Jameshow
Established Member
Do you have those metal hangers to lift full super??
My Bee Hive i made from all recycled Timber,
- Thread starter Gary Bee man
- Start date
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Phill05
Established Member
Gary, great to see your work we don't see much of the Bee's on here, I have a friend that started a couple of years ago and he loves it, now don't all laugh but this is John bee man on a bike.
Gary Bee man
Member
yes i do , I dont really have any problems lifting ,
Thought so. Been a beekeeper for 52 years (since I was 12) - I'm on Commercial brood (much the same area as a Langstroth) with everything else National - trained at Hadlow in the days when they had a national bee unit and that's what they used, so as an adult, that's what I've stuck with - when the unit closed I bought a load of their stuff at auction.
This year was great - after two awful years, had 4 extractions off 6 hives on a fruit farm for a total of 278kg, 70kg of which is pure apple blossom from one extraction in April/May. The rest of my hives did well too. BTW, for the non-beekeepers, a full National super weighs about 13Kg - maybe 14 if you're using wide Hoffmans or castellations. So, in the summer, you might have 4 supers on hive, i.e. over 50Kg of boxes to move around on each hive, all whilst fully suited up in 28C heat with several 1,000 possibly fairly p*ssed off bees around you. It's a great hobby!
All my hives are cedar - I've tried making my own - not that tricky really, but when I factor in my time and the cost of cedar in the small quantities I'm using, it doesn't make sense, even with a Commercial Brood box being about £65 now. I'm glad I tried and I may do so again, but not at the moment. TBH, if you use cedar, assemble it well and keep it in good condition, it lasts a very very long time - I've still got brood boxes and supers in use that I bought/made 20 or more years ago and they're all in excellent condition. OTOH, I have seen a lot of dismally maintained and poor condition equipment too in other apiaries. I've found that pine is heavy to use and weathers poorly compared with cedar in our exposed conditions. You can oil the boxes (Rustins external wood oil is fine for bees) but that's a compromise.
I'm also with the flat roof crew - my hives are mostly on stacked pallets (2 or 3 high) - two hives on each pallet at the front. Roof off and inverted behind the hive, then supers stacked on those at an angle - nice & tidy. Can't do that with a pitched roof. You also can't put large lumps of rock on the roof to keep them in one piece during nasty storms (e.g. Eunice).
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The year before I got rid of mine - anaphylaxis - I had a good harvest. The chap who sold me the colony, a local auctioneer, was a beekeeper who had about thirty hives at one time. I spent one year cleaning it and replacing all the foundation as it had been very neglected, and this was the first time I took anything off it. He asked me how much I'd taken. About 55kg I said. Hell, he said, you stripped it? No, I left a super and a half. He'd never taken that off a hive in all the years he'd kept bees. This was in a WBC, which all the local beekeepers told me not to change as they were thought to be the best for the weather around here.
At my first (and only) attempt at showing honey I got a third at Royal Cornwall Show which was the fifth biggest honey show in the Country, beating an old boy who had shown for fifty years into fourth place. Unfortunately I got hold of a very angry colony which I was about to re queen with a NZ queen when one of them stung me and nearly killed me - the doctor who saw me said afterwards I was the closest he'd seen anyone come to dying from a sting.
At my first (and only) attempt at showing honey I got a third at Royal Cornwall Show which was the fifth biggest honey show in the Country, beating an old boy who had shown for fifty years into fourth place. Unfortunately I got hold of a very angry colony which I was about to re queen with a NZ queen when one of them stung me and nearly killed me - the doctor who saw me said afterwards I was the closest he'd seen anyone come to dying from a sting.
Good that you discovered the anaphylaxis before it got too serious - I presume you now carry an EpiPen?
One of the big problems around here is.... too many beekeepers in a small area and not enough forage...
I'm the membership secretary for the local BBKA branch so I know where all our almost 100 members live, and there are 8 in this village with little forage in the valley, especially in summer. Note that I know of several other local beekeepers who aren't members of the BBKA, so there are more than 8 within 1km of here.
If you don't balance the number of hives in an apiary with the available forage throughout the season, you out-compete other pollinators (to their detriment) and your own bees also don't do that well... I don't keep bees at home - they're on nearby farms. Our lavender beds are consequently absolutely full of bumble bees and other insects rather than A. mellifera.
