Rhys Wendholt

Can you reduce the size of the paddocks at all? Or restrict the horse to a smaller area with an electric fence the sheep could get under?

Hi all,

I'm going to be(e) starting a beekeeping course in the new year, and have been looking into building my own hive - potentially to then start crafting more hives to sell and manage.

However, my carpentry abilities are very limited and I don't think that they stretch to the precision engineering a hive the likes of a Langstroth or Warre might need.

I stumbled upon the plans for a Japanese style hive a little while - not sure if they have a proper name - where it is essentially a typical Western style hive, just without frames or top bars.

So the bees fill the space in the boxes with comb from top to bottom, then when you want to  harvest the honey you use wire to slice through the comb and separate the boxes.

I was just wondering if anyone on here had used, or is using, this method - or if you had any other resources on the management of this type of hive.

Thanks,

Rhys.

Know it's a bit of an old post, but did you catch the follow-up to this?...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/07/trading-standards-case-over-dream-farm-tenancy-dropped

Hi all,

Fairly new poster - been dropping in and out and lurking on some boards.

Looking to see if there are many people in the Cambridgeshire or Suffolk area.

I'm on the East Cambridgeshire border, close to Newmarket, and was just wondering if there's anyone else in the area?

I've got an allotment and a small garden, and hopefully going to apply permaculture and/or biointensive principles so just wondering if anyone local was doing the same thing so we could swap ideas.

Hi Tereza,

Thanks again for the tips.

I did come across the newspaper method in my 'research' - but you're right, I don't actually know what it should smell like!

I mean, I've read what it should smell like, but without actually smelling the right stuff I don't want to be putting the wrong bacteria in!

Whey might be a good option for me actually- got a 22 month old who doesn't always eat all his up!

Hi both,

Thanks for the responses and your tips.

I was thinking that the chopped straw might be best as it's quite as dense.

Thank you for the links - I have already done a bit of looking into making my own EM (1st attempt went bad!) - I'll try again at some point, just don't use rice as often as I'd thought! Is there anything else than rice that could be used as well?

First ever post! Been lurking for a while but wanting to get a bit more involved.

I'm looking at making my own bokashi bins, and was thinking of initially buying some premade bran while I figured out how to make my own.

Thing is I don't have ready access to a supply of bran, unless I bought it. Though I do have a few possible alternatives at work that I could "borrow".

I was just wondering what everyone's opinions were of the alternatives- I'll put up brand names as well in case anyone fancied doing a bit of research!

BedMax Wood shavings (big wood shavings, about 1 square inch)
ComfyBed wood shavings (small shavings, stuff you'd put in a rabbit hutch)
Snowflake Softchip (very finely chipped wood chippings)
BedSoft (finely chopped wheat straw)
MegaZorb (tree pulp leftover from paper making)

As far as I'm aware none of these are treated.

Any opinions, or ideally facts, on which would be the best option would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Rhys.