Peter & Shirley Carden

We used to have up to 20 hives at the coast: Tuross Head, Berry and Fox Ground. But on our return to Canberra we just have the one here and a share in a couple at Fox Ground.

The one here in Hughes is shown in the photo. Actually what you see is a capsule that encloses the three high hive allowing a 50 mm space all round for thermal insulation. We resorted to this because we think a previous hive in this position suffered badly during last winter. The bees we now have came from a swarm we collected locally last spring.

The capsule is made from pieces of weatherproof ply which are put together around the hive and fixed with screws. We just put pieces of foam plastic in the spaces between the ply and the hive and on top of the hive. It will all come off in the spring.

Also visible in the photo is our swinging lifting arm (brown) which is handy for lowering honey frames with the aid of a rope slung over it.

The bees seem to like being on a roof under the magnolia tree and they don't interfere with our gardening activities or the neighbours.