- Important requirements - a checklist
- Magazine booty tops wicker basket - tips for the right beehive
- Bees are only available from beekeepers
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A beehive in the garden is beneficial in many ways. Caring for the busy little people is fun and provides valuable honey and beeswax. Nature-loving gardeners like to keep bees so that the pollinators of their ornamental and useful plants are right there. This guide explains how to properly keep bees in the garden.
Keeping bees in the garden is not that easy
Important requirements - a checklist
Keeping bees in the garden is not a side project. Although the insects lead a largely independent life, they still assume a great deal of responsibility for many thousands of creatures. Therefore, please subject your project to a thorough examination using the following checklist. These premises enable the species-appropriate keeping of bees in the garden:
- A large garden with a varied planting of perennials, shrubs and flowers
- A professionally constructed beehive as a home for the colony
- A pond in the garden or a bee trough
- A distance of 5 meters between the hive and neighboring property to avoid disputes
- Professional beekeeper protective clothing for safe care
- Insect screens on all windows and doors in the house
Furthermore, please check with the local veterinary office whether a permit or at least a registration is required to keep bees on private property.
Magazine booty tops wicker basket - tips for the right beehive
Traditionally, woven wicker baskets are used to house a colony of honey bees. Modern beekeepers advocate magazine hives, which is the technical term for beehives. The construction is easy to understand. With a little manual skill, you can build the hive yourself. Alternatively, you can use offers from specialist retailers. A beehive consists of these components:
- Wooden box with a slightly protruding lid, dimensions (LxWxH) 1,000 x 500 x 300 mm
- Exit hole 2-4 cm in diameter in the upper third
- Pre-embossed honeycomb panels made from organic beeswax
- Ideally a small Plexiglas window as a peephole
If you build the hive yourself, please only use non-toxic materials. The wood glaze should have the Blue Angel as a quality mark. In order not to limit the freedom of movement of bees in their hive, the space consists of a maximum of one third of honeycomb panels. As a rule, new beekeepers prefer the honeycomb box at the start to familiarize themselves with the keeping of a bee colony.
Bees are only available from beekeepers
To acquire your first bee colony, please contact a beekeeper. Responsible beekeepers only offer bee colonies for sale during the swarming season between early May and mid-June. Let the expert advise you in detail on central questions of beekeeping, such as the location of the hive or the housing of the bee colony.
tips
Your arrangements for establishing beneficial insects in the garden will not conflict with your plan to keep your own bee colony. Honeybees are mild-mannered vegetarians and live in peaceful coexistence with most other insects and small animals. Occasionally, bees are on the menu for birds, which is a completely natural process during the summer breeding season.