Working with Horizontal Layens Hives
Working with Horizontal Layens Hives Feral Hive in a Natural Tree Hollow Layens horizontal hives were designed to imitate how the feral bee colonies live in natural tree hollows. Layens horizontal hives with deep 16″ frames have been in continuous use since the 19th century, as they are easy to manage with minimal disturbances to […]
Vertical and Horizontal Beehives & Math of Overwintering. Honey Bee Clusters, Shapes & Frame Design
Vertical & Horizontal Beehives and Math for Overwintering. Cluster Shapes & Frame Designs The above video discusses the following: The shape of a bee cluster varies depending on the depth of the frame. In conventional Langstroth vertical hives, due to a relatively shallow (just 9″ deep individual frame) the bee cluster tends to take a […]
Raising Good Bees in Horizontal Hives. Swarm Traps, Queens & VSH Genetics
Raising Good Bees in Horizontal Hives At ForestBeehive apiary we are miles away from industrial & agricultural pollution, we have sufficient Spring-to-Fall foraging resources for our bees and we don’t use any supplemental sugar feedings. We also don’t use any human engineered chemical treatments or even organic pest control substances in and around our beehives. […]
Splits or Artificial Swarms for Horizontal Beehives
Splits or Artificial Swarms for Horizontal Beehives Splits are also called ‘artificial swarms’. Artificial swarming does what the honeybees are trying to do naturally: to prevent overcrowding by swarming i.e. self-splitting the colony so that they can establish an additional new colony elsewhere and be fruitful and multiply. Swarming Honeybees With uncontrolled natural swarming, only […]
Using Honeybees to Pollinate Conventional Agricultural Crops
Using Honeybees to Pollinate Conventional Agricultural Crops photo from: entomologytoday.com In the US the honeybees in conventional vertical beehives get transported by the truckloads all over the country for pollination of conventional agricultural crops. Unfortunately, conventional agricultural crops are usually replete with agrochemicals such as pesticides and herbicides affecting both the bees and their honey. […]
Vertical Beehives and The Lord of the Rings
Vertical Beehives and The Lord of the Rings OR How Horizontal Beehives Minimize Disturbing the Honeybees This is the 2nd part of the series. The 1st part is here: Vertical Beehives and a Crazy Landlord In Summer we gradually fully fill our horizontal hives with frames – up to 20 frames as the bee colonies […]