Hey guys,
I’m getting into beekeeping for the 1st time and have purchased and setup my Flow Hive, just awaiting Spring (Perth, Australia) to get my NUC of bees delivered. I’ve also custom built a entrance chimney for my hive to try and manage the flight paths to/from the hive. Obviously I don’t know how well the chimney will work until I get my bees but I’m interested in peoples thoughts on my setup… Happy to take all advice, but please keep it constructive :-)!
Also… I need to setup my water source and I was hoping to use some auto-filling terracotta water trays with pebbles in them (to minimise drowning) installed to the right of the chimney, hanging off the shed wall (above the conduits you can see entering the shed). I was intending to initially seed the water source with sugar or chlorine when the bees arrive to hopefully attract and train them to use my source, however, I’m worried the water may be too close to the hive/chimney entrance. I’ve read on these forums and elsewhere that bees generally prefer a water source at least 3m away from the hive? Again, I would really appreciate peoples thoughts on installing my water source this close to the hive/chimney entrance. Note, there’s a bunch of swimming pools in the adjacent properties so I’m keen to keep my bees water source in my yard if possible.
At the bottom of the chimney I’ve got a slide out tray to capture dead bees and to also stop the bees exiting the bottom, and to stop pests entering from the bottom.
Wowza! That is truly inventive and very nicely made, Tony. I believe the bees will eventually find their way out and orient to this configuration over time, but I’d expect to see some traffic jams at first. Hopefully that won’t be too dramatic of an adjustment. I’m interested to hear what other beeks might add about that process, and if there’s any advice on how to help it go smoother. I definitely want to see a video of ‘rush hour’ at the chimney top once your colony is established
About your water source, I wasn’t sure if you’re going to hang it up high near the chimney opening, or if it’s supposed to be lower. I had my first one tucked among garden plants about 6ft away from the hive, and it never got noticed. Don’t know if some flavoring would’ve helped or if they just found the neighborhood pools first Now I have a much larger ‘container garden’ that’s only a little further away, but in my veg garden where the bees would often stop to drink from water droplets on leaves. You should see that spot at rush hour!
Anyway, thanks for posting & keep the pics coming once your bees arrive
It is impressive work!
I wonder how well the “transparent” chimney is going to work? What may happen, bees will be trying to fly through the net as soon as they see the light exiting hive. But in this case, it will be easy to modify it.
My latest attempt to provide water close to hives (1-2 metres) was a failure. But a spot, 20 metres away behind the house where evaporative air cooler dumps water on concrete tiles was extremely popular
Hey Adam,
good question and apologies to the group for never following up with the group with an update on my plans like I promised.
In short, it didn’t work out… I think the key issue was my use of shade cloth on the chimney which I feel let too much light in and the bees were trying to escape through the mesh, rather than going up and out of the chimney. I think (not tested) if I’d used board, then the bees would be more inclined to travel up and out towards the light. But I chose mesh over wood as I felt an enclosed, wooden chimney would cause heating problems for the hive, given we’re in Perth and it gets hot.
I have been keeping a blog of our beekeeping journey and the first link below shows my pre-bee fitted chimney design. And, the 2nd link discusses my stressful experience of waiting for my bees to use it.
In the end, we removed the chimney and positioned the hive so the entrance faced towards a wall and we’ve not had any issues with bees getting snarky when we’re moving around the garden or near the hive.
Thanks for the feedback on your design. It was always an unanswered question for me as all otherr bee chimneys I had seen were slightly smaller and solid walls. Pop in every now and again and contribute your learnings, thoughts and musings here too.
Now I have a much larger ‘container garden’ that’s only a little further away, but in my veg garden where the bees would often stop to drink from water droplets on leaves. You should see that spot at rush hour!
