Natural Beekeeping Forum - Top Bar Beekeeping Forum

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WORLDWIDE

Ask Amazon to stop selling bee-killing pesticides

* The Bee-Friendly Zone
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Help us remove
bee-killing garden 'pesticides'
from sale!

* Natural beekeeping courses
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* UK Plants database by postcode
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HIVE PLANS

* How to build a top bar hive
* Warre hive plans

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The time now is Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:28 am
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Forum		Topics	Posts	Last Post
Friends of the Bees
	Friends of the Bees Discussions about Friends of the Bees policy and philosophy. Moderator moderators	15	117	Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:51 pm biobee
	Bee-Friendly Zone Where have you created your Bee-Friendly Zone? Tell us about it here. Moderator moderators	14	83	Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:24 am biffvernon
Networking
	Introduce yourself Post some information about yourself - location, interests, beekeeping experience - get to know other beekeepers in your area and around the world. Moderator moderators	791	3446	Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:12 pm lord tedric
	Natural Beekeeping events and training Top bar and natural beekeeping courses and other events, anywhere in the world. Post your events and course here, using location and date in the subject line. Moderator moderators	61	271	Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:50 pm biobee
	Local Groups UK and Ireland Use this space to start a local group, announce local meetings and communicate with others in your area. We suggest you use your actual or proposed group location as the subject line to make it easy for others to find you. Moderator moderators	117	719	Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:10 pm Mark Young
	Local Groups USA and CA Use this space to start a local group, announce local meetings and communicate with others in your area. We suggest you use your actual or proposed group location (STATE and TOWN, at least) as the subject line to make it easy for others to find you. Moderator moderators	47	224	Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:03 am Patrick Thomas
	Local Groups AUS and NZ Use this space to start a local group, announce local meetings and communicate with others in your area. We suggest you use your actual or proposed group location as the subject line to make it easy for others to find you. Moderator moderators	13	46	Fri May 31, 2013 7:10 pm frenchbeekeeper
	Sales and Wants Looking for something - or have something to sell? As long as it is bee-related, post it here. Moderator moderators	64	308	Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:57 am Tim3
General Information Section
	Announcements: Read This First Before you post anything on the forum, please read the rules. Other important announcements will be made here from time to time.	12	12	Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:01 pm biobee
	Bee products, bee plants and apitherapy Post your recipes and discuss honey, propolis, beeswax, royal jelly etc. and the many uses thereof here, including medical applications. Also post here information about plants with a special relevance to bees: beneficial or otherwise. Moderator moderators	163	1107	Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:36 pm Norm
	Photo gallery Post your pictures here. Moderator moderators	410	2887	Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:53 am steved6530
	The Barefoot Beekeeper - the book, the podcast and the app! Discuss anything in the book and the natural beekeeping podcast and make suggestions for future productions. Moderator moderators	68	344	Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:04 pm Santa Caras
	TV, Video, Blogs and Other Media Post here references and links to informative beekeeping articles that you spot in the media, including YouTube videos and podcasts. Moderator moderators	411	1425	Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:16 pm imkeer
	Environmental issues, GM, pesticides and campaigning The bio-tech companies have been telling us for years that GM is safe for us and for bees. Now they are telling us pesticides are safe, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Discuss environmental issues here. Moderator moderators	795	4029	Sat Jun 15, 2013 6:00 am catchercradle
	Beekeeping books: recommendations and reviews Post reviews of your favourite beekeeping books here. Please post your own reviews, not copied from other sites or media. Moderator moderators	91	423	Wed May 08, 2013 9:54 am biobee
	Foraging on the Far Side Discussions that went OT or OTT or were otherwise deemed to belong to the Far Side of the meadow... Moderator moderators	35	528	Sat May 11, 2013 3:12 am MObeek
	References and useful links Post here links to important/interesting documents and sites containing reference material that may be useful to others. Please ensure your title gives a clear indication of the content of the link. Moderator moderators	79	310	Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:04 am catchercradle
Practical Natural Beekeeping
	URGENT Help needed now! Post your emergencies ONLY here: stuff that needs a quick fix to avoid dire consequences. Moderator moderators	185	1486	Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:12 am Clive-D
	Beginners start here If you are new to beekeeping, or only to 'natural' or top bar beekeeping, this is the best place to do some reading and ask basic questions. Moderator moderators	1822	12641	Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:55 am Che Guebuddha
	Natural beekeeping discussions & questions Ask questions and discuss any beekeeping topic here, particularly those concerned with top bar and natural beekeeping. Moderator moderators	2079	15652	Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:23 pm Che Guebuddha
	Your reports and updates Post your reports here: tell us what is happening in your hives! Post links to pictures and videos if you have them, or just share your thoughts. Moderator moderators	952	6999	Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:57 pm Mark Young
	Ask a Bee Inspector Our resident UK-based Bee Inspector will answer your questions here. Moderators BeeInspector, moderators	19	223	Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:05 am biobee
	Biodynamic beekeeping Discuss aspects of beekeeping according to the principles of biodynamics. Moderator moderators	49	372	Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:35 pm Gareth
	Bee health: the treatment (or not) of bee pests and diseases Discuss how we support bee health, including what we do if things go wrong. How do natural beekeepers deal with challenges to the health of their bees? Moderators bilbehr, moderators	403	3847	Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:52 am Che Guebuddha
	Bright ideas, experiments, projects and research If you want to propose some research that others could participate in, or describe any experiments you are undertaking, here's the place to do so. Also post here your latest brainwaves for us all to share! Moderator moderators	292	2509	Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:30 am Che Guebuddha
	The Wired Hive Project Exclusively for the development of an open source hive monitoring system. Moderator moderators	5	92	Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:59 am chiral
Beekeeping by Hive Type
	Horizontal top bar hives Discuss everything related to the building and management of horizontal top bar hives - Kenyan, Tanzanian or other designs. Moderator moderators	1067	9331	Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:09 pm biobee
	Warré (and similar vertical top bar hives) The Warré hive is a 'minimum maintenance' alternative to conventional hives for beekeepers who want to harvest honey, or simply prefer vertical to horizontal hives. The Japanese hive is similar to the Warré and so is included here, along with variations on this theme. Moderator moderators	550	4645	Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:33 am zaunreiter
	Perone Hive Oscar Perone's hive is a large-capacity, 'leave alone' style top bar hive that is of particular interest to people living in rural areas and with bees having a higher than average defensive tendency. Moderator moderators	38	589	Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:59 am alliefoz
	Conventional and miscellaneous hives Discuss beekeeping in conventional box/frame and other hives not covered elsewhere. Please bear in mind our focus on natural beekeeping. Moderator moderators	135	1088	Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:14 am catchercradle
	Wild and feral honeybees and other bee species Surviving feral honeybees may be a genetic goldmine in the battle against pests and diseases. Other bee species are also important to wild flower and crop pollination. This is the place to discuss bee conservation. Moderator moderators	101	667	Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:41 pm Santa Caras

