[2013 09 25]

Still to improve : waterproofing, smaller entry, and maybe some horizontal sticks for supporting the beeswax. And of course… inviting real honey bees, at the right season.

It’s been years since I try in vain to find natural beeswax in some abandonned wild hive in the forest. So the best thing to do is to invite wild bees in some hive in the backyard. (Hoping that stinging hornets won’t come first…)

I also tried to clean and seal part of the hollow in this old tree. Not sure this will have good consequences for the tree, but it may slow down the rotting process of the inside of the tree.

Materials :
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- flint knife
- japanese knotweed stem
- red clay (bought)
- old plums from neighbour’s tree
- drunken bee (is it the kind of bee that would make wax – and honey – or is it another insect ?) sucking alcoholic juice from an old plum
- old strips of bark from various birch trees
- old stems of clematis vitalba
- ash tree

update 2013 09 28
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Someone brought the following links to my attention :

Preferred organisation of the combs inside a natural tree hive :

https://www.extension.org/mediawiki/files/8/8b/SeeleyBeeNest.jpg

Bee’s criteria for natural nest selection

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02224297

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02223477

It appears that my hollow tree is not the most desirable place for bees !!!

- too low above the ground (not even 1m, bees prefer 5m high)

- entrance area too large (better if 12.5 cm2 ; anyway I wanted to reduce it)

- entrance facing north : (can’t be changed, and bees prefer entrances oriented southward)

- entrance positionned at the bottom of the cavity (maybe ok for the lowest of the 2 hollows)

- not enough volume (not even 10 litters, bees prefer 40 liters)

- low exposure, low visibility (bees prefer the reverse ; and in the case of my hollow tree, there is too many bushes around : opportunities for spiders to build numerous webs all around and ambush bees every time they fly close to their nest)

- cavity dryness is not a criterium (as bees can seal the cavity ; but in my case, there is to many big openings for bees to seal them by themselves, so I guess I still need to close them myself)