First Hive

enrico · Feb 22, 2012

Best of luck...just a hint, you can't put supers or brood boxes on top of a gabled roof when you are inspecting the bees so ..... Make sure you have a place to put the roof and a nice flat area to put the rest! You just need a nice clear area round each hive. For future times think of a flat roof. It is handy to keep the rest of the hive off the grass!
E

Tom Bick · Feb 22, 2012

enrico said:
Best of luck...just a hint, you can't put supers or brood boxes on top of a gabled roof when you are inspecting the bees so ..... Make sure you have a place to put the roof and a nice flat area to put the rest! You just need a nice clear area round each hive. For future times think of a flat roof. It is handy to keep the rest of the hive off the grass!
E

Yes if your angle of the gabled roof is say 45 degrees but as most are 10-15 degrees then supers or brood boxes will sit on an upturned gabled roof with no problem but just at a jaunty angle.

It is true that a gabled roof is not as practical as a flat roof but if the hive is to be observed say from a kitchen window it can give a more attractive apperance for the 95% of the time it is looked at as to the one inspection a week it is worked.

jenkinsbrynmair · Feb 22, 2012

Leave two brick on the ground next to the hive - upend your roof between them - problem solved

Dusty Rhodes · Feb 22, 2012

jenkinsbrynmair said:
Leave two brick on the ground next to the hive - upend your roof between them - problem solved

..... then trip over the bricks and twist an ankle!

beeboybee · Feb 22, 2012

We all should not be putting our roofs down on the floor, it is eventually going to put everyones back in some pain at some point all that bending down. Build a proper hive stand big enough to put roofs and supers to one side when inspecting the hive...l.

From a grumpy bored tall person due to a bad back!!!!!

oliver90owner · Feb 22, 2012

Build a proper hive stand big enough to put roofs and supers to one side when

Great advice for those with loads of space and/or just a couple hives, but I move my hives (and stands) around, so would not want stands weighing near three times as much and taking up even more space than they do now.

Leaving a spare or old brood box at the apiary is an option I have used in the past. Upturned roof on that and then the hive boxes. Trouble is when there are four supers on the hive the lower supers either need stacking upwards or you need two stacks. Everything is a compromise and mostly it is an upturned roof for me.

Rob55 · Feb 24, 2012

Arrived

victor meldrew · Feb 24, 2012

beeboybee said:
We all should not be putting our roofs down on the floor, it is eventually going to put everyones back in some pain at some point all that bending down. Build a proper hive stand big enough to put roofs and supers to one side when inspecting the hive...l.

From a grumpy bored tall person due to a bad back!!!!!

The table behind this hive saves my back and is more portable than a hive stand

VM

Rob55 · Feb 24, 2012

Bit of a knotweed problem there chief. Time to get the Roundup out

victor meldrew · Feb 25, 2012

Rob55 said:
Bit of a knotweed problem there chief. Time to get the Roundup out

There have been two clumps of knotweed around this farm for ever it seems . the one you're looking at is in the angle between a brick built stable and a brick built workshop ,neither has shown any sign of damage, under mining etc.
The bees love it in September and it blows away the myth that bees don't forage within the apiary

.
Before I get jumped on! I know it is a pernicious weed in the wrong place but here it seems to be contained easily . I mow around the hives ,any ambitions of spread are quickly halted by the mower blades

. I'm told the rhisomes can travel 30 metres under ground , I,ve never seen this happen though .
The ground here is heavy clay (kind that bricks are manufactured from). Whether this has anything to do with it heaven knows

VM

Erichalfbee · Feb 25, 2012

victor meldrew said:
Before I get jumped on! I know it is a pernicious weed in the wrong place but here it seems to be contained easily .
VM

I'm with you here.
There are two roadside patches nearby that have been there for at least forty years according to my husband. They have hardly spread and certainly not undermined the lane. Strange

Cazza · Feb 25, 2012

beeboybee said:
We all should not be putting our roofs down on the floor, it is eventually going to put everyones back in some pain at some point all that bending down. Build a proper hive stand big enough to put roofs and supers to one side when inspecting the hive...l.

