Bee Trees playing with an idea.

[Stlnifr]

I have a couple white oak trees that have a cavity large enough for a colony of bees would it be advisable to set one up, and hive a swarm in it for a resident feral colony. I could put top bars in it and close the opening with cedar and make some sort of stucco to blend in with the tree. This would be a leave alone bee hive, with the exception of trying to catch the swarms it throws.

[iddee]

All 50 states require all hives to be inspectable. "in other words, removable frames". It is illegal to have a hive that cannot be inspected for AFB.

[OzBuzz]

My question would be why?

[hardwood]

So the Inspectors can inspect! That's why skeps are not legal here.

Scott

[Stlnifr]

OK bad Idea

[OzBuzz]

So the Inspectors can inspect! That's why skeps are not legal here.

Scott

Sorry Scott, i meant why would you want to put a hive in a tree rather than in a box. We have the same laws in Oz that the hive must be on movable frames, inspectable etc etc etc

[Tommyt]

I have a couple white oak trees that have a cavity large enough for a colony of bees would it be advisable to set one up, and hive a swarm in it for a resident feral colony. I could put top bars in it and close the opening with cedar and make some sort of stucco to blend in with the tree. This would be a leave alone bee hive, with the exception of trying to catch the swarms it throws.

How about the Opposite use it as a Swarm catcher including the top bars then you Pull them and make it a trap out
Or Pull just the TB's and replace with new and continue to do this as soon as the Build Comb and Brood Pull

[Culley]

Is it illegal to have feral hives on your land if you own bushland?

[AllenF]

There ain't much bushland up here.   

[bassman1977]

I guess if you're putting top bars and other man-made things into it, it could fall into that category, but what if you wait for a swarm to move in and just leave it alone.  Capture swarms that the so-called feral hive throws.

[hardwood]

Bassman has the best Idea...nurture a bee tree and you can expect several  swarms a year from it. The bee trailer I'm keeping to take to Bud's next year has swarmed twice in the last 3 months or so. I'm hoping that their numbers stay up enough to fend off beetle and moth attacks as there's not much I can do to help them.

I've got my bee inspection coming up too. I've already talked to my normal bee inspector and he's ok with me keeping it here but now I hear they've rezoned the inspectors so I'll have a different one. I hope he's as understanding!

Scott

[Stlnifr]

I guess if you're putting top bars and other man-made things into it, it could fall into that category, but what if you wait for a swarm to move in and just leave it alone.  Capture swarms that the so-called feral hive throws.

That was my intentions just to have a feral colony to capture swarms from. But if it is illegal then I do not want to break any regulations.

But now I could put some lemon grass oil in there and see what happens. That way I didn't hive them but let mother nature take its course. 50 -- 50 chance there.

[G3farms]

A fella over in the next county was always pestering and playing with the local inspector. He took a log to the saw mill and had them cut it to where the slabs were extra thick. Took the thick slabs, cut rabbits on the ends of two of them (for a frame rest) and nailed them back together. Now he had a square hole inside of the slabs and frame rest on either side. He made removable frames that would take shallow foundation long ways. There were three sections he could stack on top of each other. Notches at the bottom of the first section for an entrance and a piece of plywood for a top.

The idea was to have a hive that looked like a cut bee tree just to get a rise out of the inspector.

It worked very well according to him.