On keeping bumblebees...

[Herbsandveg]

Does anyone have any experience of keeping bumblebees as per those available via such firms as Dragonfli (see link below), and does anyone have any comments about this?


http://www.dragonfli.co.uk/

For my own part, I saw a brief talk about this at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show last week, and I think it's a very good 'introduction' the subject and a very good possible 'gateway' into the wider, more demanding world of actually keeping bees for their honey, all of which seems to require so much time and knowledge and application compared to this far less demanding little sideline to our general gardening practice.

I'd love to have the time and money and required knowledge to have an actual honeybee hive but simply can't see it happening, which is why this is, for me, such a very desirable alternative.

[veggiechicken]

You don't "keep" bumblebees -they're wild insects, not hamsters with wings!! You have to work on making your garden attractive to them, by growing the plants that they like to feed on.
As for those expensive "bee hotels", read this article - Bumblebee nest boxes don't work

[Herbsandveg]

You don't "keep" bumblebees -they're wild insects, not hamsters with wings!! You have to work on making your garden attractive to them, by growing the plants that they like to feed on.
As for those expensive "bee hotels", read this article - Bumblebee nest boxes don't work

Oh heck, I feel strangely chastened now! Perhaps I should have said 'put up a bee box in the garden', or something a bit like that...

Looks like it the end of the line for bees and me...Ah well...

(And with that our hero buzzed off to find other threads...).

[veggiechicken]

You can come back Herby - I just didn't want you to get stung!!
There was a related question earlier today http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1124005 that you may find interesting!!

[Two_Sheds]

Does anyone have any experience of keeping bumblebees

We've given up buying & building bee hotels: they aren't interested in them. They DO like old bird boxes though: red tailed bee nest - YouTube

Bumbles usually build nests near the ground (they like old mouse nests), so whatever you end up using, don't put it up a tree, have it at knee height, max

[alldigging]

The mouse urine thing I have read recently - so get some old mouse bedding from somewhere (Just expect funny looks when you ask!) and put some in a box you'd like them to use.

[workerbee]

Hello!

I think the others who replied have got the wrong idea. What you are talking about is a live bumblebee hive, not a bee 'hotel' or nest box. I completely agree that the hotels and nest boxes are very unlikely to work, however the answer to your question is yes, you can, quite easily, keep bumblebees. There are several firms who offer live hives, which are typically used in agriculture for soft fruit pollination, and we use them for research. To my knowledge there are 3 firms that can supply these, Suppliers of Beepol Bumblebee and Plant care products - dragonfli as you mentioned, Bumblebees for Pollination who are the UK suppliers of BioBest, and Pollination - Koppert biological control natural pollination . I believe Agralan are the cheapest, £38 for a hive, and also have some great guidelines with info and descriptions of the different types of hives (not all have queens, etc) http://www.agralan-growers.co.uk/ekm...guidelines.pdf

***Quite important - only get Bombus terrestris audax hives, NOT "Bombus terrestris or other variants" ***

Audax are the native UK variant, and you don't want to be releasing non-native bees. The bees are extremely easy to care for, and typically come supplied with a liquid nectar-like solution, and you can buy pollen to go with them to feed them. Apart from placing and opening the hive on arrival, the bees more or less care for themselves, all you have to worry about is opening the ventilation if its a really hot day and feeding with pollen (daily if you don't have lots of flowers open / long spells of rain, or as you like for enjoyment). Bumblebees can fly up to 5 kilometers from the hive to forage so they can generally always find a food source. The boxes come with a double lid system so you can have a look inside the hive to check up on your bees / feed them. As per the bumblebee lifecycle, the hives only last a single year, however the last breeding cycle will produce males and new queens who will go on to create new hives somewhere in your surrounding area.

All in all, I think to answer your question, yes, bumblebees are perhaps a fantastic and easy to care for introduction to beekeeping. Also they are one of the most amazing creatures to sit and watch. Give it a go I'd say

[mothhawk]

Can I point out that although you are buying colonies of native UK bees, they very likely have not been bred or raised in the UK, but on the continent, and many colonies carry parasites that can and will infect our "wild" native bumblebees that live in the UK. Far better to grow plants and manage land to encourage our native born bees to thrive and be healthy.
BBC News - Imported bumblebees carry parasites

[marchogaeth]

It would be a good idea to take a look at this thread before you decide, H.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ees_73794.html

You don't "keep" bumblebees -they're wild insects, not hamsters with wings!! You have to work on making your garden attractive to them, by growing the plants that they like to feed on.
As for those expensive "bee hotels", read this article - Bumblebee nest boxes don't work

Exactly right.

