How hands off can you go?

[Cala]

I'm an organic gardener from Nebraska who's been very concerned about the low number of honeybees I've seen in my yard the last few years. There is still a nest of bumblebees in my linden tree that I enjoy watching in the perennial beds in my front yard, but I've seen barely any honeybees at all this year, and not many last year either.

I am wondering if it would be practical to set up a hive (probably top bar) for pollination and conservation purposes and essentially leave it alone. At this point I am not interested in honey production and don't have the time or inclination to handle the bees in any way if I can avoid it, but the books I've looked at haven't been very helpful about how much maintenance is really necessary for an artificial hive if honey production is not a priority.

Alternately, I could just continue doing what I'm doing (planting lots and lots of native wildflowers and other bee friendly species) and hope that they come back on their own but given the depth of the crisis affecting the world's honeybee population, I feel like a little more proactivity might be called for.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[bigbearomaha]

If you don't want to work with the bees directly, perhaps a beekeeper in the area would be willing to locate a hive on your property and come to check on it regularly.  It's always a good thing,  I think, to have more places to put hives.

Big Bear

[Robo]

I'm not sure set-up and ignore is practical,  but check out this book -> http://www.mygarden.ws/beekeeping_for_all.pdf

It is about the least amount of interaction with the bees.

Also check out At The Hive Entrance by H. Storch.  It provides great insight of monitoring the conditions inside of a hive by just monitoring the entrance.
http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=460

[Scadsobees]

You can be as hands-off as you want to be.  It just depends if survival is an absolute priority  :).  We hear on this board from time to time about people inheriting beehives that haven't been touched for years, as well as hives that have survived fine in houses, barns, and other structure without any human intervention.  I've found personally that its the hands-on that threatens my bees more than the hands-off :roll:.

If you want to be really minimalistic, you could go so far as to advertise on craigslist for honeybee trees and put a log with bees on your property (although arguably illegal but nobody will care).

As to the conservation aspect of it, honeybees are arguably not native, and if you are concerned about pollination you can do something similar with natural pollinators such as solitary bees.

Rick

[BjornBee]

Cala,
On the national honey bee day website, there are a few pages that may help. One is for what non-beekeepers could do to help the bees, and one page is a checklist of sorts that helps those perhaps thinking about getting into bees, as well as some other interesting items.

www.nationalhoneybeeday.com

If your not going to tend the bees yourself, please consider letting another beekeeper keep bees on your property. But to be fair to the bees, which are inundated by many brought in issues, and the local community, please do not consider a hands off approach or a neglectfull hive..

Take Care.

[Meadlover]

Cala,

I would look for native bees to meet your needs.
I have a log hive of Trigona Carbonaria (Australian Native Stingless Bees) in my yard here in Brisbane Australia. They are great little pollinators, only produce 1kg of honey a year, and pretty much need no intervention. If they do end up swarming they won't be a problem as they can't sting, and hence won't injure or annoy neighbours, plus it will be helping a native species survive.

ML

[scdw43]

I wish all of my neighbors would put out an open feeder with about 25 gals of 2-1.

[homer]

Also, you should check out blue orchard bees.  They are a solitary bee as well.  Very efficient pollinators also!

[BjornBee]

Also, you should check out blue orchard bees.  They are a solitary bee as well.  Very efficient pollinators also!

I'm a big fan of the mason bee and keep about 30 cans. Just keep in mind that unless you refrigerate and time the placing of masons, they will come out on the first warm spell and are active for a 4 -6 week period and then they are done for the year. They are great for fruit trees and early pollination requirements. But do little for the garden throughout the rest of the summer.

Masons only travel about 200 yards. So they need a good location with fruit trees, a source of mud, and a chemical free environment. They are super sensitive to chemicals. And if they are not happy with the location, they will move on. I know some who buy new tubes every year as the masons just do not take up residence and multiply.

a great choice for hands free beekeeping, but some limitations do exist.

here are two of my cans...... (and if you look, I have more than masons)