The Sun Hive

     The "Sun Hive", designed by German sculptor Guenther Muncke is a combination of skep weaving and circular inner wooden frame.

     Based on years of bee colony observation the unique hive is designed to fit the natural comb building tendencies of the honey bee.  The hive is designed to be installed at a height of 2.5 meters (8 ft).

     Below is a video showing the comb building progress of a swarm after four weeks in the "Sun Hive". The inner cover over the wooden frames is cloth coated in bees wax and the outer cover is coated in natural, organic cow dung.  The hive was made at a therapeutic institution for autistic children in Germany and was made of biodynamically grown rye straw.  
  

     The "Sun Hive" will be officially introduced to Britain at the Natural Beekeeping Alliance Conference August 10th, 2012 by the Natural Beekeeping Trust.  A book about the Sun Hive will be published later in the year with details of how to build one.  I would love to build one of these down the road but I wonder if there is a natural substitute for cow dung.


"The Sun Hive/Haengekorb outlines the outer, invisible "skin" of the "Bien", the wholeness and single entity of the bee. It reveals the innate round shape of the "Bien". It's true nature becomes palpable, through the gestalt and it's position in space. The Haengekorb shows, how everything within the colony is round. The shape of it speaks with a pre-verbal-language. And the shape can share the living processes within. All together a "flower garden" for the eye and the heart."

*September update:
     A book in English about the Sun Hive is now available to purchase via mail order. The book includes detailed plans on how to make your own Sun Hive. To open a preview of the book click here.

The book is priced at £15.00 plus £3.50 postage and packing for delivery of up to two books at the same address. Postage and packing costs for three or more books by quotation.

To order your copy please send a cheque made payable to "Natural Beekeeping Trust Sun Hive Account" with a covering letter stating how many copies you wish to order plus delivery address details to:

Sun Hive Book, Ashurstwood House, Ashurst Wood, West Sussex RH19 3RX.

Alternatively, email your order to sunhive@naturalbeekeepingtrust.org and we will send you our bank account details.

Homesteader's Emporium Grand Opening

     The Homesteader's Emporium is now open at 649 E. Hastings St. in Vancouver and the grand opening will be next weekend, July 27-29.  This store will be the first selling beekeeping equipment in the city of Vancouver and the grand opening will include an introductory beekeeping demonstration, "Beehive Anatomy" by Lianne Shyry of Two Bees Apiary.  There will also be demonstrations and workshops on a variety of neat subjects like soil nutrition and soap making.  

Grand Opening Next Weekend, July 27-29!

Our big Grand Opening is next weekend, and we have a TON of awesome demonstrations, talks, and mini-workshops lined up.  All are free or by donation, so come on by to learn about mushrooms, bees, vegetable gardening, backyard chickens, rainwater collection, and more!  Take a look at the full program schedule below.

To pre-register for any program, you can reply to this email with your name and contact number or call us at 604-568-7675.  Pre-registration is NOT required but is encouraged to guarantee your spot.  I hope many of you can make it out!

Program Schedule:

Friday, July 27

2 pm – Chickens 101 with Duncan Martin the Vancooper
Tour of a chicken coop with discussions of chicken behavior and City of Vancouver regulations. Q&A to follow.

3 pm – Growing Mushrooms at Home and in your garden with Scott Henderson, the Mushroom Man.
Scott will demonstrate growing specialty mushrooms on grain-based substrate, and discuss ways to establishing sustainable mushroom patches in your hard or garden.

4 pm – Keeping and Baking with Sourdough Starter with Rick Havlak of Homesteader's Emporium.
Rick will demonstrate two styles of sourdough starter and give introductory level suggestions for baking sourdough bread.


Saturday, July 28

11 am – Cheese and Yogurt 101 with Rick Havlak of Homesteader's Emporium.
Rick will demonstrate various techniques for making soft cheeses and yogurts at home, with a discussion of how to extend the process for hard cheeses.

