Bee Hive in a Bucket

Bees are having a tough time world-wide.  We need bees for our agriculture. 

This bee hive is not designed for harvesting honey.  This is just a home for bees.  Not only the bucket is habitable, but the hollow pipe that supports it in the air can also be colonized. 

In past years, bees have been getting scarcer around here.  I have had two volunteer bee colonies establish themselves along my ridge this year -- in inconvenient locations.   I hope they will find their way to this hive when the time comes for the volunteer hives to divide.  

This is just an experiment.  The hive was put up today near one of the volunteer hives, and has not yet been colonized. 

Step 1: Background

Bees have colonized an overturned cut-off drum used to support a supply of rebar off the ground. 

Local friends said that just drilling a hole in a bucket and leaving it around would attract bees.  In designing this hive, I wanted the entrance high enough off the ground that toads would not be able to leap up and gobble bees at the entrance. 

I put the entrance hole in the pipe, a little below the bucket.  That way, the bucket protects the entrance from rain. 

Comments

[Thinkenstein]

It is interesting that in my early years here in the forest, I would hear many swarms of bees go by each year. In the past few years I may have possibly heard one. Whatever it is that we are doing with our established, legal behavior, it appears to need some tweaking.

I tried. It never got colonized. I pulled it up out of the ground.

[cmskellington]

Thanks for following up on the progress. You might try baiting it like this fellow did. If you do, please let us know how it works as I have at least 40 reclaimed PVC pipes suited just for this purpose. http://www.instructables.com/id/Baithive/?ALLSTEPS

[Thinkenstein]

As I said, I pulled it up out of the ground. My experiment is over, but if you want to carry on and get it working, go for it!

[Spongebobcanada]

Hi,

Those buckets also come in a half size to the ones you have.

Have you noticed that multiple buckets slid together create a openable stack with spaces?

Maybe drilling of small holes in the bottoms for transit and sides

Mod the bucket a knife some small tubes/pvc and some glue or caulking and you could make entrace ways

Just thinking.

[sasham]

You should make a skep and hang it on a tree. It is easy and cheap as it gets. Bees will love it. Instructions here, its on Serbian Cyrillic but you can understand almost everything from the pictures only.

http://spos.info/forum/index.php?topic=839.msg10469#msg10469

Bees like some kind of grases, so you can rub it into your beehive to lure them. Ask some local beekeeper which one are used in your area. Enjoy!

[Thinkenstein]

Hi Sasham,

I'm glad you liked the bee hive idea. It's a nice concept, but the bees are still ignoring it.

Thanks for the link. I never heard of that grass rubbing trick.

[velacreations]

here's a similar design that allows you to take honey: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-Honey-Cow-Top-Bar-Bee-Hive/

[JustABeeK]

A few comments. First, I applaud your efforts, and I think it silly that people who know nothing about beekeeping are criticizing the design. This looks like a good experiment. As with most experiments, you try something and see if it works. Uninformed people saying "no, that won't work because of x, y, and z" is silly.

I'm a beekeeper, and while wood might be better, you've already found out that feral bees will inhabit most anything. A large open container with a small hole like that seems about right for bees.

As for the hive being colonized, spring time is perfect, as that is when swarms happen.

[Thinkenstein]

Thanks. There is a feral colony in an old half-drum about 20 ft. from it. Maybe they will find the welcome mat on the bucket hive eventually.

[mcaliber.50]

could you put the bucket right side up, and put removable shelves in it? i saw this instructable, hoping that there would be a way to extract the honey

[Thinkenstein]

My idea was to get bees started and leave them in peace, like a wild hive, not to steal their honey I see no way to do removable shelves. It's probably better to do a standard hive. Go for it! The main idea is to get more bees going. Cultivated hives are better than none at all.

[Turnpike7a]

any bees yet? interesting design...i'd love to put these up around all my honey suckle if they work

[Thinkenstein]

Nope. No bees yet. I think it would have to be seeded with a young colony to get it started.

[pokster]

i've heard and read that using sugar or syrup can attract them and goad them into establishing a hive, dont use honey though there can be spores in honey that can transmit diseases, would the fact that hive is made of plastic be a factor?
Maybe if you use a wooden container, btw with a similar set up you can even get a wooden post with a few holes drilled into it, and bumble bees will set up shop there. Good luck!

