So what do you keep in your bee keeping tool box when you open hives?

[Murox]

Two hive tools
(J -small and large)
4 x lighters,
Avon Skin So Soft for hands
3 pairs vinyl gloves - spares unused.
Bungee cord
Queen marking box with COT, pens , Queen catcher.
Spare egg boxes for smoker.
Beekeeper's Field Guide
Rubber bands, pins
Sprayer
Blowlamp
Smoker
Gaffer tape.
Two Q cages
Wire mesh
Pipe cleaners.
Tape measure
Hacksaw blade plus handle
Soft wire
Clear perspex.
Superglue
Pliars, screwdrivers,stanley knife

And used matchsticks for propping open crown boards.

May I borrow your matchsticks to prop my eyes open after reading that list ?
I am impressed ,

Have you seen the size of his box though

 

[Curly green finger's]

Roller cages, intro cages, tooth picks/scewers, cot, marker pen, gaffa tape, builders pencil, Stanley knife, small tack hammer and nails/pins, news paper, silver foil.
Smoker, screw driver to clean holes in smoker or prize it apart.
Diarys
Candling torch
Hive tools not j type.
I know I have forgotten something!

 

[Amari]

My preferred hive tool: ( have 3 in the apiary. When using one, the other 2 are in a bucket with disinfectant. Each hive I’m using a clean/disinfectant hive tool)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YS9..._dp_YFGHS8J5JBWFTHF78MWR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
On me I always have a Q clip, Q roller cage, Crown of Thorns, Toma marker, small chargeable flashlight and 1-2 sets of nitrile gloves.

Keep a sealed box in the apiary with smoker fuel & other essentials less frequently used.

This season I bought Toma as recommended by others on here (previously used ?Posnit). Very disappointed: difficult to get a small dense blob. White often seems grey at next inspection. Purchased queens have far more durable and compact marks - what do the bee-breeders use?

 

[GuyNir]

This season I bought Toma as recommended by others on here (previously used ?Posnit). Very disappointed: difficult to get a small dense blob. White often seems grey at next inspection. Purchased queens have far more durable and compact marks - what do the bee-breeders use?

I don’t like marking white, takes a lot of priming to get it out properly. I don’t bother with the exact year colours. All my Q’s are marked using a Toma neon green and I have all the Q details captured on my iPad. Marked with neon green, you can spot the Q from a mile away.

 

[deemann1]

My van is my tool box

 

[enrico]

My most important items beside my j tool that is over 40 years old and my bee brush of the same age is a can of air freshener and a can of fabi spray. The former to do quick unites and the latter for emergencies. E.g. smoker goes out and bees boiling. A quick squirt of fabi spray and the bees go straight back into the box letting me put the hive back together with no squashed bees making matters worse. I also keep my tool box by the bees in the form of one of those big plastic storage units but it is in my garden!

 

[jeff33]

My preferred hive tool: ( have 3 in the apiary. When using one, the other 2 are in a bucket with disinfectant. Each hive I’m using a clean/disinfectant hive tool)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YS9..._dp_YFGHS8J5JBWFTHF78MWR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
On me I always have a Q clip, Q roller cage, Crown of Thorns, Toma marker, small chargeable flashlight and 1-2 sets of nitrile gloves.

Keep a sealed box in the apiary with smoker fuel & other essentials less frequently used.

More or less the same + goose feather and numbering disks for unplanned splits. It's all kept a handy plumber torch bag. Each apiary then has its own soda bucket, smoker, fuel and hive tools.

 

[Nannysbees]

I had this made by a local trade man. I do have tool bag full of odds and sods but this is what I use mostly. Queen roller cage fits on too)

Oooo that's very posh,I like it

 

[Rachelw3]

Two hive tools
(J -small and large)
4 x lighters,
Avon Skin So Soft for hands
3 pairs vinyl gloves - spares unused.
Bungee cord
Queen marking box with COT, pens , Queen catcher.
Spare egg boxes for smoker.
Beekeeper's Field Guide
Rubber bands, pins
Sprayer
Blowlamp
Smoker
Gaffer tape.
Two Q cages
Wire mesh
Pipe cleaners.
Tape measure
Hacksaw blade plus handle
Soft wire
Clear perspex.
Superglue
Pliars, screwdrivers,stanley knife

And used matchsticks for propping open crown boards.

