I've been to Maisemore Apiaries and got some hive bits. The poor bloke (Eric) was a bit torn between selling me stuff and telling me to wait until next year 
I think he detected my total newbie status and felt bad taking my money.
Not TOO bad though, as I've now got lots of hive bits to make before the crazy bee-collection day next weekend.
I now have:
Langstroth brood body, made up in Cedar (nice!);
Mesh floor;
Roof to be built;
crown board with 2 bee escape jobbies in (these are clever - Eric showed me how they worked);
lots of frames to make up;
lots of wired foundation to try and get into the frames;
some 'gimp' pins (!) what's that all about??;
a Langstroth plastic queen excluder;
hive tool, frame lifter thing;
nice book;
little bit of foam to block up hive entrance for long car journey (this will be backed up by gaffer tape!);
4 pint liquid feeder.
On order: beesuit, gloves, smoker. No idea when they will arrive.
Eric patiently told me (with an "OMG, this bloke's bees are history!" look on his face) that I'd need an empty super to hold the feeder which is 3 or 4 inches high - duh! He didn't have one so I've got to get some wood from B&Q and make up a simple frame to keep the roof high enough to fit the feeder inside.
Tonight is 'make a frame' night! GandalfWW will be getting 4 or 5 of these in swap for the bee covered ones, so I have to make them look half decent . . .
I think he detected my total newbie status and felt bad taking my money.Not TOO bad though, as I've now got lots of hive bits to make before the crazy bee-collection day next weekend.
I now have:
Langstroth brood body, made up in Cedar (nice!);
Mesh floor;
Roof to be built;
crown board with 2 bee escape jobbies in (these are clever - Eric showed me how they worked);
lots of frames to make up;
lots of wired foundation to try and get into the frames;
some 'gimp' pins (!) what's that all about??;
a Langstroth plastic queen excluder;
hive tool, frame lifter thing;
nice book;
little bit of foam to block up hive entrance for long car journey (this will be backed up by gaffer tape!);
4 pint liquid feeder.
On order: beesuit, gloves, smoker. No idea when they will arrive.
Eric patiently told me (with an "OMG, this bloke's bees are history!" look on his face) that I'd need an empty super to hold the feeder which is 3 or 4 inches high - duh! He didn't have one so I've got to get some wood from B&Q and make up a simple frame to keep the roof high enough to fit the feeder inside.
Tonight is 'make a frame' night! GandalfWW will be getting 4 or 5 of these in swap for the bee covered ones, so I have to make them look half decent . . .
