Beekeeping Pages  

If you want to buy a skep jump directly to the SO YOU WANT A SKEP page

Above, a swarm of bees has been put in a skep and instead of tipping them into a modern
hive, they have been put on a stand to live in the skep. 
A hackle, which is a straw roof, has been added. The straw diverts all the rain off the skep,
just like the thatched roof of a house.
The entrance of the skep is formed by a groove cut in the stand.
You can just see one or two bees coming out.

Here below is a fine swarm hanging in a hedge - just where Nick the wall man wants to re-build the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here comes the 17th century beekeeper in his protective clothing -
long smock and veil made of willow, the same as the bottom of a basket.
We are at Grayhill, the 17th century living history site, a farm where everything
is done the 17th century way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes it's me, folks, in my copy of a beekeeper's clothing in a Breughel painting from about 1560.
It's very safe in there and you can see out surprisingly well but it gets a bit hot in the sun.

The skep is made from long wheat straw and bound with bramble strips, so it's all locally grown material.
Inside you can see the rose sticks that give a support to the combs the bees will build. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our beekeeper shakes the branch suddenly so that most of the bees (about 10,000)
fall into the upturned skep. 
If the queen goes in all the others will follow, due to the scent of the queen.

He's keeping his hands inside his sleeves - it must be a thorny bush!
(I could see no sign of gloves on the Breughel picture, so I'm not wearing any.)

He puts the skep on a cloth, waits until all the bees have gone inside,
then wraps it up and takes it away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pity it was done in a hurry because those green wellies are definitely NOT 17th century gear!
Thanks to the brave Judi who took these photos whilst bees flew all around.

Contrast the old protective clothing above with the new as shown below.

This  photo is by Tony Hutchings,    tony@tonyhutchings.co.uk 

 

Different sorts of bees.  There are several hundred different sorts of bees, most of them solitary. Only the honey bees (of which there are about 6 kinds worldwide) store honey so that they can live through a difficult season and get a head start when things improve.

BWARS  is the Bee Wasp and Ant Recording Society. The members keep records of all the different species they find and help each other with identification and advice. Visit the BWARS website to find out more.

There are dozens of books about beekeeping so it would be a waste of space putting basic information here. If you want a good web source for bee information go to the BBKA (The British Beekeepers Association ) site. Just google search for BBKA.