Oddly-Shaped Hive Is Bee-Friendly
 ✖  |
In recent years, colony collapse disorder (CCD) has become a big problem for honeybee producers. Ron Breland, an organic beekeeper in Australia, says his new "dodecahedron" bee hive design fits the nature of bees better than conventional hives, reducing stress on them.
Breland lost all his bees in 1996, so he went looking for the cause of bee swarm losses. He says two factors were subjecting bees to unnatural conditions: widespread use of the conventional, square-cornered Langstroth bee hive and the stresses involved in transferring commercial hives to different areas, as well as feeding bees high fructose corn syrup.
He says his dodecahedron design is the kind of hive that bees would build if they could use power tools. It's a 5-sided hive built strictly for bee comfort and not for honey production. Beekeepers around the U.S. have been testing his hives and harvesting honey from them.
Breland says bees shouldn't be forced into cramming honeycombs into unnaturally square shapes, as with conventional beehive designs. His hives allow honeycombs with naturally rounded edges. The unusually shaped hives also allow bees to gather and move around in the hive in a more natural manner.
To view videos of Breland explaining the benefits of his hives, search up his name at YouTube.com.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ron Breland, 323 Strawtown Rd., West Nyack, N.Y. 10994 (ph 845 353-0513).
Click here to download page story appeared in.
Click here to read entire issue
Oddly-Shaped Hive Is Bee-Friendly FARM HOME Miscellaneous In recent years colony collapse disorder CCD has become a big problem for honeybee producers Ron Breland an organic beekeeper in Australia says his new dodecahedron bee hive design fits the nature of bees better than conventional hives reducing stress on them
Breland lost all his bees in 1996 so he went looking for the cause of bee swarm losses He says two factors were subjecting bees to unnatural conditions: widespread use of the conventional square-cornered Langstroth bee hive and the stresses involved in transferring commercial hives to different areas as well as feeding bees high fructose corn syrup
He says his dodecahedron design is the kind of hive that bees would build if they could use power tools It s a 5-sided hive built strictly for bee comfort and not for honey production Beekeepers around the U S have been testing his hives and harvesting honey from them
Breland says bees shouldn t be forced into cramming honeycombs into unnaturally square shapes as with conventional beehive designs His hives allow honeycombs with naturally rounded edges The unusually shaped hives also allow bees to gather and move around in the hive in a more natural manner
To view videos of Breland explaining the benefits of his hives search up his name at YouTube com
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ron Breland 323 Strawtown Rd West Nyack N Y 10994 ph 845 353-0513
To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click
here to register with your account number.
