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An old hive - so long as it is clean and disease-free - makes an excellent swarm-baiting device, as it already has the right smells. If you can, set it up in a fairly sunny spot (but preferably not in sun all day) and raise it off the ground - ideally by several feet.

If bees are not already swarming where you are, they will be soon - so you may have some extra bees before too long!

Good luck with it.

Fab article. I enjoyed reading it and have visited your website and bookmarked it for future reference. I have to be honest and say I hadn't worried about cost of equipment, moving heavy boxes etc because I'm still in the idyllic daydream stage of beekeeping!

After having found a lot of buff-tail bumble bees in our house last week, they probably came in with a basket of logs, I was prompted to do some bee research. I was quite alarmed by the reports of colony collapse disorder and would hate this to happen to bees I kept. I've heard mobile phones cause problems to bee navigation systems. Have you had any problems with CCD and do you know of solutions?

goo wrote:Fab article. I enjoyed reading it and have visited your website and bookmarked it for future reference.

Thanks. We aim to please!

I have to be honest and say I hadn't worried about cost of equipment, moving heavy boxes etc because I'm still in the idyllic daydream stage of beekeeping!

Many people don't - it usually hits them round about the time they try to lift a full super of honey at the Branch Apiary, or when the glossy catalogue from Thornes arrives...

After having found a lot of buff-tail bumble bees in our house last week, they probably came in with a basket of logs, I was prompted to do some bee research. I was quite alarmed by the reports of colony collapse disorder and would hate this to happen to bees I kept. I've heard mobile phones cause problems to bee navigation systems. Have you had any problems with CCD and do you know of solutions?

There is no correlation between mobile phone masts and CCD. That was a silly story put out by lazy journalists, probably egged on by the agri-chem companies who are much more likely to be the source of the problem.

The most likely scenario for CCD is that bees' immune systems have been compromised by a toxic soup of pesticides and the use of high-dose pyrethroids by beekeepers to kill mites has tipped them over the edge.

More bee-nurturers are needed to ensure the survival of the species!

see http://www.biobees.com/library/pesticid ... icides.pdf

I also found the article really interesting, thanks. I'm also interested in keeping bees some day and am going on a taster session in June!

There's a talk on CCD here if anybody's interested:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1959719523

Yep, excellent article. Sorry for the delay in putting it up but is it up now

Great article and the website looks really useful. OH has been looking for info. on less complicated beekeeping and the plans for the top bar hive make it a much more affordable possibility once we move.

Thanks and best wishes, Jill