Bee package install-the video
This is just over 2 and a half minutes of our fourth bee package
install yesterday. The frames in this box have no foundation material.
Instead they have a beveled edge for the bees to begin building on. The
way I understand it the artificial foundation prompts the bees to make
bigger cells, which provide more honey. Building without this mechanism
may yield less honey, but a stronger colony. Experimenting is a big
part of the fun.
I wonder if people who keep bees tend to be more experimental?
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I'm going for the foundationless frame (or in my case, top bar) method because I want the cells to be smaller. You'll get a bit less honey, but if you're just looking to get enough for yourself and a few friends you should still get plenty. The reason I'm trying this method is because of how Veroa Mites get into bee cells. The larger the cell, the more room there is for a mite to find their way through, where they begin raising their families on a bee's blood before it's even born. Here's a video that will show you the life cycle of a veroa mite: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7304562435786960616&q=honeybee
Here's a great YouTube clip of bees fighting / scratching off veroa mites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGa9DKraGA
I'm intrigued by top bar hives --- I'll have to read up on them. It looks a lot like our foundationless method, but I'm intrigued by the long, horizontal hive shape. Does that have a purpose?
I noticed you started your own blog! I've subscribed to your feed and am looking forward to reading more.