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Making a Coiled-Straw Bee Skep — The Traditional Beehive Before Wooden Boxes
Karen

Creato da

Karen

2. luglio 2026SE
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Making a Coiled-Straw Bee Skep — The Traditional Beehive Before Wooden Boxes

The bee skep is the coiled-straw beehive that housed honeybees across Europe for roughly two thousand years, from antiquity into the 1800s, before wooden box hives replaced it. Using the same coiling technique as a straw basket, long rye straw is wound into a dome and stitched together with split cane. This blueprint builds a traditional skep by hand — from preparing the straw to the finished, weatherproofed hive ready to house a swarm.
Intermedio
8

Istruzioni

1

Harvest and clean long rye straw

Cut long rye or wheat straw and strip off the seed heads and leaf sheaths, keeping the hollow stems long and unbroken for strong coils.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio

Strumenti necessari:

KnifeKnife
2

Split and soak the binding cane

Split lengths of cane into thin flexible strips and soak them in water until pliable — these will sew the straw coils together.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Split CaneSplit Cane1 fascio
WaterWater3 litri

Strumenti necessari:

KnifeKnife
3

Make the girth gauge

Form a small open ring about 2.5 cm across (the traditional 'girth', often a cow-horn tip). Straw fed through it keeps every coil the same thickness.

Strumenti necessari:

Skep Girth GaugeSkep Girth Gauge
4

Bind the crown

Take a small handful of straw, bend it into a tight knot to form the top knob of the skep, and lash it firmly with a strip of split cane.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio
Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
5

Feed straw into an even rope

Pass straw through the girth to form a continuous rope of even thickness, adding a few stems at a time so the bundle never thins as you work.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio

Strumenti necessari:

Skep Girth GaugeSkep Girth Gauge
6

Sew the first coils to the crown

Coil the straw rope in a tight spiral around the crown. Push the awl through the coil below, pass split cane through, and pull each stitch snug about every 2 cm.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
7

Spiral outward to start the dome

Continue spiralling outward from the crown, binding each new coil to the one below. The domed top of the hive begins to take shape.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio
Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
8

Build the domed wall downward

Work the spiral down and out to build the wall, keeping the girth on the rope to hold thickness and every binding stitch tight and evenly spaced.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio
Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
Skep Girth GaugeSkep Girth Gauge
9

Keep the courses even

Control how far each coil steps outward so the dome stays smooth and symmetrical. Steady, even courses make a strong, weathertight hive.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
10

Widen to the finished base

As you near the bottom, let the coils reach the finished diameter of about 35–40 cm — the standard size for a colony of bees.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Rye StrawRye Straw1 fascio
Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
11

Cut the flight entrance

At the lower edge, cut a small entrance notch in a coil so the bees can come and go once the skep is set open-side down.

Strumenti necessari:

KnifeKnife
12

Finish and lock the base coil

Complete the last coil at the base, taper off the straw rope, and lock the final binding stitches so the skep cannot unravel.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Split CaneSplit Cane1 metro

Strumenti necessari:

AwlAwl
13

Trim the skep clean

Trim protruding straw ends and stray cane with the knife to leave a clean rim and an even outer surface.

Strumenti necessari:

KnifeKnife
14

Clom the outside for weatherproofing

Smear a thin coat of cow-dung-and-clay daub over the straw to shed rain and seal drafts, then let it dry — the traditional 'clomming'.

Materiali per questo passaggio:

Cow DungCow Dung2 kg
Ball ClayBall Clay1 kg
15

Cure the finished skep

Cure the skep in a dry, airy place. Once fully dry it is ready to hive a swarm — set open-side down on a board or stand.

Materiali

6

Strumenti richiesti

3

Materiali dei progetti collegati

You can swap these in

Can't get one of the materials? Swap it for an equivalent — these work just as well.

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