Baldock Queen Cage.

[Quis Custodiet]

Does anybody know who Mr or Mrs Baldock was? Morse and Hooper were quite inadequate on the matter as were their various predecessors! One assumes the name is eponymous; perhaps it was designed in a town by The Great North Road ?
For decades it was called a Crown of Thorns cage, then in recent times the original name began to be used again. Originally they came in a nifty little leather/leatherette case with a snap fastener - essential if one wished to be recognised as an expert. They are still being made with gramophone needles, where do the needles come from nowadays?

 

[Hivemaker.]

- essential if one wished to be recognised as an expert.

Who said this?

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Who said this?

......said by me as a joke. It was inspired by memories of a pompous and autocratic gentleman who many years ago possessed one.

 

[Hivemaker.]

......said by me as a joke. It was inspired by memories of a pompous and autocratic gentleman who many years ago possessed one.

Okay, i agree with you, and i think they are junk.

Still plenty of places that sell gramophone needles though...https://www.google.com/search?q=gramaphone+needles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=gramophone+needles

 

[For want of a better word]

Okay, i agree with you, and i think they are junk.

Still plenty of places that sell gramophone needles though...https://www.google.com/search?q=gramaphone+needles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=gramophone+needles

Junk indeed... many the autocratic pompous master beekeeper and holder of all the academic parephenalia and letters after the name on the embossed headed notepaper... has the scars on one knee to prove its use!

I know I have!!!!

( I think there is a plastic Chinese copy somewhere in my beebox... improved version with blunt needles!!

Mytten da

 

[B+.]

the scars on one knee to prove its use!

I know I have!!!!

( I think there is a plastic Chinese copy somewhere in my beebox... improved version with blunt needles!!

I can go one better...try getting in the car to drive home with one still in your back pocket!

 

[Hawklord]

Apart from the dangers of impaling oneself, why are they junk?

 

[B+.]

Apart from the dangers of impaling oneself, why are they junk?

Some queens can get through the bars. I have also had cages where the holes in the net was so big that queens ran through here too.

 

[Hawklord]

I noticed the strings on mine seem to be a bit slack when using it this year.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

I have not known a queen to ever escape between the gramophone needles; not suggesting it has not happened to others. If the queen can be encouraged onto an area of smooth capping - capped honey, it is easy to constrain her.
So does anybody know who Mr/Mrs Baldock was?

 

[B+.]

So does anybody know who Mr/Mrs Baldock was?

I don't know of a person by that name, but, there is a town called "Baldock" east of here in Hertfordshire.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

I don't know of a person by that name, but, there is a town called "Baldock" east of here in Hertfordshire.

Indeed, in my initial post I referred to "a town by the Great North Road", Baldock is that town. Some of the best GSD's in England have been bred there, but I have no idea if the cage originated in the area.

 

[oliver90owner]

Why not ask the Warings. They refer to it in their book. They probably know or would find out for you?

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Why not ask the Warings. They refer to it in their book. They probably know or would find out for you?

Thank you for the suggestion, I might meet Claire at the honey show.
I find it strange there is apparently no information on the device. Someone on this forum must know something! I have searched in vain for references in old catalogues and journals.

 

[oliver90owner]

Many on the forum know lots, but the one thing they don't know is everything!

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Many on the forum know lots, but the one thing they don't know is everything!

This is dreadful, you have just completely shattered my self belief.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Many on the forum know lots, but the one thing they don't know is everything!

But you don't know that, RAB.

You must be fallible after all!

Dusty

 

[oliver90owner]

We all keep on learning; only the dead do not. Does that mean that some, posting on the forum, are no longer alive?

 

[gillsmith]

Mr Baldock lived in Tunbridge Wells. Kent. He wasn't a beekeeper but was an eccentric inventor. I'm not sure but he is probably now no longer with us as he was rather elderly when Paul visited him 30 plus years ago. His machinery is now in use at Rand.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Mr Baldock lived in Tunbridge Wells. Kent. He wasn't a beekeeper but was an eccentric inventor. I'm not sure but he is probably now no longer with us as he was rather elderly when Paul visited him 30 plus years ago. His machinery is now in use at Rand.

Thank you for reply. I had often wondered who the inventor was and whether the name referred to him or her or to a place. It is surprising to learn the inventor was a non bee keeper, he must have been well informed as well as being eccentric!