[urbanwoodswalker]

Wondering about the bright white plastic...has anyone ever seen a plastic bee hive in use before?  I have seen wood used.....don't know how bee friendly plastic is to them.  it would get hot, and plastics emit gasses...even if unnoticed by us. i would opt for chemical free wood instead.  why add more plastics to the How hard is it for the bees to climb up and also to store honey to feed young in such a slick surfaces container? 

Just wondering...

[Borion2]

Today they are making hive body parts from polystyrene.

[urbanwoodswalker]

I have seen those textured plastic sheets inside the wooden hives at the nature center where i used to work. However the frame was always wood. The idea of bees living in plastic pipes and buckets bothers me. there are so many other frugal and Natural ways to entice them .

[Thinkenstein]

I think the "textured plastic sheets" may have been sheets of stamped beeswax that are sometimes attached to the wooden frames to give the bees a head start in the right direction. I am thinking that, in a vertical pipe hive, drilling holes in the pipe for pieces of rebar, or thinner rod material to go through would at least give a lot of horizontal supports for bees to begin hive building on. Probably, a method for hanging starter sheets of wax from those rods could be devised, also. To clean out a dead hive, for example, the rods could be pulled back out the holes and a cylindrical knife could be pushed through to cut the comb from the pipe, and perhaps remove it with the same cylindrical knife in the same process. If it didn't come out too damaged, it could be mined for honey, perhaps. Plastic is often longer-lasting than wood for hives here, where it rains a lot. One is not supposed to use treated lumber for the boxes. Plastics may out-gas, but I think the rate is slow enough that hive ventilation should keep the problem within healthy limits.

[cre814me]

Thinkenstein - I applaud your attempt, but would agree W8ZNX - go with a top bar hive. I will provide links and plans if you like. I have some KTBH's here in North Carolina. If you have the tools, and access to some old pallets, I am guessing less that $30. Also, to try to catch the swarm, here it is between April and Jun 30th, but mount the hive about 8 ft off the ground. I have never done it that way, but some people swear by it. Also, if you treat the wood, please treat it with a 20:1 mixture of Linseed Oil and melted Beeswax. It easy, and natural. Leaves a nice colored wood. I probably should do an 'ible on building one, but that would not be anytime soon. No need to build more right now. Good luck!

[closetosky]

Hi, I am getting into honey bees and would love to get so plans on the hive with the old pallets. The company that I work for had thrown away all the wooden pallets until I found someone local that would pick them up weekly. Anyway I have plenty of pallets and time. I live in Knightdale N.C. and my email is [e-mail] Thanks

[urbanwoodswalker]

Nope they were a polystyrene. I know what beesway is. :-)

[chello2k9]

I know nothing about bee keeping, but google knows all and plastic bee keeping equipment does exist, and is sold online. The only issue I see with plastic is bees don't take to it as they do natural material. i saw a site saying keepers should spray the plastic down with sugar water to acclimate them to the plastic. I'm curious, have any bees moved in since you've posted this?

[Thinkenstein]

Nope, no volunteers yet. -- The two volunteer hives that got started on the ridge this year have died out. One, in a half 55-gallon drum apparently got wiped out by hungry toads that just parked at the entrance and ate the bees as they came and went. -- The other one appears to have died out, too, for some other reason, because I gave it toad protection with a wire mesh fence around the entrance. Both had low entrances, so a high entrance appears to be favorable. -- I can note the relative absence of bees around my garden, and I don't like it. I may just go for a standard hive, although the honey doesn't interest me, and I don't really want to get into intervention bee keeping again.

[Thinkenstein]

Many years ago I kept bees.  I used wooden boxes and also plastic boxes.  The bees didn't seem to object to the plastic and the plastic boxes had better longevity than the wooden ones.  I live in a tropical climate with lots of humidity.  Maybe in a drier climate the wood boxes would be more attractive to me.   Anyway the plastic boxes seemed to work just fine. 

[urbanwoodswalker]

Good to know....I can understand that.

[w8znx]

nice idea, love pickel bucket projects, but sry it will not work, as stated by others, not enought room for a strong hive that can store enought honey to winter over also a weak hive can be wiped out by a strong hive that steals all its honey no provision for ventilation bees need ventilation to control inside temp of the hive no way to inspect the brood which would make this style hive ilegal in some parts of the United States reason is not mites, but " Paenibacillus larvae larvae " better known as american foul brood AFB nasty stuff that kills a hive can spread to other hives most of all if strong hive steals honey from weak infected hive in the end causing more than one hive to fail for cheap/simple hive see " top bar hives " your truly

[Thinkenstein]

Thanks for the thoughts. I pretty much go along with everything you say. I was hoping to install a wild hive that never needed attention. Maybe I'll just get a standard hive, but even so I really don't want to get back into opening hives again. I'm not interested in the honey.