Beekeeping is livestock management - it's not a set-it-and-leave pastime. You have to be proactive in managing all aspects of what you do with them, and that's a responsibility that requires work, often hard & unpleasant work - a lot of new beekeepers just don't get that. We encourage all new beekeepers to do a hands-on course at our apiary (we loan suits etc.) so that they fully understand what they are getting into before they spend a lot of money on (possibly the wrong) kit or find out it's just not for them. We also supply local nucs to new starters at cost - we know the temperament & health of the colonies and their suitability to our local climate. We all want happy, well-trained, competent & responsible beekeepers with happy & healthy bees.
Regarding forage - one of the farms I keep bees on has 6 of my colonies and... 250,000 apple trees... The bees go insane for the 4 weeks of the apple blossom (assuming the weather's right), but then what? Monoculture blocks are a real problem for pollinators. As it happens, the farmer is very enlightened and she has planted several acres of clover round the hives and 14 hectares of wild flowers which last through the summer.
One of the big problems around here is.... too many beekeepers in a small area and not enough forage...
I'm the membership secretary for the local BBKA branch so I know where all our almost 100 members live, and there are 8 in this village with little forage in the valley, especially in summer. Note that I know of several other local beekeepers who aren't members of the BBKA, so there are more than 8 within 1km of here.
If you don't balance the number of hives in an apiary with the available forage throughout the season, you out-compete other pollinators (to their detriment) and your own bees also don't do that well... I don't keep bees at home - they're on nearby farms. Our lavender beds are consequently absolutely full of bumble bees and other insects rather than A. mellifera.
Beekeeping is livestock management - it's not a set-it-and-leave pastime. You have to be proactive in managing all aspects of what you do with them, and that's a responsibility that requires work, often hard & unpleasant work - a lot of new beekeepers just don't get that. We encourage all new beekeepers to do a hands-on course at our apiary (we loan suits etc.) so that they fully understand what they are getting into before they spend a lot of money on (possibly the wrong) kit or find out it's just not for them. We also supply local nucs to new starters at cost - we know the temperament & health of the colonies and their suitability to our local climate. We all want happy, well-trained, competent & responsible beekeepers with happy & healthy bees.
Regarding forage - one of the farms I keep bees on has 6 of my colonies and... 250,000 apple trees... The bees go insane for the 4 weeks of the apple blossom (assuming the weather's right), but then what? Monoculture blocks are a real problem for pollinators. As it happens, the farmer is very enlightened and she has planted several acres of clover round the hives and 14 hectares of wild flowers which last through the summer.
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Did you get a buzz out of making the hive .
Jameshow
Established Member
Stop droning on!!
TheUnicorn
Established Member
just out of interest, why is it better for the bees to have a gable roof?
Jameshow
Established Member
Keeps them happy obviously!!
Keith Cocker
Established Member
Ugh! I hate honey. 
I was going to make similar point about the finger cut outs. Ok when one is young and have rock climbers fingers. But not so good when arthritic 75 yr old fingers can't grip so well.
I'm very interested in your handles. That's why I've stayed with National hives. And make them myself.
Great satisfaction.
I'm using poly hives and big supers. Had a pretty sucessful year so far. The second harvest was amazing dark wild honey. We are in the middle of nowhere and have let our place go a bit wild this year, the farmers have also been leaving the neighbouring fields for insects and wild flowers. The difference has been noticed.
London is said to be a particularly good place for bees as there is such a variety of plants in private gardens (roof top ones too), parks and public spaces.
Ugh! I hate honey.
You don't have to like honey to like bees - just sell the honey to finance the bees! (it's not a cheap hobby!)
The corollary of that is there are way too many Beekeepers in London, especially in "trendy" areas. It's great having gardens with forage, but honey bees need a LOT of forage and will out compete other insects.
Balance...
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Nic Rhodes
Established Member
Old beekeepers often have young apprentices, this is not to pass on their wisdom but help with the lifting!
AJB Temple
Finely figured
These are the handles. They are heavy duty and do not trap your fingers. I fit them to all brood boxes and supers. Hive handles
stuart little
Established Member
I want my bees back! My beans need 'em!