12 pm – Canning Safety 101 with Asia Warner of Homesteader's Emporium.
Asia will discuss key measures to ensure the safety of canned produce through a 'dry run' of the basic canning process. A hands-on demonstration of herb and fruit infusions will follow.

1 pm – Upcycling Planters with Victory Gardens.
Victory Gardens is excited to host a workshop for the DIY grower who wants to upcycle while growing. There will be a live construction demo and some current gardening tips provided. Come down and learn how to reuse for growing! $5 suggested donation for materials.

2 pm – Growing Mushrooms on coffee grounds with Mushboo.
Matt Unger of Mushboo will demonstrate how to farm oyster mushrooms on spent coffee grounds.

3 pm – Rainwater Harvesting with Adam Scheuer of Water Tiger.
Adam will demonstrate connecting rain collectors to existing gutter systems and show us how to reduce contaminants.

4pm – Composting in Small Spaces with Rick Havlak of Homesteader's Emporium.
Rick will demonstrate two styles of worm composters and discuss alternative methods for composting indoors or in small spaces: bokashi, and automated.


Sunday, July 29

12 pm – DIY Stamp Crafts with Asia Warner of Homesteader's Emporium.
Asia will lead participants in stamping fabric with attractive patters using repurposed household items.

1 pm – Soil Nutrients 101 with Emi Do of Yummy Yards. 
Emi will tell us about her experiences with soil management and give some pointers for getting the most out of your soil.

2 pm - Beehive Anatomy with Lianne Shyry of Two Bees Apiary. 
Lianne will take apart a (beeless) beehive with participants, explaining along the way how each part of the hive supports bee ecology.

3 pm – The Science of Fermentation with Rick Havlak of Homesteader's Emporium.
Rick will discuss the role of fermentation in many of the foods we love: beer, cheese, sausage, sauerkraut, kombucha, and more.

4pm – Basic Soap Making with Asia Warner of Homesteader's Emporium. 
Asia will lead participants in making customized homemade bar soap. $5 Suggested donation.

Don't get lost!  Use your Bee Dance GPS.

Vancouver Beekeeping Forum

     The video above is of some of my girls enjoying a peony.  I have never seen as much activity on a single flower as I saw on this particular plant.  Like a feeding frenzy at a Vegas buffet.

     Welcome to the Vancouver Beekeepers forum.  The Vancouver Beekeeping forum is a network of beekeepers set up to allow Vancouver area beekeepers to discuss problems, solutions and resources. Though primarily for Vancouver area beekeepers anyone can join and there are no obligations.  I belong to a few beekeeping forums like BeeL which is primarily made up of long time expert commercial beekeepers and also a Natural beekeepers forum.  I am neither a commercial beekeeper or a natural (small cell) beekeeper but entertain the possibility of both in the near future.  Consequently, I am mainly a quiet observer, learning from the discussions and occasionally asking a question or providing information. To join the Vancouver Beekeepers forum go to Vancouver Beekeepers.  There are email options which allow you to receive all (individually or daily) or none of the messages.  Today is the first official day of the forum and one message announced the opening of the Homesteaders Emporium at 649 E. Hastings (Vancouver City's first beekeeping supply outlet) and in another message a very informative book "At the Hive Entrance" was downloaded to the database.  Please feel free to join.  The more beekeepers involved, the more information and resources available.  Thanks.

     

Beekeeping Webinar

One of our girls enjoying a chive flower

     It is very strange for beekeepers in Vancouver to think of  preparing for winter when it seems that summer began about a week ago but it's something to consider through the summer when harvesting honey and checking for diseases and pests.  I just did a 24 hour mite check on our hives and had a very low count.
     In the south this time of year the hot weather leads to a dearth or lack of available pollen and nectar for the bees and in our area (Vancouver) the main pollen flows are finished for the year.  The last major pollen flow for us is blackberries which is just finishing.  We keep our bees in a 4 acre urban, organic community garden which has 120 individual garden plots and several public garden areas (fruit, flowers, herbs...).  As a result there are always flowers and vegetables providing forage for the girls until October. After that the pickins are slim except for a few plants like Asian Asters, Calendula and Japanese Anemone.   Many people don't realize that because of urban landscaping the available forage for city bees is greater than that for their country cousins.
     The Ohio State University beekeeping webinar "Planning Now for Winter Preparation" can be viewed at Webinar or you can go to the OSU Beelab at Beelab.  It is fairly informative for new beekeepers and a good reminder for the old beeks.  The webinar will also be available at our Beekeepers' Library.  Enjoy! 

