hive numbers

[peteinwilts]

Hi Guys

I like the idea of plastic hive numbers for hives...

I do not live near Th**nes or M**semore. Are there any 'normal' high street shops that sell such items?

Cheers
Pete

 

[harveyzone]

I like the idea of plastic hive numbers for hives...

I do not live near Th**nes or M**semore. Are there any 'normal' high street shops that sell such items?

B&Q, Wickes, Homebase, anywhere DIY or home type store that will sell you a house number.

e.g...
http://www.wickes.co.uk/door-number-1/invt/164456/
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9381756&fh_view_size=50&fh_start_index=100&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=house+number&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&isSearch=true

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Wilkinsons do them (I think)

 

[Poly Hive]

And this opens up the classic debate.... what is being numbered?

PH

 

[victor meldrew]

And this opens up the classic debate.... what is being numbered?

PH

Imponderable .
I'll plump for the hive location (I don't do migratory beekeeping).
Some advocate the queen, some the colony but in the end the hive/location of , is the more stable !!

John Wilkinson

 

[DanBee]

I'd come to the conclusion that floors were the safest bet. Don't want to keep moving numbers about so has to be number & forget. Roofs move around. Double brood means "which brood box number is the hive number?'". Supers are numbered to the hive they're with. Floors stay put so a split or nuc getting a floor is a fair indicator of permanence. The downside is that floors are hardest to see and subject to most damp & rot.

 

[victor meldrew]

I'd come to the conclusion that floors were the safest bet. Don't want to keep moving numbers about so has to be number & forget. Roofs move around. Double brood means "which brood box number is the hive number?'". Supers are numbered to the hive they're with. Floors stay put so a split or nuc getting a floor is a fair indicator of permanence. The downside is that floors are hardest to see and subject to most damp & rot.

Don't you change floor to simplify the cleaning process?

John Wilkinson

 

[Poly Hive]

I think Danbee you have answered the question.

Keep the moths in the wallet for a better purpose.

I have never numbered seeing no possible gain from it, nor have the Bee Farmers I know.

Provided the record card tells the right story that is really all that is required.

PH

 

[DanBee]

Don't you change floor to simplify the cleaning process?

John Wilkinson

Yes - that's why in the end I never bothered with the numbering. Don't want the fiddle of rusty screws each spring. Was interested to see if anyone else had found a more workable system.

 

[Moggs]

I painstakingly centre-punched 2" high numerals into the wood work of my newly-built hives when I started beekeeping last year. My hives now look like the results of the National Lottery display.

Don't bother, is my advice.

 

[peteinwilts]

I take notes when in the fields and enter the results in a spreadsheet when I get home. Every week I give myself a 'hitlist' such of things to do or watch out for with the particular hive, such as swarm risk, or predicting when the hive will need another Super, and making sure I have one ready for the visit... just in case. Also record items such as their configuration (eke, feeders, number of supers, amount of food they consume, how much honey I have taken etc).
Last year, being planned and organised made last year run so much smoother.... Particularly when I was juggling swarm boxes of bees or moving them into hives every other week.

Knowing what hive requires what helps a great deal as I have multiple apiary sites and want to move as little kit as possible..

I also like the idea of keeping the components of the hive dedicated to each hive where possible... i.e. if a super has been on one hive, it will go back to the same hive the following year...

Also, some of my hives migrate...

My wife is a forecast planner by trade and she has taught me a great deal over the years!

 

[DanBee]

I also like the idea of keeping the components of the hive dedicated to each hive where possible... i.e. if a super has been on one hive, it will go back to the same hive the following year...

Agree with everything you're saying, but this might be overkill between seasons. Depends how confident you are with your overwinter sterilisation, particularly if you've not had brood up in the supers.

 

[Poly Hive]

Each to their own.

I think you are making your life much more difficult especially by insisting super a belongs to hive a.

I work nothing but out apiaries. I look at how many hives are on a site and put on location there enough supers to do the hives, plus excluders, plus clearer boards, plus nuc boxes for swarm control. If I need it it is on site.

KISS

PH

 

[peteinwilts]

Agree with everything you're saying, but this might be overkill between seasons. Depends how confident you are with your overwinter sterilisation, particularly if you've not had brood up in the supers.

I am a newbie! (2011 = year 3) Confidence is coming slowly, but have yet to learn the advanced skills of many on the forum..

 

[peteinwilts]

Each to their own.

I think you are making your life much more difficult especially by insisting super a belongs to hive a.

I work nothing but out apiaries. I look at how many hives are on a site and put on location there enough supers to do the hives, plus excluders, plus clearer boards, plus nuc boxes for swarm control. If I need it it is on site.

KISS

PH

so do you have a stack of parts on each site, or in a building? How do you manage supers that were extracted the previous year? Do you leave them on site also?

All of my spare kit is in a couple of old stables in a central location, where it is out of the weather.

 

[Poly Hive]

I stack them. Pile sups on a floor, put a spare roof or a CB on top. Simple and weather tight.

I always have done even when they were wet sups from the year before. Just make sure your floor is closed off.... LOL

Now of course they are just foundation for the CC.

PH

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Quite like the idea of names -

Dunstingin'

OSR view

any others?

 

[beeboybee]

i am only allowed three hives on my location so i have one green, one rust and one lilac coloured, then this year will have 4 supers in corresponding colours for each hive so far i am only using two of my hives and the supers have only really seen action as feeding eks as my first summer was slow on the honey side!!!!!!! hopefully this year will see three hives with four supers on each.....

 

[Haughton Honey]

I usually have 8 hives per out apiary and have invested in a set of number punches and some aluminium 'dog tag' style disks.

I number 1 to 8 for each apiary and they are pinned/nailed to each roof.

Nuc boxes are not numbered.....only production colonies....and roofs can always be swapped around!

 

[bruce]

I have just the six hives so I number them one to six . . . in my mind. If the hives aren't being moved around then sticking to a simple counting system is cheap, easy and practical.