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High Quality Top Bar Hives from Devon, UK

Constructed by an experienced carpenter from locally sourced, seasoned and sustainably-grown larch with oak legs. The standard measurements are: length 1m overall x 605mm overall width (roof) x depth 470mm (bottom of floor to top of roof) x height 990mm (ground to top of roof). The hive has a pitched roof, internal top bars and dividers and a stainless steel woven mesh bottom - (badger proof!) with a protective hinged wooden cover. The legs are oak for durability and are removable.

Price: £195.00 + postage and packing. Collection can be arranged. Ten pounds of this amount is donated to Friends of the Bees.

Bee Friendly Optional Extras:
Natural, organic oil/wax finish: £20.00
Larger hive - 1.2 m long: £20.00
Feeder shelf: £7.00

Natural weatherproof finish contains no toxic driers.

Call 07930285690 or email greyfieldtimber@googlemail.com

Also available: nuc boxes and portable/bait hives.
Please call for details

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Conserving wild bees

Advice from Jessie Jowers of the Bee Guardian Foundation:

All the research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.

There is a spectacular display of wild bee hotels here

You can find out how to build homes for bumblebees or you can buy a ready-made bee house here.

This forum is funded by
Friends of the Bees. It is free to everyone. If you can afford it, please become a supporter so we can keep it that way.
UK beekeepers benefit from £5M Public Liability Insurance FREE with membership.

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Free UK SIM with £5 credit

Resources

NEW BOOK

Learning From Bees:
a philosophy of natural beekeeping

A collection of essays by
Phil Chandler

Now available in paperback and ebook format from offthebookshelf.com

Kindle and other ebook formats here

Buy The Barefoot Beekeeper A4 format printed edition from Lulu.com available worldwide

Printed locally to you and delivered fast.

Buy The Barefoot Beekeeper here as printed book
or downloadable PDF file

Third edition now available in 9"x6" format
(now available worldwide - print US$15.00; PDF US$9.99)

Printed locally to you and delivered fast.

NOW for KINDLE - low-cost, text-only version for ebook readers, Kindle, iPod, iPad, etc. Get the text-only Barefoot Beekeeper here for only US$5.99

You can also order The Barefoot Beekeeper from your local book shop using
ISBN 978-1-4092-7114-7.

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