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ocba - Re: [ocba] Keeping hives in a dedicated house

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Chris Abernethy <cabernet AT chrisabernethy.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Keeping hives in a dedicated house
  • Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 11:31:46 -0400

Cool pic, Chris. Thanks for sharing. That's a great candidate for a desktop background pic!

I've never been in a bee house but have seen lots of pictures of them. They are the traditional set-up in many parts of Eastern Europe. The exact configuration varies from area to area. They are worked from the back rather than the top. The moveable frames are like ours but the boxes are different. If you have access to the excellent PBS Nova documentary "Tales from the Hive", it has scenes of beekeepers working hives in a traditional European bee house.

In the US, I've heard of people putting regular Langstroth hives in their garage and leaving the garage windows open. They do this to avoid unwanted scrutiny from neighbors. In our area, there isn't an advantage to the bees from this; in fact it is disadvantageous to keep bees in the shade and smart beekeepers don't want our bees to be too warm & cozy in the winter.

If you ever get a chance to read A.I. Root's autobiography, "An Eyewitness Account of Early American Beekeeping", he describes his experiments with a bee house in Central Ohio. He also experimented with putting bees in his attic. He was a free thinker, always experimenting and trying to learn from his mistakes. His wife must have been a very patient woman.

Randall Austin

On 8/9/2013 5:29 AM, Chris Abernethy wrote:
0689B850-71F3-4F4A-9C54-99FCFBEFC713 AT chrisabernethy.com" type="cite">
I recently came across this bee yard in Bavaria and though folks might be interested. I heard from the owner at Starrlight Mead in Hillsborough that one of her honey suppliers in NC kept his hives in a house like this, but I had never seen it before. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to the keeper in the picture... has anyone on this list had any experience with this type of setup?

--Chris



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