Recent content by Alan B

Hoping to make a two part roof similar to a Dartington , rather than a hinged style, for a long hive. reason being, I want to add supers later on and not happy about lifting a full size roof. Has anyone had experience with these roofs and are they reasonably waterproof ? any other issues? ...

The national hive I wish to re-house has double brood [20 frames] I havent made the new long hive yet but originally planned only 25 frames long so this would be a bit tight , if all of the frames were moved over . I could make new hive 3x the width of a national so say 30 frames or are there...

I like the look of the dartington hive , are there plans available please.

Ok thankyou , I will make some nucs at the same time. and look at Robin Dartingtons book too . regards Alan

I have a small area in an orchard to use as apiary , I am about to build 2 long hives [for ease of lifting]. What i am wondering is, how to keep to just 2 hives when the bees will keep multiplying . Do i just allow them to swarm as and when . The honey harvest is not as important for me as...

thankyou for all the info . I did as Ian123 suggested and used some pine needles in the smoker ,all worked nicely . and yes, blunt spike i had uptil that moment ,inspected all the frames apart from the offending super .

After removing the queen excluder for over -wintering ,It seems the queen is in a super ,this super has been well and truely stuck together and i am reluctant to start pulling the frames apart in case i damage her. would the best way to find her and remove the offending super [to clean up off...

perfect thankyou ,great idea.

sorry for confusion , i thought SN1 was supers and DN1 was brood

HI, I`m making a horizontal hive and was going to visit my local sawmill . traditionally cedar would be the choice . Does anyone have experience with other types of rough sawn timber ,longeviety being the main issue. perhaps redwood or larch ?

okay thanks again , will have a look around for some nice wide planking ,but the whole proceedure may take some time before the finished article :]

Hi, did you still have the plans for a dartington hive ? Alan

Hi, An old thread to be sure ,but do you still have plans for a dartington hive ? Alan

yes i think that will be the plan ,as i use national deep brood frames already . thankyou

Is your horizontal hive straight [square sided ] or tapered? I use SN1 frames at present. Any things you wished you new ,before the swap? Alan :]