Mmm I love this, thanks! We are expanding our apiary next year and I am continually learning so much about these awesome creatures! Do you keep bees?
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Mmm I love this, thanks! We are expanding our apiary next year and I am continually learning so much about these awesome creatures! Do you keep bees?
Yes, been keeping bees for 40+ years. Been working with feral bees the last 15 or so years and teaching sustainable beekeeping with our local Bee Improvement chapter. Only been on Steemit a couple weeks now, but have started a series of Beekeeping for Everyone posts. You may want to check them out, much more to come.
that's fantastic! we recently went to a horizontalhive.com workshop with Dr. Leo S who is actually a neighbor of ours. We got our first hive this year and it swarmed twice (luckily we caught it once!). they were bees from texas probably, but after attending Leo's workshop, we're totally inspired to do local swarm catches, natural beekeeping (in that way of feral, local bee genetics and of course no spraying of the nasties). I'll check out your posts :) Love the bee beard
You will need to scroll down a few presentations to find it.I think Fedor Lazutin does some great things with the Layens type hive compared to the Langstroth hive. I really like the extra deep frames, but think going horizontal is for the benefit of the beekeeper, not the bees. Bees in a tree grow vertical and it is for a very good reason. Through winter they can easily move up the comb as they consume the honey. This upward movement of the cluster is unimpeded and the heat they give off pre-heats the honey they are moving up to. In a horizontal configuration it is impossible for the cluster to move sideways to new stores without breaking cluster. Horizontal hives are much more feasible in warmer climates than in the north. I'm currently working with a hive design that has only 8 extra deep (18") frames and highly insulated like a tree. I will be sharing more in post in the future. In the meantime if you are interested, you may want to check out a recent talk I did in November on the thermodynamics of beekeeping. http://beeimprovement.com/audio-library/