- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
- Messages
- 36,138
- Reaction score
- 16,059
- Location
- Glanaman,Carmarthenshire,Wales
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Too many - but not nearly enough
Well this year has been a bit hectic and I've fallen behind a bit on my crown board production.
Just to recap - a crown board has no holes so i have a large collection of crown boards, feeder boards (one hole) Rhombus boards (two holes) and some porter escape boards now consigned to be feeder boards.
Now I still have more crown boards than hives but some are employed to seal up stacks (well, one very small stack) of supers etc.Last year I needed a couple of crown boards to blank off a super which I was using to transport frames for the honey show so, being short, I utilised one of my rhombus clearers having blocked any means of entry with a small plug of foam (can you see where this is heading)
yesterday I needed to clear five hives for extraction so i gathered up all my rhombus boards remembering that some were down at the association apiary and quickly, between showers put the boards on.
This morning, took two loads of supers off and brought them back to the house, then after lunch went to get the rest. - just a bee suit and a pair of gloves (no gauntlets) as it was only a quick 'in and out' took the roof off and thought 'these bees are very noisy for a windy wet day' lifted the super and was developed in a cloud of very p!ssed off bees that had been trapped in the supers all night 'foam plugs in rhombus exits' had to grit my teeth and sort it out, close them back up for a visit tomorrow, take the supers off the other hive and 'thin out' next hive (who are never very good when there is a load of honey on and the weathers cr@p) decided to join in the fight - exit Jenkins and three supers stage left pursued by bees - a lot of bees and 'deep joy' they cried 'no gauntlets'. Fifteen minutes -and standing like a fool in the front garden in full bee suit - later I got out of my suit and back to the house. Not my most stings in a session but a good dozen and a half to the forearms. Which just goes to show you -
Just to recap - a crown board has no holes so i have a large collection of crown boards, feeder boards (one hole) Rhombus boards (two holes) and some porter escape boards now consigned to be feeder boards.
Now I still have more crown boards than hives but some are employed to seal up stacks (well, one very small stack) of supers etc.Last year I needed a couple of crown boards to blank off a super which I was using to transport frames for the honey show so, being short, I utilised one of my rhombus clearers having blocked any means of entry with a small plug of foam (can you see where this is heading)
yesterday I needed to clear five hives for extraction so i gathered up all my rhombus boards remembering that some were down at the association apiary and quickly, between showers put the boards on.
This morning, took two loads of supers off and brought them back to the house, then after lunch went to get the rest. - just a bee suit and a pair of gloves (no gauntlets) as it was only a quick 'in and out' took the roof off and thought 'these bees are very noisy for a windy wet day' lifted the super and was developed in a cloud of very p!ssed off bees that had been trapped in the supers all night 'foam plugs in rhombus exits' had to grit my teeth and sort it out, close them back up for a visit tomorrow, take the supers off the other hive and 'thin out' next hive (who are never very good when there is a load of honey on and the weathers cr@p) decided to join in the fight - exit Jenkins and three supers stage left pursued by bees - a lot of bees and 'deep joy' they cried 'no gauntlets'. Fifteen minutes -and standing like a fool in the front garden in full bee suit - later I got out of my suit and back to the house. Not my most stings in a session but a good dozen and a half to the forearms. Which just goes to show you -
'You can never have enough crownboards'