Bee shed

It’s the end of our third season using a bee shed, and the end of the first season using the ‘new and improved’ bee shed mark 2. What’s worked and what hasn’t? Why keep bees in a shed at all? A bee hive provides a secure and weatherproof container to protect the colony {{1}}. Why then keep bee hives inside a building, like the bee shed? Moving in day … Beekeeping, of necessity, involves regular inspections at 7-10 day intervals throughout the main part of the season. These inspections

Hi everyone, Right a bit of a strange one. I live in a city centre with a small garden I have a small dog and neighbours gardens all around. I was thinking of putting my flow hive inside my workshop (big shed) with som…

It’s the end of our third season using a bee shed, and the end of the first season using the ‘new and improved’ bee shed mark 2. What’s worked and what hasn’t? Why keep bees in a shed at all? A bee hive provides a secure and weatherproof container to protect the colony {{1}}. Why then keep bee hives inside a building, like the bee shed? Moving in day … Beekeeping, of necessity, involves regular inspections at 7-10 day intervals throughout the main part of the season. These inspections

Under construction … The bee shed is a new development in my beekeeping. It was built to house the colonies we need for our work on deformed wing virus. This requires access to larvae and pupae for as long as possible during the year … it therefore seemed worthwhile trying to keep colonies in a sheltered environment in the hope that the queen would rear brood for longer. An additional benefit is that colonies can be opened in poor weather. Due to the timing of the development cycle of bees…

An observant beekeeper never stops learning. How the colony responds to changes in forage and weather, how swarm preparations are made, how the colony regulates the local environment of the hive etc. Sometimes the learning is simple reinforcement of things you should know anyway. Or knew, but forgot. Possibly more than once. If you forget the dummy board they will build brace comb in the gap 🙁 There’s nothing wrong with learning by reinforcement though some beekeepers never seem to get

A European (Slovenian) bee shed with decorated hives. Notice the folding door in front of the hives. I'm guessing it closes during the winter.

Under construction … The bee shed is a new development in my beekeeping. It was built to house the colonies we need for our work on deformed wing virus. This requires access to larvae and pupae for as long as possible during the year … it therefore seemed worthwhile trying to keep colonies in a sheltered environment in the hope that the queen would rear brood for longer. An additional benefit is that colonies can be opened in poor weather. Due to the timing of the development cycle of bees…