Category Archives: TBH

Meditations on the Learning from the Bees conference

Posted on November 8, 2018 by

At the end of August the world’s first major international gathering of natural beekeepers, Learning from the Bees, took place in the Netherlands. The atmosphere had a festival vibe and concentrated on healthy bees and improving the environment, rather than … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Experimentation, Honey bee research, Log hive, Pesticides, Research, Skeps, Sun Hive, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

ONBG meeting, 22 Aug 2018 – TBH special, wasps, and insulation

Posted on September 7, 2018 by

10 beeks gathered at Helen’s on a sunny Saturday afternoon for heaps of cake and biscuits (thank you Helen, Jane & Anne!), a bit of bee nattering and a peer at Helen’s hives. The attendees were mostly TBH users, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Inspections, Meetings, ONBG, Pests, TBH | Tagged | Leave a comment

ONBG meeting, 20th May 2018 – TBHs and tall tales

Posted on May 30, 2018 by

An anarchic group of beekeepers met on a very sunny day at Shadiya’s farm near Oxford to celebrate International Bee Day with a picnic and a peek at her Top Bar Hives. We began by discussing winter losses, which were … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Ecology, Garden plants, Meetings, ONBG, Swarms, TBH | Tagged | Leave a comment

Infrared images of hives in winter

Posted on March 11, 2018 by

I mentioned borrowing an FLIR (heat vision) camera from Jack in an earlier post. He blogged some pictures of his own TBH’s taken with it. Now here is what I saw on a variety of hives belonging to myself and … Continue reading →

Posted in Hives, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Moving a hive

Posted on February 4, 2018 by

We moved some horizontal Top Bar Hives today, partly because they were a bit visible from the road and there has been an increase in vandalism in this neighbourhood. There is a well known adage that you must move a … Continue reading →

Posted in TBH | Tagged | 1 Comment

New Arrivals: The Rat Box Bees

Posted on October 10, 2017 by

There are now colonies in both of my hives. The Brexit Day colony are still strong, their entrance crowded with constant forage-traffic. Beside them are the Rat Box Bees, new arrivals to the garden. Their entrance is less busy – usually one … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimentation, Hives, Swarms, TBH, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

ONBG meeting, 9th Sept 2017 – colony personalities, and ferals

Posted on September 17, 2017 by

Eleven bee enthusiasts met in north Oxfordshire to discuss preparation for winter, look at feral colonies around a village, and discuss how colony personalities differ. This last is because we get a lot of questions from people concerned that their … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Meetings, ONBG, Stings, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments