Cheer up ... all year beekeeping coming soon

[fatshark]

The synthetic apiary (https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/26/neri-oxman-synthetic-apiary-mit-mediated-matter-bees-beehive-design-technology/) ... controlled light, humidity, photoperiod, temperature ... honey production all year. Perfect for the tricky conditions we sometimes experience in Scotland. As the designers state (without a smidgen of hyperbole) "the first demonstration of sustainable life in a completely synthetic environment".

2781

I'm at a loss for words ... or more precisely, one word. The one that comes after "Total ... "

[Jon]

Should work ok if it has a 3+ mile radius and is well planted up with a good sequence of forage plants and a water source.

[Jon]

But I am not paying the heating bill

[Calluna4u]

I think its on the way anyway.........

We had 450 hives left to get off the hill near Aviemore and move to Hereford and Gloucester.....but our stockist down there only had 2 tanks of invert syrup left so could not feed them all on site. So....only 200 could be fed down there....its 10litres each so 100 colonies per tank.

The remaining 250 were removed from the moors last week and placed in a holding unit here in Scotland to be fed from our own local stock of syrup, and this was completed on Thursday and Friday last week, so 10/11th November. At the weekend they were carting in the pollen (mostly the dirty yellow of ivy but also some orange and white), and when checked yesterday 70% of them have taken all 14kg and most of the rest are near to finishing. They are so strong lots of them are wall to wall (even some clustered up in the feeder too as the single Lang deep not big enough after the syrup is in) and have drawn up to 4 bars of foundation in the last week. These bees will be carted south once they are nearly all finished and will be back into starting spring build up in about 14 to 16 weeks. Not much of a break.

Wooden Smiths fed only a week before......similar story though we did not have them with added foundation so late. A lot of the old rules are obsolete.

Lots of very strong bees going into winter this year, in all hive types.

[busybeephilip]

Jon says.....Should work ok if it has a 3+ mile radius and is well planted up with a good sequence of forage plants and a water source.

Good for breeding ..........perhaps

[fatshark]

In the case of Apiary Vicinity Mating you'd only need a small incubator ;-)
Perhaps the biggest Brinsea incubator could house an Apidea?

[SDM]

Jon says.....Should work ok if it has a 3+ mile radius and is well planted up with a good sequence of forage plants and a water source.

Good for breeding ..........perhaps

I've already spoken with a company building something that they think will work. 12 acres of soilless hydroponic heated with the 299MWe biomass power station next door. I'm moving hives onto the site next year once demolition has finished as the surrounding area is also excellent. Maybe have a few indoors 12mths of the year by 2020.

[busybeephilip]

A potential interesting single source honey which of course would demand a high price - local tomato honey ? melon honey? strawberry honey ?

[busybeephilip]

In the case of Apiary Vicinity Mating you'd only need a small incubator ;-)
Perhaps the biggest Brinsea incubator could house an Apidea?

Begs the question - Internal Apidea Apiary Vicinity Mating (IAAVM)....no need for the queen to fly at all ...... yes ... you heard it here folks :)

[SDM]

Isn't altitude pretty rigourously adhered to for mating ? It's going to have to be a seriously tall structure.

[Jon]

The activity I see takes place at about 3 metres off the ground (http://www.native-queen-bees.com/apiary-vicinity-mating/). Of course the jury is also still out as to whether mating actually takes place during these events.

[busybeephilip]

I know someone who seen a queen mating on the grassy ground they also had a photo to prove it

[Jon]

Although it could just have fallen to the ground with a drone attached I suppose.

[fatshark]

I've already spoken with a company building something that they think will work. 12 acres of soilless hydroponic heated with the 299MWe biomass power station next door. I'm moving hives onto the site next year once demolition has finished as the surrounding area is also excellent. Maybe have a few indoors 12mths of the year by 2020.

There's only one thing I know they grow hydroponically with lots of warmth. Perhaps this shows my limited knowledge of agriculture.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/canna-bees-trained-produce-honey-7491696

[busybeephilip]

Although it could just have fallen to the ground with a drone attached I suppose.

More than likely, apparently the queen worked herself free then flew off

[SDM]

There's only one thing I know they grow hydroponically with lots of warmth. Perhaps this shows my limited knowledge of agriculture.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/canna-bees-trained-produce-honey-7491696

Limited but suspiciously specific ?

[Thymallus]

All year round beekeeping. No thanks. I enjoy the break and anticipation of spring inspections.
It throws up an interesting question, what happens to the life cycle of bees that are used to a winter brood break and are then exposed to a warm climate year round and pretty constant day times as you would get in the tropics? I suspect there might be no brood break but would they ramp it down as per their current conditioning to shorter day length or would there just be constant foraging, assuming nectar and pollen were available 365. And what happens to the foraging behaviour of bees exposed to warmth and sunlight 24 hours a day, such as North of the Arctic Circle? Do they forage 24 hours a day?
Nothing obvious pops out on a google search.

[Jon]

I worked in Mexico for many years and although I was not directly working with bees I observed bees whenever I could and talked with local beekeepers on occasion. Most of the commercial beekeepers seemed to work with Italians and as far as I could see the bees foraged all year round.
This was in January

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BcfljjUyt0

[Thymallus]

That's interesting Jon, shame about the band :)
I wonder if anyone has looked at seasonal brood levels, seeing if they decline or remain fairly constant etc.

[Greengage]

I assume high levels of Co2 would be a problem trying to maintain them to the levels found outdoors could be a problem.

[SDM]

I would think if the people working there could manage so could the bees.
Isn't increased Co2 levels in queens an important part of successful.mating ?

[prakel]

CO2.

Maybe not directly relevant as no doubt there would be steps taken to regulate the CO2 in such a structure, but this is quite interesting:


west lafayette, ind. - rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have reduced protein in goldenrod pollen, a key late-season food source for north american bees, a purdue university study shows.

Researchers found that the overall protein concentration of goldenrod pollen fell about one-third from the onset of the industrial revolution to the beginning of the 21st century.

Previous studies have shown that increases in carbon dioxide can lower the nutritional value of plants such as wheat and rice - staple crops for much of the global human population - but this study is the first to examine the effects of rising co2 on the diet of bees.

rising co2 levels reduce protein in crucial pollen source for bees. Purdue university agriculture news, april 13, 2016.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjs0I2r8MDQAhWKESwKHVfxD9cQFgglMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.purdue.edu%2Fnewsroom%2Frele ases%2F2016%2FQ2%2Frising-co2-levels-reduce-protein-in-crucial-pollen-source-for-bees.html&usg=AFQjCNEgCzO6bzlm31_S6J4cWkCZTcqMaQ&sig2=HDIoQJIf4yYD4QN_oNZmvw

There was also some interesting continental research a few years ago which looked at the role of heightened CO2 levels in aiding colonies to winter by effectively keeping them 'quiet' (I'd need to dig around a little to find an active link to that one).

[fatshark]

-4 Centigrade this morning in Fife ... no problems keeping my colonies quiet

[prakel]

Again, not directly applicable to the all-year bee room but always fascinating to look at other related experiences, Ian Steppler (the Canadian who's blog and wintering shed videos I've linked in the past) has recently started a CO2 thread on Beesource:


CO2 is an important factor when wintering honeybees. They use it as part of their dormancy control and maintain a certain elevated level of it within their insulating shell, 1700ppm had been suggested.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?332327-CO2-levels-with-Indoor-Wintering-Honeybees

[alancooper]

In the Beesource shed blog, there was the comment - " Too much air movement within the room can disrupt the hives CO2 shed and interfere with dormancy." Mmmmmm.....another constraint to beekeeping in the windy West and North here?