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merylvingien

Field Bee
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
536
Reaction score
0
Location
Near Andover Hampshire
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
7
Hi all, i joined this forum at the end of last year, obviously too late to do anything then, so over the winter i have been along to the local bee association classes and learned as much as my small brain will take on board.

Ive got two hives ready to go, hopefully and i am waiting for swarms to start so hopefully i can get started this year.

A few pics of my gear and if there is anything obviously wrong or out of place, please shout and let me know...

hive1.jpg


roof.jpg


super.jpg


superframe.jpg


varoafloor.jpg


varoafloor2.jpg


feeder1.jpg


feeder2.jpg


crownboard.jpg
 
Nice job :cheers2: Are they home made?

Can you open up the entrance block to give you more space when you get that huge flow on? :drool5:
 
Did you make the frames from tongue and groove timber ?
Looks good
 
Did you make the frames from tongue and groove timber ?
Looks good

The roof looks like it would get filled with brace comb if you didn't get supers on quick enough. Are you planning to use completely closed boards on the top of your supers?

Adam
 
Adam?

It is standard practice (as far as I know) to have a crown board over supers, or for that matter on top of what ever is the top box even if it is as now just the brood box.

Bees should have no access to roof space.

PH
 
So, what hives are those? Smith?

I think the immediately obvious thing is the entrance. Like, you need a bigger one.
 
Hi Folks, thanks for the comments. The hives are all homemade apart from the frames. Those are thornes frames. I didnt have enough time to set up jigs etc to run frames out this year, but hopefully in the future.

The hives are commercial type, or based on commercial plans.

The entrance is by design according to my mentor, who has told me to narrow it down to that much. Hes been at it years so i have to trust his judgement.

Roof again is based around his design and suggestions, crown board goes on top of supers and if nessacary the holes can be blocked off.

Interesting hearing your thoughts, please continue...
 
Entrance is way too small. Right for a nuc but not for a full colony.

I opened up all of mine yesterday to full width, and it looks as if yours does not have the capability to be opened up.

PH
 
I can easily take that strip off if need be, replace with smaller or none at all.

I have no bees yet so most probably will get a swarm at some point soon which wont be full strength, maybe this was his thinking when he told me to narrow down to that width?
 
And the trough in your feeder needs a rectangle of glass or thin plywood or something. But I guess you know this.

The Commercial is an excellent pattern of hive. Not too small.
 
Difficult to explain, this.

You know the holes you've drilled in your Ashforth feeder? Well, as I am sure you know, the bees come up through those, and then over the baffle to get to the syrup.

But you need something to confine the bees to that double trough system. You don't want to be taking some kind of cover off your feeder to have all the bees in your hive spilling out when you top up the syrup.

The Ashforths' that you buy usually have a piece of thin glass to cover the two troughs, and this confines the bees when you fill up the feeder.

Got to see one to know what I mean. See the bottom left drawing, here: http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/nashforth.html The trough has a little cover on it.
 
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Yea i got you, your explination is easy to understand. I suppose this prevents them spilling over into where the main of the syrup is held and drowning.

I will get on it straight away, i was thinking of adding a couple more coats of paint to them anyway, just to make sure of the job, so can modify this at the same time. ;)
 

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