Recent content by mike_bike_kite

So I put the foam in the entrance and seal it with tape. Remove the inspection tray under the mesh floor to allow the bees to breath and keep cool, judgement call call on shading or damp sheet on top to keep call. Do this on Sat evening around 8pm. The event is on Sunday but I've been told it...

Thanks for the very rapid responses! I'll use the sponge stuff with tape on the entrance. I'll admit I was a little worried by how they'd keep themselves cool but perhaps they'll be OK. I'll see if I can shade the hive but that might not be easy, perhaps I can persuade my son to stand there all...

I need to keep my bees within the hive for a day due to a nearby event. I have a national hive with one brood box and one super. The weather will be partly cloudy with a high of 16 deg C. My intention is to shut them in on Sat evening and open the hive again on Sun evening. Can anyone recommend...

I help look after a common in London and we've been looking into having bees. We have a group of volunteers who are prepared to get trained and some have kept bees in the past. We have had the LBKA look at our site and approve the location (it's next to a flower garden and orchard and surrounded...

We won't have a legal issue. Our farm buildings are not a part of the common and are already sealed off from the public. Our hives will go in here. We have never had issues before with vandalism but obviously that's not a guarantee we won't in the future. You are correct in theory about...

I've always called them storks but their proper name might well be grey herons. They stand about 3' high and enjoy eating my neighbours fish. I forgot to mention the spotted woodpeckers, I get these as well :)

I'm not sure what Dickensian image you have of London but I get all kinds of wild life in my garden from foxes and squirrels, to parakeets and storks, to frogs and stag beetles. The bigger issue is keeping the wildlife out the house! I met with a chap from the LBKA today to discuss options on...

I am of course listening to your advice, that's why I'm here! I'll also be meeting someone from the bee keeping association to discuss all these points and see whether we have any safe places for bees on our common. If they believe our proposed site is safe for the bees then the hives will be...

I appreciate that beehive thefts are big business up north but I suspect our local criminals, god bless them, aim a little higher. We had a drugs bust round the corner a month back plus a body found in the woods and we even had bullets sprayed into the park sign when I first moved in. It may be...

The aim is to connect people to nature, to learn about beekeeping and to get some honey. We're certainly not trying to better pollinate the flowers. I guess you could ask that same question to anyone on this forum. Or do you guys tend to live in places mostly devoid of insect life?

@ domino - all tips noted. The wild bees "hives" - just mean's swarms of bees living in trees around the common. The common is quite noted for it's gardens and the flowers seem to attract the bees. The largest colony lives in a big tree at the top of the common and has lived there quite happily...

I haven't made public the idea of the hives as yet but I've already had 5 people,including the head gardener, ask if they can look after the hives. I'd actually be quite happy looking after the hives by myself as my wife vetoed my suggestion of having bee hives in my own back garden. The aim is...

Quick intro: I'm the chairman of the friends group for my local common in Streatham London and we are also set up as a charity. The common is roughly 70 acres and a mixture of parkland, flower beds, woodland and orchard. Being in London means it is also surrounded by homes and gardens. We are...