the birds have them.
Last year we tried a different strategy. We let the comfrey that we had been treating as weeds, grow up next to the bushes. We didn’t have any bird problems. So this year we’re doing the same thing. The comfrey provides blossoms to attract the bees which pollinate both the blueberries and the comfrey and we are assured of having berries without birds.
Bumblebee pollinating Comfrey blossoms. The bees work both the comfrey and the blueberry bushes that the comfrey hides from the birds.
Bumblebee on Blueberry blossom
The comfrey is still blooming!! It’s been over two months since the first picture was taken. The blueberries are now ripe and ready to pick. Thanks to the comfrey for hiding the blueberries from the birds, we can now pick them.
The bumblebees are still pollinating the comfrey even though it’s been over two months.
These blueberries were picked today. This is probably our best harvest yet. We’ve been getting this much every couple of days.
It’s been a successful experiment. The comfrey might compete somewhat with the blueberries for water and space…but what matters most is the successful harvest before the birds get them.
As a win-win, comfrey is known for it’s healing qualities also. For growing and using comfrey see this article by The Mother Earth News. And here’s a another person’s story of how to make a poultice and apply it. I just came across yet another site about the great qualities of comfrey.
This short video shows the progress of the swarm that was transferred from the bait hive to Bee Beard on June 2nd. Now after 7 weeks, viewing through the observation window, you can see the bottom of the bee cluster is below the level of the mouth entrance. Initially, bee beard would face southwest into the winter wind. For that reason, an alternate entrance was drilled towards the north rear. When we decided to locate Bee Beard facing east, that alternate entrance was plugged with tissue paper. To my surprise, the bees have just pulled out that tissue paper and you can see a bee flying out with a bit. In the slightly out of focus video through the observation window, you can see bees carrying out bits of paper. Also seen are bees carrying pollen from blackberries and St. John’s Wort…my bees won’t suffer from depression!
Bee Beard sports a great entrance hole, but the bees use the slot between the hat and the top of head most of the time.
I don’t understand it…I give them a beautiful 1.5 inch (3.81 cm) diameter entrance hole in my log hive, yet they insist on using the small slot between the hat and the top of head.
The entrance the bees are using is less than .25″ (about 6 mm) even though a beautiful round entrance hole was provided for them below.
A short video can be seen here showing the bees entering through narrow slot between hat and top of head, followed by a shot looking through the observation window to see the natural comb. This was shot 17 days after the transfer from bait box to log hive.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 