The Bees Knees

[Lotsaveg]

Has anyone tried one of these yet and if so, are they any good?

Beepol Garden Hive

[gojiberry]

Looks impressive, and ideal for anyone who has not got the time for proper honey bees. Just wondering what the cost is likely to be though. I do goout of my way to try and provide nesting areas for the various types of bumble bees and am usually quite successful.

Ian

[Lotsaveg]

I set the bees up yesterday and they were soon bringing back lots of pollen from the spring flowers on a glorious saturday in Norfolk!

I've set up an album to show some images as the weeks go by:

Grow Your Own - Growing, How To Grow Tomatoes Growing Fruit & Veg - Recipe Advice, Organic food Gardening, Chickens, Seeds for Sale

[Pumpkin Becki]

I'm waiting for our Beepol to arrive - hope it won't bee long (sorry!).

I asked the company a couple of questions via email, and they were really helpful. I particularly wanted to know what species of Bumble Bee they are supplying, the answer is Bombus terrestris audax (or the Buff tailed Bumble Bee). We'd love to have honey bees, but I'm not sure we have the right garden, even for a topbar hive. This seems like a really excellent solution, especially as MrPB is a member of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust!

[chris]

Where's this bloomin Bee board!!! *prods dave*

[Florence Fennel]

That's interesting, I've not heard of it before. I too wonder how expensive it is. Off to take a little look.

[Pumpkin Becki]

There's 2 options Auntie Florrie
1) Cardboard hive with Bees = £65ish
2) Cardboard hive with Bees, and a wooden hive to put it all in - £125ish
It's not inexpensive, and the colony doesn't continue over winter. We hope to be able to catch one of the new queens that will be laid this year, and keep her over winter to restart the colony next year.

[Lotsaveg]

We hope to be able to catch one of the new queens that will be laid this year, and keep her over winter to restart the colony next year.

Are you going to catch her straight from the hive with a male or catch one from the garden and hope she's already mated? I was going to try and catch one in the following spring to be sure she was mated, or otherwise I'll just by the Beepol hive on its own next year and pop it into the wooden lodge.

Just remembered how to upload pictures!!! Here's the lodge in today's glorious sunshine

[Wareagle]

I really like this and would love to have one £65 every year seems abit expencive to me though.

[Lotsaveg]

I really like this and would love to have one £65 every year seems abit expencive to me though.

I'm guessing that there'll always be a chance that a queen could return the following year and build a new nest in the wooden box if it was empty. There's also the idea that Pumpkin Becki suggested of catching a queen and trying to establish your own colony. However, when I'm putting £80 a week into my petrol tank, £65 doesn't sound too bad for a season's enjoyment.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Are you going to catch her straight from the hive with a male or catch one from the garden and hope she's already mated? I was going to try and catch one in the following spring to be sure she was mated, or otherwise I'll just by the Beepol hive on its own next year and pop it into the wooden lodge.

Your photos are just lovely Lotsaveg! My (okay, okay MrPB's) Beepol and lodge should be delivered today (very excited!). He was talking about trying to catch a 'Princess', as he calls them, towards the end of the season.

[chris]

Sorry to be ask such a stupid question, but are you getting them to help numbers or aid pollenation?m If they die off during the winter what's the point? do the mated queens go off to hibernate somewhere? Why not in their nests?

[Pumpkin Becki]

Its a very good question Chris.
For me, its a bit of both. I grow a lot of pumpkins and squashes each year, and Bumbles are the prime pollinator of these. Hopefully they'll increase my yield. And also, yes, we want to try to help boost the population. The Beepol comes with a Queen, and later in the season, she'll hopefully produce several new queens. These will go off and find somewhere to hibernate and start their own colonies next year, in the wild. There is some research that says 'bred' Bumbles are less prolific at producing new queens than wild Bumbles are, but my thinking is, every little bit helps.

And finally - I love Bumbles!!!

[chris]

Okay, thanks - so do all bees make honey for food? Or is that only honey bees? If so, is it edible? I presume if they all go on holiday for the winter/die off if there's any left over can you have it?

Just curious. If I didn't have chickens at home, I'd probably stick one in the garden! Edit: I don't trust the local scrotes around the allotment to have one there.. I can just imagine coming to the plot one day to find it has been burnt or something.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Unfortunately, Bumbles don't really make enough honey to harvest it like we do with honey bees. They really only make enough to support the brood, and the nest would only contain a few ounces at any one time. There is also some suggestion that it fermently more quickly than honey from honey bees, so doesn't store as well, and...Bumble nests (in the wild) are not as beautifully laid out as honey bee nests, so trying to harvest may cause too much damage to the nest and colony (though I don't know what the inside of the Beepol looks like, it might make it easier).