From a grumpy bored tall person due to a bad back!!!!!

I started to use a wheeled trolley last season which worked really well to give extra height to pop the roof/supers on. With a combination of mattress topper, trolley, exercises and a brilliant lifting belt I am a new woman.
Cazza

Rob55 · Feb 25, 2012

victor meldrew said:
There have been two clumps of knotweed around this farm for ever it seems . the one you're looking at is in the angle between a brick built stable and a brick built workshop ,neither has shown any sign of damage, under mining etc.
The bees love it in September and it blows away the myth that bees don't forage within the apiary .
Before I get jumped on! I know it is a pernicious weed in the wrong place but here it seems to be contained easily . I mow around the hives ,any ambitions of spread are quickly halted by the mower blades . I'm told the rhisomes can travel 30 metres under ground , I,ve never seen this happen though .
The ground here is heavy clay (kind that bricks are manufactured from). Whether this has anything to do with it heaven knows
VM

Just watch the mower, it could spread the knotweed elsewhere. If you did ever want to get rid of it, it's not actually that hard, three applications a year (April, June and September) with a regular dose of Roundup and it'll be gone in a few years. I am clearing a patch on our ground that has been there for the best part of 15 years, will be a happy man when it is gone!

victor meldrew · Feb 25, 2012

Rob55 said:
Just watch the mower, it could spread the knotweed elsewhere. If you did ever want to get rid of it, it's not actually that hard, three applications a year (April, June and September) with a regular dose of Roundup and it'll be gone in a few years. I am clearing a patch on our ground that has been there for the best part of 15 years, will be a happy man when it is gone!

I've been mowing with a 20" rotary, no grass box (shoots the mowings out of the right hand side, for 20 odd years . The only precautions I take are to ensure that I don't fire the stuff in the direction of the hives and to mow in the same direction rather than turn around at the end of each run

.
Never spread it yet , maybe I cut it before the off cuts are viable for vegative propagation?

.

VM

tonybloke · Feb 26, 2012

AFAIK it spreads by root and seed.

The Cumbrian · Feb 26, 2012

tonybloke said:
AFAIK it spreads by root and seed.

I think you will find it can spread from the smallest piece of root, stem or leaf.

jenkinsbrynmair · Feb 26, 2012

The Cumbrian said:
I think you will find it can spread from the smallest piece of root, stem or leaf.

The best way to combat it is with a strong mix of Glyphosate when it grows to about 3 feet in the spring or in September when it's taking down stores before dying down for winter - if you're lucky it's one hit but usually it's gone in two. It's a reportable pest so you have to dispose of the cuttings on site (burning) or transport it bagged to a category one waste site. Not dumped in a green waste bin

victor meldrew · Feb 26, 2012

jenkinsbrynmair said:
The best way to combat it is with a strong mix of Glyphosate when it grows to about 3 feet in the spring or in September when it's taking down stores before dying down for winter - if you're lucky it's one hit but usually it's gone in two. It's a reportable pest so you have to dispose of the cuttings on site (burning) or transport it bagged to a category one waste site. Not dumped in a green waste bin

Like global warming, it's over hyped :nopity:

VM

Rob55 · Feb 26, 2012

Chances are you will be fine, our workman hit it with a ride on rotary we use on our golf course a few times and thankfully it never spread, but I wouldn't like to do that again! It's seriously sick looking after the 3 shots of Roundup last year, completely black and rotten, no signs of life yet this year. I had been told that too hard a hit of Roundup can sometimes shock it into dormancy, and it reappears randomly in 3 or 4 years time, I hope this doesn't happen but will wait and see!

victor meldrew · Feb 26, 2012

One way, of dealing with a smallish clump is to cut at about 1' and using a poker ,puncture the membrane at each joint and pour Glyphosate into the hollow rods , this should take out the underground rhizome system.
But why bother if the clump appears to be self limiting as my 2 clumps obviously are ?
VM

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