My mating hives.

[ratcatcher]

brilliant idea, will try it myself, thanks for the pictures

 

[Dave /Oscroft]

Pics

Darren, thanks for the pics, iv'e got clear now, hope to have a go later. Just Googled Mourne mountains, looks a crackin place!

Dave W

 

[Tdf]

how do you find the hinges, do they seize up?

 

[blackcavebees]

how do you find the hinges, do they seize up?

Rub some beeswax on them

 

[biglongdarren]

how do you find the hinges, do they seize up?

they havent yet no,but then there only a few years old.
Darren

 

[Charalampos]

Very nice job Darren, at list you have made your own mating hives and as I can see they are "working" well !

Bravo!

 

[biglongdarren]

Very nice job Darren, at list you have made your own mating hives and as I can see they are "working" well !

Bravo!

thank you and welcome to the forum.
Darren

 

[QueenMaster]

Similar as duo and quatronuc.

You can also like a quatro put 2 nucs oposite way or even 3 as Apitri.

Good job.

Cheers

 

[QueenMaster]

It's been some years that accordeon frame exists.
You can see in google images of duo nuc and quatro nuc with their accordeons.

Apitri is not 'accordeon' like, but it's a nice 3-nuc box.

Anyway, darren has done a great job!

 

[biglongdarren]

big big money........http://www.thorne.co.uk/queen/mating-hives?product_id=5714

 

[GrumpyBunny]

I'll have to have a crack at this.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Nearly Finished, Darren

OGM this thing's taking some time to make. I must have spent 12 hours or more so far and I haven't started on the feeder or roof yet! A competent carpenter, buying new wood and with access to a decent table saw could do it a lot quicker.

I've made mine so that the frame, when expanded fits a 14x12 brood box so it looks a bit ungainly but it's shaping up ok. As Darren said in one of his posts, you need to make the concertina frame first then size the box to give beespace all around it. Another thing to remember is the old carpenters' adage of "measure twice and cut once" - trouble is, in the heat of the moment, you tend to forget it!

CVB

 

[BeeJayBee]

Heck, that looks complicated!

 

[Itchy]

And where are the pics?

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Lost in the Ether

And where are the pics?

Darren's original pics were lost when the Forum server was changed some months ago but I pm'd him and he kindly took some more photos and sent them to me.

I took some photos of my half-finished effort with my camera but could not upload them - probably too big - but the above pic was taken with the camera in my phone and was accepted into the post. Does anybody know what the size limit is with photos attached to posts on the Forum?

What is the contraption? It's a queen breeder for the small scale beekeeper. The main component is a concertina'd brood frame (1/4 of the frame width, excluding the lugs). This is hung, with wax drawn, in the breeder brood chamber. An unwanted queen cell is cut out of the wax in the main hive and hung in the breeder brood chamber among the leaves of the concertina'd frame by means of a malleable wire curled at its end, where the cell is gently placed. A cupfull of bees is added and the adjoining feeding chamber is charged with syrup/fondant so that they have some food and the breeder is closed up. When the queen hatches, she is allowed to fly on her mating flight and when she has started laying in the breeder, the articulated frame is expanded and transferred to a dummied down nuc and the queen and her retinue is allowed to get on with it. The articulated frame is removed and returned to the breeder as soon as it is needed again. That, at least, is my understanding of how it works. I'll let you know next year when hopefully the thing will be finished!
I've only got one colony at the moment so the idea of producing, say, two or three new queens a season is quite attractive.
If forum members want to see Darren's photos and they can pm me with an email address, I will forward the photos that he sent me.

 

[Goran]

Heck, that looks complicated!

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=523&pictureid=2918

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=523&pictureid=2813

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=523&pictureid=2820

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=523&pictureid=2919


Maybe this can be easier to make. This wasn't my idea but I liked it. I made the mating nucs by myself, not the frames. I am not skilled in woodworking but manage relatively easy to make some.. Frames needed to fasten in lower part when combining two of them and putting into normal hive.

I put the frames into normal colonies to get brood ( assurance also that bees don't leave mating nuc) and food on them.

Hope not interrupting this thread, if so please delete this post..

 

[charlievictorbravo]

It's Finished!

Well, Darren - it's done. It's taken ages but it's done.

I can't wait for next year to give it a go. All I've got to do now is reread the early part of this thread to work out how to use it!

Thanks Darren

CVB

 

[pargyle]

Wow Colin ... that is a nice bit of work ... I can well see why it has taken a long time - my big blind spot is measuring .... So it's probably a bit beyond my ability but I also quite liked Goran's half frame mating Nuc which looks a bit easier on the measuring ... I'll go back now and read how it all works ...

 

[Brian Bush]

How do I view the pictures? Some guidance for an idiot please

 

[charlievictorbravo]

How do I view the pictures? Some guidance for an idiot please

I can see them by clicking on each one. If you still cannot see them via the forum, send me a private message (pm) with an email address and I'll send them to you.

CVB