Maybe Workerbee you can give us you provenance by completing your profile more fully or preferably introducing yourself in the Intro Forum.

There are several firms who offer live hives, which are typically used in agriculture for soft fruit pollination, and we use them for research.

[nellie-m]

Years ago, I borrowed a book from the library of the National Bee Institute at Celle (Germany). It was a field guide to wild bees, including bumble bees, and what I found most fascinating was a large chapter on how to "keep" bumble bees. The author gave detailed descriptions on how to build boxes for them, with lids you could open to watch their activities, and including pipes that led into the inner chamber, and all the insulating material etc. so that the bumble bees liked them. He didn't recommend used mouse-bedding although I could imagine that the smell helps them find potential nesting sites.
There were photos of all the boxes, dozens of them, that he'd set up around his house. The only problem was that early in spring, the queens that came bumbling around didn't always find them, and he wrote that the easiest way was to catch one in his hand (BRAVE) and actually put it inside. Once they'd had a good look around the living room and came out through the tube, they usually accepted it as their new home.

So yes, it seems to be possible. That book was out of print already when I had to give it back, or I would have bought it, I would have loved to try that myself.

I totally agree that we need to provide a safe and rich environment for wild and honey bees in the first place, and it seems kind of bizarre to me to put up hives with all provisions on board in a kind of satellite environment where it's clear that all the offspring will perish (like in the greenhouses of big tomato growers).

However, I cannot see how a company that sells hundreds and thousands of such hives, produced in a lab-like environment, to other commercial plants could be successful if the hives carried parasites or diseases.
And I agree with workerbee that one such hive in the garden may be a nice and easy way to get someone interested and finally hooked. Before I got bees, I had this idea of "just one hive at the back of my garden, and they can keep all their honey and mind their own business, and I'll just go and watch them from time to time".
Well, you beekeepers here know how that story ended
Until we sold our house and moved away, at which point I had to sell bees and all equipment, but the lady who bought it all still keeps them going, which makes me happy.

[marchogaeth]

Years ago, I borrowed a book from the library of the National Bee Institute at Celle (Germany). It was a field guide to wild bees, including bumble bees, and what I found most fascinating was a large chapter on how to "keep" bumble bees.

Your post is fascinating, thank you. Do you remember any sort of Title/Author as with the Net these days it might be possible to buy it second hand.

However, I cannot see how a company that sells hundreds and thousands of such hives, produced in a lab-like environment, to other commercial plants could be successful if the hives carried parasites or diseases.

Please read the references and see what you think. I think the answer may be that the companies are shipping the bees out before parasites and diseases become a problem to them and also that their bees can cope with what they carry but native bees cannot. (Measles in the Americas type of thing.)

[nellie-m]

Thanks for sending me over to that other thread, it took quite a while to find all the references and read them but the essence is obviously that not all that glitters is gold, and like so often industrially produced stuff doesn't hold what manufacturers promise

For anyone interested - just to save you time - here's the abstract of a study that examined bumble bee hives from three different companies that were declared as "disease-free" ...

The Trojan hives: pollinator pathogens, imported and distributed in bumblebee colonies - Graystock - 2013 - Journal of Applied Ecology - Wiley Online Library
BAN ALL BUMBLEBEE IMPORTS

So while, in theory, workerbee's suggestion seemed quite good and practical, in practice it turns out to be problematic. Sigh... Maybe better to ask a beekeeper in your neighbourhood to come and place a hive in your garden

About the book: I THINK it was this one:
Hagen, Eberhard von: Hummeln – gebraucht kaufen bei booklooker – jetzt online bestellen - A01jq5Zp01ZZm

although I'm not positive, and quite frankly, the price doesn't encourage me to simply order and try
(.....hmmm, wait, Christmas is just around the corner, isn't it?)

[marchogaeth]

Well thanks for checking all the info out. If you want a great read while you are waiting for Christmas, Dave Goulson - A Sting in the Tale.