Beehive Inspection At Hartpury College

 Last week we were really fortunate to be invited to have a look at the apiary at Hartpury college. 

It was part of the children's beekeeping course I'd expressing interest in for the girls, but the first time we'd been able to come along, far too late in the season now, but it makes for a good start for the course next year. 

We went with our friend Wendy who did the bee keeping course with me last year. 

The girls were really excited to see the apiary, especially as this one had different hives to our own. They had one national hive (where the bees had died unfortunately), two WBC hives and one top bar. 

the weather wasn't great, so we were a little worried the bees might be in a bad frame of mind, but they were pretty friendly really. The WBC hives were interesting to get inside. So much extra wood involved in them, they look great, and I'm sure they provide a lot of extra insulation, but really they are using the amount of wood to build two hives. 

The girls got asked lots of questions from Stuart, who has the apiary, and is a teacher at Hartpury College. It was nice that they got most of the right! And they asked just as many questions back, trying to absorb as much knowledge as they can. 

The top bar hive was really interesting.

I'm really keen to make one of these and have it set up on our smallholding as I think it would be fun to compare to the national hives we've got here. 

I loved the natural comb shape, and it didn't take long to see how we should be picking up each frame (as they are pretty easy to break if you're not careful). 

This one had a bit of honey in it, and loads of drawn comb which I'm sure will get filled next year. 

It was such a fascinating evening and some great company, Stuart was great with the children and I think it really fired us all up for next season. 

Anyone else ever had a top bar hive? Or WBC? What are your thoughts on them?