[paitch]

So, did the bees ever move into the bucket?

[Thinkenstein]

Not yet.  It hasn't been up long.  Fingers crossed. 

[eyepodd]

not sure if this would work but you could put a bee atractant inside to get the bees to go in there??, nice instructlble 5/5 i might start mine soon, as soon as i get a big bucket :)

[A good name]

If you're interested in pollinators, rather than honey collection, try orchard mason bees. They reproduce anywhere with holes and mud (look em up and you'll see what I mean)

[Thinkenstein]

Thanks for the idea. It would be nice to play around with them, too.

[gaiatechnician]

It is great that you are trying. If it works, great!
and if it doesn't,
well too bad, but we have not lost anything. 
I leave some of my sprouting broccoli to go to flower just for the bees and humming birds every year.
I would just like to remind people that there are lots of other types of bees and wasps too.  Many of them live in burrows in the ground or in holes in wood.  This year I have bumble bees that took over a wren box.   I think they had the runs because there was brown fluid dripping out but now it has stopped. 
  I also drill holes in wood for orchard mason bees and others.  6 inch deep holes or more and different sizes for different types of bees and wasps.  A new thing this year is holes in cob.  Cob is a mucky  mix of clay sand and straw that gets really hard when it dries out.  I made the holes with random pieces of round bar and old pieces of clothes hanger and old knitting needles.
Leave them stuck straight down in a piece of cob for a couple of days, twist them out and you have a bunch of holes in a cob B-block!   It might work, it might not.
But what have I lost if it doesn't?   Bees are getting scarcer and the more ideas to help them, the better.  You might not need cob, maybe ordinary soil will work.
Depends on your soil and your local bees.  Leaf cutter bees are amazing fliers!
They ride that curved up leaf through the air  like it is a surfboard!
And in my area, they need 10 to 12 mm holes in wood or in the ground.  ( Up to half inch)
Brian

[urbanwoodswalker]

This is great! Love the Cob idea~~~!

[Borion2]

Great idea!!! I am going to suggest and make some for my dad who is a beekeeper. Should be great for catching swarms from his hives.

[spidersaysdie]

 Realy nice instructable! My dad has been looking into bee keeping for some time but the cost is a big factor. I think he would like to collect the honey so this version is not ideal but it would be a good project to see if a colony could survive in our area. 

[Eric Rochow]

if you are interested in beekeeping, get the Beekeeping for Dummies book by Howland Atkinson.

I have 4 beginning beekeeping books, and his is the best. I re-read it all the time.

The bucket hive concept is not a good test to see if bees will survive in your area, your best bet is to search online for a local beekeeping group, they have the best local knowledge and probably offer classes.

thx, eric  www.gardenfork.tv

[spidersaysdie]

 Nice one! Thanks very much I'll see if I can pick up a copy. Not sure about local beekeeping groups as we'r on the west cost of scotland but I'll see wot I can dig up.
cheers

[Eric Rochow]

ask 12 beekeepers a question and you will get 13 answers.

I am a novice beekeeper, and to me, I think the bees would be better off in something larger and more substantial, and a regular hive answers all of that.

I think this bucket is too small for a hive to have a chance of thriving, and lacks ventilation. the author's point about hive defense should not prevent the hive from having ventilation that does not allow water - rain in.

You can get beehive plans at BeeSource.com. You all could build simple hives with screened bottom boards to allow for some Varroa Mite control. You can purchase synthetic "come here" pheromone from bee suppliers to put in an empty hive to entice a swarm take up residence.

While the bucket concept is green and makes us feel good about helping bees, it doesn't work for bees. The suggestion above about building tube hives for Orchard Mason Bees and similar bees is great.

Its clear to me from the authors intent and the comments that we all want to help bees be bees, and that's good. We learn from this kind of instructable.

thx, eric.  www.gardenfork.tv

[bruce.desertrat]

 Just be absolutely sure to put this far away from humans or pets if you live anywhere  in the Southwestern US where there are Africanized bees. Here in Tucson, you can assume that any wild colony or swarm is Africanized and they are extremely aggressive!

Every year we have people who end up in the hospital or dogs who end up dead because they messed with an africanized colony and get stung hundreds or thousands of times, and to an africanized colony, 'messed with' means as little as 'walking within 5 feet of'.