Experiences with a BEEHAUS

[johna]

I'm thinking of buying a BEEHAUS just to do something different for a change.Will I regret it? I'm used to Nationals,16 x 10's and am just going to plunge into Rooftops poly nats.

 

[iball]

Yes, I can think of better ways of shifting a few beer vouchers.

 

[Rosti]

If you are purchasing for variety and amusement then why not wait (I have had similar thoughts to be honest). My thinking:

• There were many buyers who bought in a considered way and good luck to them, but, I suspect that there are also loads of people with money to burn who must have bought last year, swept along on a tide of 'the poor bees need my help' and hip urban beeking images
• Many will sadly have lost colonies over winter
• Some will not want to replace
• Some will be bored
• Some will have decided not for them

There is currently a white one on the omlet site for £300, which given the original price of £450 -ish included a Nuc is clearly a zero depreciation and the vendor appears optimistic / a coupon short of a toaster! I am rather hoping at some point this year the second hand market in beehaus's will kick off at realistic market rates. I might think about it as a variety item then.

 

[Black Comb]

Spoken like a true Yorkshireman Rosti.

 

[Tom Bick]

If you can collect then perhaps a good deal to be had if its what you want.

Its hard to imaging people sending then through say parcel force and this may explain why non have appeared on ebay or at least I have not seen any.

 

[MuswellMetro]

well being in a division of Herfordshire BKA the oringal Dartington hive on which the Beehaus is based on, was designed by Robin Dartington a active Hertfordshire member

He is well known to our association and he talked at the AGM last saturday

our BKA has been using dartingtons since he first made them and we have quite a few and variants of them

i walked around the three association apiaries the other day and we had about 35 active national and 14x12 hives, , 2 active hedgecoes, 1 active poly nuc, two active wooden nucs, 1 rose osb ,1 active Dartington ,three dead nationasl ( 2losses to-woodpeck and 1 too small) 3 empty nationals, 1 empty langstroth and 5 empty Dartingtons

so why aren,t the dartingtons popular, i do not know

 

[nottingham]

When I look at these hives I can't help but think "Posh persons hive" or maybe perfect for someone who has OCD and they can spend all day polishing it up. They will probably bring out a hive for millionaires soon. Made out of Titanium or Platinum.

 

[MuswellMetro]

When I look at these hives I can't help but think "Posh persons hive" or maybe perfect for someone who has OCD and they can spend all day polishing it up. They will probably bring out a hive for millionaires soon. Made out of Titanium or Platinum.

He He

i saw one of our oldest members hives the other day, bits of wood nailed on, putty in wood pecker holes ,warped boards, felt roof almost leaking and patched, rusting nails, stand rotting into the ground so proped on a milk crate

it was an EH Taylor cottager hive they stopped making in the 1980s , you would think is was just a pile of rotting wood

i wonder what my hives will look like when i am the same age as him (90)

but guess who wins All the honey prizes, all the mead prizes, he does and not a spot of paint, presevative or polish anywhere near his hives

 

[Adam]

and 5 empty Dartingtons

so why aren,t the dartingtons popular, i do not know

Empty Dartingtons is a recurring event. I hear similar things of other apiaries/divisions when they have a Dartington. I've never heard why they seem to fall out of favour with beekeepers.

Adam

 

[oliver90owner]

Because they are much better suited to 'service' one's other hives, than reaping a harvest mainly in 14 x 12 frames, I suspect.

RAB

 

[Gardenbees]

I'm thinking of buying a BEEHAUS just to do something different for a change.Will I regret it? I'm used to Nationals,16 x 10's and am just going to plunge into Rooftops poly nats.

I'm sure you won't regret the poly nats! As for the Beehaus, I've seen two in use (they're pretty conspicuous!) but haven't managed to ask their owners for a report. I did however notice that one had been put onto reinforced legs, and I have heard that the overall structure of the Beehaus can get a bit topply with a heavy honey load on board, esp. in exposed areas.

I was very attracted to building a Dartington hive at first, but got put off by the odd supers etc. Instead I built a long hive (Scandinavian style) that takes 14x12 frames, that I can also put a couple of supers on if I need to, or split down the middle. It's a similar concept but more convenient as it's directly interchangeable with my other hives, not just in terms of frames but also boxes.

I agree with Rosti that if you're feeling experimental then you could always wait until some decent second-hand Beehauses rolleyes:Beehausen??) are available... otherwise the price is fairly eye-watering and personally I'd rather buy some really nice nuc boxes or some handy bits of interchangeable kit. Each to their own I suppose pand the purple ones are rather snazzy!).

