An interesting u-tube demo on how to make a Willow Skep can be found at:
http://www.larsdatter.com/beehives.htm
Archive for July, 2008
How to Make a Medieval Willow Skep
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beekeeping on July 18, 2008| 1 Comment »
Bee Dances
Posted in Bee Law, Bee Lore, Bee Present, Bee-ology, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween on July 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Bees have devised a very effective method of communicating information about sources of food using a ROUND DANCE and a WAGGLE DANCE (or figure of eight). The dances do not appear to indicate the height of the food above ground level and in most cases this is not important since to a bee the source will be obvious.
Round Dance
This is used when the source of food (nectar or pollen) is less than 100 metres away. The bee dancing goes in a circle on the comb first one way, she turns round and then the other way round the circle. Food is passed from the dancing bee to those watching and following giving information about it’s taste and smell. The round dance does not appear to tell the bees in which direction to go to the food source just that the food “is close to the hive and tastes and smells like this”.
Waggle Dance
For food supplies more than 100 metres the waggle dance is used. The bee will run in a direction on the comb which indicates direction relative to the sun’s position. The bee uses the force of gravity (vertically downwards) as the position of the sun and if say the food is 30 ° to the left of the sun then the bee will dance 30 ° to the left of the vertical on the frame. Whilst the bee is indicating direction she waggles her body from side to side to indicate distance to the food source. The more waggles the closer the food source is to the hive.
The waggle dance gives both direction and distance to the food source and by tasting the food the bee knows what to look for.
From: http://www.cheshire-bka.co.uk/Beekeeping/beedance.php
A Year On
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beekeeping, Bylaugh on July 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »
It was a year ago yesterday that I started writing this blook. I never dreamt that it would get so big and have so many entries and have received so many hits by now. It has been a great way to relax in the evenings after work as well as a good place to record some of the happenings in the apiary – though I am still not sure why Tears of Ra, the Sun God is the most popular page by far. Perhaps it is something to to with the way Google and other search engines work?
The bees have thrived! Having had a very low period of only one colony through the winter – faithful old Faith, we now have seven colonies in the apiary (plus the one in the roof) making eight! And June has been a truly memorable swarm-catching month.
I stopped work on 4th July (Independence Day) and have decided to take the rest of the summer off before starting a new set of projects in the Autumn. So apart from making up a few new rooves and stands for the new colonies, my work-load is at a minimum. Which is really nice – since I seem to have been at the large organisation grindstone for the past 28 years.
So what plans for beelore in the coming year? I suppose that I want to write more on Bylaugh – which is the story part of the blook. So far, I have developed the first chapter – but there is definitely more to be written! The internet continues to produce interesting bee stories and poems and connections – but I want to explore some of the boundaries of the myth and legend by digging into pre-history a bit more – as well as to research the connection between the health of bees and the state of the planet. This will probably require me to adopt different techniques to collect the material as well as finding different ways of connecting with those who have the stories. Any ideas on how to do this would be welcome!
Bee Lore 