| Archive for NEEPS North East Eco-friendly People's Site |
| Martin |
At long last! Occupied Warré
At long last! My friendly local swarm man 'phoned last night - would I like to pop down and pick up a skep full of swarm? I thought the last lot were pretty placid - this bunch are positively cuddly! 
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| Smooth Hound |
 its a nice looking hive, i expect they will be happy in there.
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| Martin |
Built from plans available from the link on this page - http://warre.biobees.com/
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| Smooth Hound |
did you build it yourself 
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| Martin |
Much to my amazement, I did! I really have minimal woodworking skills, but having built a top-bar hive, thought "why not?" and got stuck in.
So far I've managed to start beekeeping on a shoestring - all my gear, 2 hives, and 2 swarms, somewhere around £100 all-in! 
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| Smooth Hound |
sounds good, i think i may have a go myself when im up to it, can you just get the swarm from other bee keepers, or do you have to catch it, buy it or what. 
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| Martin |
In simple terms, a swarm is how bees multiply - a bunch decide it's time to set up home on their own, so leg it and end up as a buzzy ball in a tree or similar - legally, they're "fair game", so you could go and grab a swarm for nix, or look up the people in your area who deal with swarms, they're usually happy to "put you on the list" for one. (Local authorities keep a list of people in the area).
I met the local "swarm fella" through the local beekeepers association - he's a really nice chap, and only charges "petrol" (in the case of the newest swarm, a tenner!)
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| Smooth Hound |
sounds good, i think ill put this on my list of things to do, ta, i get bumble bees in the garden, but it would be good to have lots of honey bees, i dont suppose ill be doing the honey thing straight away , maybe in the future,
can you leave them to get on with it without any or too much ,maintenance |
| Martin |
Either a "top bar hive", or a Warre would suit you a treat - designed as "low maintenance"
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| Welly |
That looks pretty damn good, Martin.
Do you just add more hive boxes as required, or do you build it with the number of boxes you want at the start? Welly |
| Martin |
I made 4 boxes, and started off (as advised) with 2 of them - you then add more boxes as needed at the bottom (hence the handles)
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| Welly |
Nice work
Welly |