Bee fence
A bee fence (also Immenzaun , Immentun or Lagd ) is a covered, half-open apiary in which beekeepers (mainly in northern Germany ) used to set up their beehives protected from the weather.
distribution
Bee fences were the result of basket and heather beekeeping in the Lüneburg Heath area . Beekeepers increased their bee colonies by swarms to several hundred in the summer half-year, so that a considerable amount of space was required to set them up. When heathland disappeared in the second half of the 19th century as a result of afforestation and arable farming, this special form of beekeeping declined in northern Germany. After the decline of the North German basket and heather beekeeping, beehives all over Germany took on this protective function. Bee fences are evidence of the historical basket beekeeping, which produced honey and beeswax in the Lüneburg Heath for centuries . Historical installations or their relics can still be found in the vicinity of former heather areas . Today, new bee fences are being erected for reasons of maintaining tradition or sustainable management of the landscape.
construction
A bee fence is built from a 2 m high timber frame in half-timbering , which is either elongated or closed in a square. The building was accessible through a door or gate. The depth of the "fence" is about 1–2 m. The side length can be up to 30 m. The back and the side surfaces are covered with boards as protection from the weather. A roof made of straw or brick served as rain protection. Inside the beehive, the beehives were set up on wooden boards (mostly on 2 levels), similar to shelves, so that they are rainproof and largely sheltered from the wind. On average, square bee fences offered space for 40 to 60 colonies, in large facilities an arrangement of 100 to 200 baskets was normal.
Historical illustration of a beehive, 1695
Bee fence with straw baskets in the Heidemuseum Walsrode
Closed bee fence as a cultural monument near Burgwedel- Fuhrberg
The interior of the vacant facility near Burgwedel-Fuhrberg with 2 levels for beehives
Bee fence near Rehlingen
(watercolor by Erwin Vollmer , around 1940)
_Bienenzaun_bei_Rehlingen_um_1940.jpg)
predecessor
The predecessor of the bee fence was the "Erdlie" in its original form. The beehives stood on an oak board that lay on the floor. A sloping lath roof was erected on one side to protect against rain. This was covered with heather plagues (top layer of earth).