Beekeeping Webinar

     The next of the monthly series of beekeeping webinars presented by Ohio State University entitled "Planning Now for Winter Preparation" will be on Wednesday, July 18th from 9-10 am (Eastern District Time).
     The webinar will be presented by Barbara Bloetscher, Ohio State Apiarist (Ohio Department of Agriculture) and to participate log in as a guest at about 8:55 am EDT at Login (Ipad link Login).  Each of the OSU Beekeeping webinars is recorded and available at the OSU Beelab website.  I found the previous four webinars to be very good.     
   
   
     

Extinct Black Honey Bee found alive in Britain

     The Black Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera Mellifera - I'm not stuttering) also known as the European Dark Bee, long thought to be extinct in most of Britain has been found in Londonderry, the Isle of Man, West Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Preston, Lancashire, Fife, Argyll and Bute and Denbighshire.
     Black bees have evolved adaptations to survive the cooler, wet British climate.  They are darker, have thicker, longer hair and larger bodies than their southern Mediterranean cousins (Italians, Carniolans).
     Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at Sussex University, said: "People claimed the black bee went extinct, but it's good that this research proves that their genes are still around. It makes sense to use native bees because they are better adapted to the local climate."
     Due to the discovery of the native Black Honey Bee Martin Tovey, president of the British Beekeepers Association is encouraging British beekeepers to breed the Black Honey Bee rather than importing bees from southern Europe. “More bees bred from black bees would be a good thing as they survive the winter better, but I’m not sure they alone will reverse the collapse of colonies we have been suffering,” he said.
     The European Dark Bee or Black Honey Bee is distinguished by it's dark, stocky, hairy body with dark pigmentation of the wings.  Until 100 years ago the dark bee breeds were the original honey bee stock until the creation of the hybrid Buckfast bee created to counter the Acarine mite (sound familiar) which devastated European bees at that time.  During the second World War the British Black Bee nearly became extinct in Europe as the Nazis ordered the destruction of all breeding stock whose honey production they felt was not up to modern standards.
     The Black Honey Bee would be better adapted to our cool, wet Vancouver weather than the Italian and Carniolan bees which dominate beekeeping throughout North America.  Unfortunately, because of government regulations we can't import bees from Britain.
   
   

Bee Hives Poisoned in Australia

     Police in New South Wales, Australia are investigating the chemical poisoning of approximately 740 hives  which killed thousands of bees poisoning honey worth $150,000.  The incident is suspected to be the result of a vicious rivalry in the honey industry.  A spokes person for one of the companies effected, Australian Rainforest Honey said the offender appeared to know where the bees were and how to poison them efficiently. ''I'd say they would have had to have a good knowledge of bees.''  The NSW Department of Primary Industries has taken samples of dead bees and poisoned honey from the hives to be analysed at its forensic laboratory operated by the Environmental Protection Agency in Lidcombe.  The results of the testing are expected within the week.

Update:

*The results of the testing by the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the chemical Permethrin, a common household insecticide, was used to kill the bees. Unfortunately, this is not a unique incident and has happened throughout the world of commercial beekeeping. Competition for available pollen and nectar can be fairly cut-throat amongst commercial beekeepers. As a spokesman for the Australian Honey Industry said, "This is not the first time something like this happened. They have been stolen in the past or destroyed," he said. "I've been in the industry 30 years and it doesn't happen regularly, but it does happen."

Inspecting the Hives in Black and White

Hi all,
Just wanted to post here some of the black and white pics I took in the spring of the aliens - I mean, beekeepers!
 - Sam