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  • From: Marty Hanks <marty AT justbeenc.com>
  • To: Dylan Wilson <dylan.wilson AT gmail.com>, Orange County Bees <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Fwd: Top Bar Hive Challenge....are you in?
  • Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:05:20 -0500

Hi Dylan,
 
Cool idea...i opened the link but have not yet found any info on how to construct it. I had sent out this reply to Charlotte earlier, but failed to notice i did not CC'd the group.
------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Morning Charlotte,
 
THANKS so much for keeping your friend in the loop and exchanging info w/ her!
 
I was not to surprised that they were in short demand....i thought about the fuel angle and more feared the building of or patching of homes-huts. So to hear they were used for "SHIMS" for grain storage is a new one. That is why these email exchanges are SO important. You have to know the lay of the land. One quick point i'd like to offer her as I hope this moves forward, but she can pass on w/o the beehive project and that is that many in the Asian culture still use bamboo to make scaffolding! They still go several stories high building new structures...so if they can hold up the men and their tools...why not HD units to lift up the grain! Could free up some pallet material or do where there is none.  http://www.energy-treatments.com/holistic_healing/energy_field_properties/energy_field_bamboo_effects.html
 
 
Here are some ideas for you to send to her that I would like some feedback on...
 
First: here (BELOW) is that email from Randy awhile back. They use skeeps (woven wreath baskets) - vines? w/ fixed wooden tops bars inside that the bees build on. Do they also have resources to weave such baskets?

Second: Bamboo..cool but challenging as its not that straight. Being a contractor who started off in historical preservation the first image that comes to mind is TBH woven on the sides and then a this mud wash or covering. This adobe here. The bamboo acts like the "lath" of old...the back bone and structure and the mud packing acts as the insulator (from the heat) and seals up the hives from predators.
 
NOTE: in either situation maybe we could try to use the bamboo as the top bar (rod) they build down from. my first fear is that they are not uniform...you MUST maintain 1 3/8" between them...Bee Space. so i think the limited supply of pallet material would HAVE to be used there or a big mess will follow.
 
Thanks so much I hope this helps in some way maybe they can borrow the bamboo scafolding as a side project.
 
Cheers,
marty
 

 
 
Everyone,
I happened into 8 videos on YouTube that were posted at the end of
May last year. These videos demonstrate from the beginning of the
season up until winter how they use migratory skeps in beekeeping
in the Heathlands. To me it was fascinating the entire thing. Very
little of how they do it compares with our ways of beekeeping.
 I want one of those pipe smokers, handsfree and ready when you
need it. No lumber is used in the hives themselves and skeps made
from straw and reeds can last 75 years when used it the sheds and
covered in cow dung.
Swarming, it is a business to these beekeepers they stay on watch
and capture the swarms with nets right on the front of the skeps.
So the bees swarm and they sell the bees. Please check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbONroWPic
This is the first of 8 videos, look on the YouTube right side bar
for the other 7 videos.
Cheers,
Randy Emmitt
Rougemont,

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Dylan Wilson <dylan.wilson AT gmail.com> wrote:
Here's a blog entry about a family in Uganda assisted by Heifer International using Bamboo hives:


and here's where you can give bees directly through Heifer:


Maybe we could connect with their existing efforts?

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 7:18 AM, SeeTryFly <charlotte AT seetryfly.com> wrote:
This is from my friend Melody who is in Africa right now.  Her current assignment is with USAID in Malawi but she's been all over the Middle East and Africa for the last fifteen years and has worked specifically to find solutions for food storage and local production of resources.  She offers some suggestions for your Hive Challenge.

Charlotte

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Melody McNeil <melodymcneil AT gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 6:59 AM
Subject: Re: [ocba] Top Bar Hive Challenge....are you in?
To: SeeTryFly <charlotte AT seetryfly.com>


Ok.  Spoke with a few folks around here and they agree that shipping
pallets are not readily available and tend to be a guarded asset if
you have them.  One reason for this is that most grain storage uses
such pallets to ensure proper elevation off the floor.  Also, as you
mentioned, fuel wood is in pretty high demand and shipping pallets in
some areas may be cheaper than other woods and therefore attractive
for fuel.  In terms of tools, I have a feeling that people could be
pretty flexible with what they have around them (my dad and Keith once
used a metal pipe on the side of the road in Kenya to reattach our
accelerator to the engine when the wire snapped...good times) so I
wouldn't worry as much about that.  I still think the idea of simple
bee hive tech is cool.  One of my friends asked if they'd looked into
bamboo.  Readily available growing like a weed everywhere we look and
could be cut in planks for bee hives?

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Melody McNeil <melodymcneil AT gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there!  Just saw this.  It certainly is interesting.  Let me ask a
> colleague here in the office.  In general, I think developing simple
> designs for productive assets is a great idea.  Just not sure about
> availability of shipping pallets outside of urban areas.
>

>>


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--
Marty Hanks
Just Bee, Apiaries
 
 Home of the Orange County Honey Project.
"Created by Artisans....Bottled by Humans"




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