 

[BuzzWorker]

Why do beekeeprs go off Dartingtons?
I suspect that the fact that almost all be courses only have time for Nationals means beekeepers who do buy two deep Nationals bolted together (basic idea of the Dartington) never get to grips with the advantages. Tutors - and books - tend to give the impression you can keep a colony in a National hive - whereas of course you need two, one left empty 11 months of the year, if you are to be responsible about controlling swarming. It is cheaper and easier to use one longer hive all year, dividing it to two for just one month when you want to split the colony to avoid swarming and to raise a new queen, and then recombining.
A Dartington extends the range of ways to expand a colony and then control the swarming instinct but more options can just be confusing if not tackled rigorously.
There are also options on how you store the honey - you can get it all in shallows if you don't want to extract 14x12 - provided you use the option of a two part roof and so can stack all the honeyboxes over the main brood nest at one end (just as with a National). But then you get back to the disadvantage of needing to lift off all the honey before you can inspect the brood. There is always a compromise.
A Dartington avoids the need to lift weights above the safety level - but there has not yet - yet - been a claim against a supplier of Nationals that they are a health hazard. It may come - and then some disused Dartingtons may get cleaned up.
Overall, I suspect that since Dartingtons are not recomended to beginners (as tutors as not personally familiar with them) buyers tend to be individualists - but when they then find they cannot get support, they become disillusioned. It would be interesting to know if the owners of empty Dartingtons have turned to other hives or just gone away.
Of course, a large hive does not work well with small colonies - you do need to select queens for vitality. And if you want to take your hive with you on holiday, a Dartington is not for you.
My own interests have turned from private beekeeping to community based education and training. The new association set up in Hitchin has now completed BuzzWorks Community Bee Garden as the public educational site and HoneyWorks as the training site. We have Dartingtons, Nats , WBC, trough hive, others. It will be the first time I have been able to see how new beekeepers get on with different types of hive as they gain experience.
Further comments from others on this topic would be interesting.

Robin

 

[BuzzWorker]

GardenBees said: 'I was very attracted to building a Dartington hive at first, but got put off by the odd supers etc. Instead I built a long hive (Scandinavian style) that takes 14x12 frames, that I can also put a couple of supers on if I need to, or split down the middle. It's a similar concept but more convenient as it's directly interchangeable with my other hives, not just in terms of frames but also boxes.'

That was how I started off of course when I needed to get away from having empty light boxes on the roof-top apiary - just two 14x12 brood boxes fixed togthyer , then the fixed division removed in favour of a temporary division borad and two normal supers on top. The reason for new, half length supers was to cut the weight , to be able to slip the div board 3/4 down the box as well as in the middle to create a nuc and not always two full brood nests - and to convert to top bee space.
The current Dartington design has evolved over 35 years through numerous small changes. I hope GardenBees has as much fun as I have evolving a hive best suited to his conditions.
Robin

 

[MuswellMetro]

Why do beekeeprs go off Dartingtons?
I suspect that the fact that almost all be courses only have time for Nationals means beekeepers who do buy two deep Nationals bolted together (basic idea of the Dartington) never get to grips with the advantages.

Robin

Robin

I agree

excellent talk on your community bee garden at the Herts AGM, a most interesting project

 

[Vergilius]

If you are purchasing for variety and amusement then why not wait (I have had similar thoughts to be honest). My thinking:

• There were many buyers who bought in a considered way and good luck to them, but, I suspect that there are also loads of people with money to burn who must have bought last year, swept along on a tide of 'the poor bees need my help' and hip urban beeking images
• Many will sadly have lost colonies over winter
• Some will not want to replace
• Some will be bored
• Some will have decided not for them

• 
  
  Beesrob...
  
  
  [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcCAqGHTbec&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Rosti]

Ben, you wouldn't be touting for a cameo role in his (much anticipated) 5th video would you? I believe this forum managed to be singled out for passing abuse in video No3 and now you are going for a solo career!

 

[johna]

Thanks very much BuzzWorker,very informative.I will probably go ahead if only to have examples of different hives to show to our multitude of beginners.

 

[malawi2854]

I cannot begin to express how much Beesrob does not represent all Beehaus owners.

I, like many others, watched Beesrob's videos while I was waiting for delivery of my Beehaus, and was truely horrified. It's all be said before - so I won't go into that.

I just don't want everyone owning a Beehaus to be sterotyped as another Beesrob. I can assure you, I am not.




PS> In answer to the actual point of the thread - I've really enjoyed using my Beehaus, in my limited experience, it appears to wipe the floor with Nationals (I know - shoot me now). I'm not putting that success down entirely to the plastic design, the basic Dartington design has a lot to do with how much I like it.
Equally, I am not blind to it's flaws - the way Omlet marketed the Beehaus was, in my opinion, verging on a breach of trade descriptions, and it would have been nice if they'd researched it properly before putting into production.

BUT - generally speaking - I am very pleased with it, and would recommend it to any new starter.

 

[Mike a]

The only thing I was horrified about was the colour of the hive !!
I watched his video and saw a very enthusiastic bee keeper. Ok one or two points about the setup I would of done differently for that time of year which I believe was Aug/Sept time, first I would of rinsed out the feeder before refilling it, remove all the empty supers, take out some of the undrawn frames or simply moved the divider and feeder up to condense them but nothing too serious.

Wish I had a strip of land that big for my hives.

 

[RoofTops]

I'm still getting e-mails from BeesRob - links to male enhancement products. I've tried e-mailing him back and told him to get some anti-malware installed but no joy. Whatever is on his PC is probably clever enough to filter them out!

Anyone else on his mailing list?

PS: My 1600th post. So at an average of a few minutes a post this must represent a significant junk out of my life! Almost as enjoyable as time spent beekeeping.