I’m taking a tour of the amazing beehives on the roof of Fortnum & Mason on Friday, June 22. I’m so excited!
Fortnum’s is also giving me the opportunity to submit questions about their bees in advance of my tour. I’m going to post the answers along with lots of pictures of the hives themselves.
I want to make sure that I ask all of the questions that you, my gentle readers, would like answered.
So… I’m humbly requesting that you send me your burning questions via comments on this post or via my email, ddelong@ddlconsulting.com.
Remember, there are no silly questions! There’s only me being too obtuse to think of all the cool things that could be asked!!
Looking forward to receiving all your clever and brilliant inquiries!!
Deb
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Do they have the European honey bee?
Yes, they have Carniolans, which are a variety of Italian bees.
I told you I was obtuse!! That’s a good question. Exactly what kind of bees do they have, and why/how did they select that variety? Did they change from their original selection?
Great questions! Those are going on my list!!
let us know what you find out. Ask them if you will, if they have the same mold problems and or the virus that is killing ours here. Thanks. I used to have some hives when I ranched but the county Ag guy made me burn my hives due to killer mold. I felt bad for my bees. They knew me and never stung me unless I forgot and stood in front of their runway/opening. My bad then 🙂
If the hives are on the rooftops and in the city, how do the bees collect pollen without much of a core source of vegetation? Also, with such close quarters, do the bees mind the proximity of their other neighbors? 🙂
Good questions! They are going on my list!! 🙂
Awesome! Thanks. 🙂
Thanks Deborah for giving us this opportunity, it’s very kind!
My questions would be: 1) do they put mouseguards over those fancy entrances in winter? 2) what varroa treatments do they use? 3) do they put insulation in the hives on that windy rooftop?
But these are a lot of questions, and you must have a lot of your own, so please don’t feel obliged to put all of them forward!
Those are good questions, and fit right in with the ones I was planning to ask! 🙂
xo Deb
Thanks 🙂
Might also be interesting to find out their reaction to this interview in the Evening Standard with Angela Wood, the Secretary of the London Beekeepers Association, in which she criticises the trend to keep hives high up on roofs, Fortnums is mentioned: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/celebrity-beekeepers-told-to-buzz-off-7854420.html
I saw the article myself and sent him that very question! I’ll post the questions I sent tomorrow!! 🙂
I was wondering… Is this the official position of the London Beekeepers Association? How do you feel about it??
Aside from the current hypothesis about CCD being related to pesticide use what, if anything, do they do to attempt to prevent it? Some very stylish hives, boy, talk about country bee, city bee 😉
*anna
Good question! I’ll add it to the list…
xo Deb
You might be interested to know that CCD is not officially recognised as an problem in the UK, our team of National Bee Inspectors has not found any evidence that it occurs in British colonies. Varroa is believed to be the biggest killer of colonies here, the viruses the mites help transmit are really weakening our bees.
That is interesting…
By the way, your information about drone booting has really allayed my anxiety about my Italian bees. Thanks!!
Such pretty hives. I am wondering if they use a queen excluder? And how do they wrap the hives for winter?
Great questions!! I’m adding them to my list!! 🙂
xo Deb
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Wow, that is amazing, Deborah. I’d be interested to know if they have to do anything particularly different for rooftop hives and where the bees go to forage from the roofs.
I will definitely ask those questions!
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