Beekeeper’s Hood (Part 1): History

This is the first part in a series of short articles on the beekeeper’s hood. The first two parts will be the history. The last parts will be my experience making one.

Beekeeper's Hood I Made

It was said, in Ancient Greece, that the bees asked Zeus for stingers to kill man because they stole their honey. To punish the bees for being so malicious, Zeus decreed that the bees would themselves die from stinging man. For centuries, man has been hunting bees and honey or keeping bees (Crane 1999, 35). Since then, man has needed protection from stings.

Before protective clothing, humans had to rely on other methods of protecting themselves from bee stings. These methods included moving slowly and deliberately, pulling the hair over the eyes, mouth and nose, not going into a hive during thunderous weather, and not going into a hive just after the honey flow (Crane 1999, 333).

Honey flow is a time when nectar is plentiful and bees produce and store lots of honey. This made things difficult for the medieval beekeeper. The most honey would be gathered after the honey flow, when the bees were the most protective of it. Beekeepers thus needed something to protect themselves with. 

Skep Beehives (Part 3 of 8): Wicker and Straw

This is the third part in a series of short articles on skeps in the Medieval through Renaissance periods.

Boy being stung by bees; Illustration in a Latin bestiary, England late 1100’s.

Wicker skeps were originally woven on a whorl of thin branches of a spruce or fir tree. According to Dictionary.com, a whorl is "a circular arrangement of like parts, such as leaves or flowers around a point on an axis." The branches formed the main stakes (Crane 1999, p241). Stakes were bent down during weaving and other stakes were added for support as the diameter increased. Wicker skep size and shape is determined by the size and shape of the whorl used.

Coiled straw skeps were made only where suitable materials were grown. These materials were reeds, grasses, or long-stemmed cereals. Long stems, such as bramble, were split with a tool called a cleave and used to join the coils. The tools used to make a coiled-straw skep are a girth and an awl (Crane 1999, p242).

Medieval Bee Yard Project

Medieval Bee Yard: Take 2... I won't be able to keep the bees in skeps because it is illegal. The combs need to be on moveable bars or frames to facilitate pest and disease management. I still want to make a couple of full-size skeps and build the associated shelter for them.

Instead, I'm going to build medieval Italian box hives. They are very similar to the Top Bar Hive I had before. I have very little documentation, so this will be a bit of a challenge. Bonus to the Italian hives over the skeps.... more honey!

A friend has been working on a Medieval garden in her yard. She is clearing space for me to build my bee shelter to place the skeps in. This may be a long-term project that will be set-up next Spring. I need to gather the materials to build the skeps as well as the shelter.

I'm going to use reclaimed pallets for the shelter. There's a paint company around the corner that always has free pallets available. I need to look through my pictures for the shelters and draw up plans. I'd like to use hand-forged nails and I think I have a local source for those.

I'd like to be able to make at least two skeps 100% using period tools and techniques. This will include making a cleave to strip bramble for the binder, neither of which I have done before. I have a horn girth and a turkey-bone awl. I'd like to make an awl from a goose or other animal that would have been available in period. I need to collect the straw as well. A friend has offered me all the weeds I want from her backyard in the country.

Skep Project To-Do List:

• Collect straw
• Prepare straw: Remove seed heads, leaves, etc
• Find period basket-making documentation
• Collect blackberry stems to make bramble binding
• Make a cleave to prepare brambles
• Prepare brambles
• Make a bone awl from a goose leg
• Build a period shelter
• Set up shelter
• Make two skeps
• Set up skeps
• Learn how to collect bees in a skep
• Purchase two queens
• Collect bees
• Install bees in hive
• Document and take pictures of the entire process!