Just curious do you use the Avon skin soft as a repellent? I have loads of this I use abroad to prevent mosquito bites?

 

[victor meldrew]

Make sure it has a safe storage for your smoker !

 

[madasafish]

Just curious do you use the Avon skin soft as a repellent? I have loads of this I use abroad to prevent mosquito bites?

Yes: I keep with bare hands ,.. Avon helps prevent some stings and makes propolis removal from skin easy.
And keeps my hands soft of course (pity about the calluses)

"some" - my annual total - yes I am OCD - is in three figures and has been for nearly a decade.

 

[bobba]

Its interesting as someone who is still finding my feet in the hobby to see what kit people actually use.

I should have said, I also keep a 2 spare stands by my hives for stacking supers or other boxes on when needed. just saves the back.

Then I also have a little stand that I keep my smoker on. It was originally a stand for a nuc,, but has become my smoker stand. I have grown to like my smoker stand so much if I had mutiple apiarys I would have one at each.

I watched the Norfolk honey videos when I was first getting into bees and he holds his smoker between his legs! I gave it a try.......not for me. I will stick to my nice little table thanks.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I normally just have 2 J tools, my smoker and a lighter. But have been recently inspired by another thread to try a scraper.

I started with a traditional hive tool, then tried a J after seeing one in a video. I was an instant convert. I got a second J tool initially for lifting tricky frames. Particularly that 1st one out when there is no dummy. But found its very handy to have 2 when prying boxes apart.

So what kit do you have and find useful?

And what kit have you tried and given up on?

My normal "kit" is my smoker, my J type, thin blade hive tool, plus COT and pen in my top pocket. Why make life complicated? In the unlikely event of needing anything else I close up and walk back to my shed.

 

[Murox]

My normal "kit" is my smoker, my J type, thin blade hive tool, plus COT and pen in my top pocket. Why make life complicated? In the unlikely event of needing anything else I close up and walk back to my shed.

Ah yes the luxury of keeping bees at home. Regrettably I and probably others are unable to do that having a postage stamp for a garden, very poor to non-existent immediate local forage and laws specifically prohibiting doing just that amongst other things like keeping chickens. So an out apiary or two requires a box to be put into the car on each occasion.

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

Yes: I keep with bare hands ,.. Avon helps prevent some stings and makes propolis removal from skin easy.
And keeps my hands soft of course (pity about the calluses)

"some" - my annual total - yes I am OCD - is in three figures and has been for nearly a decade.

Like you, I'm bare handed ( and callused) and next season am going to try your Avon tip as my bees appear to have become stickier and stickier over time and could now propolise for GB. making hand cleaning a bit interesting.

 

[Boston Bees]

Empty nuc box
Hive tool
Water spray bottle

 

[madasafish]

Its interesting as someone who is still finding my feet in the hobby to see what kit people actually use.

I should have said, I also keep a 2 spare stands by my hives for stacking supers or other boxes on when needed. just saves the back.

Then I also have a little stand that I keep my smoker on. It was originally a stand for a nuc,, but has become my smoker stand. I have grown to like my smoker stand so much if I had mutiple apiarys I would have one at each.

I watched the Norfolk honey videos when I was first getting into bees and he holds his smoker between his legs! I gave it a try.......not for me. I will stick to my nice little table thanks.

Attached to the bottom of my smoker with soft wire - is a piece of scrap ply .. Means you don't have to have a separate stand but can put smoker down on poly roofs without burning a hole.

 

[Hachi]

My most important items beside my j tool that is over 40 years old and my bee brush of the same age is a can of air freshener and a can of fabi spray. The former to do quick unites and the latter for emergencies. E.g. smoker goes out and bees boiling. A quick squirt of fabi spray and the bees go straight back into the box letting me put the hive back together with no squashed bees making matters worse. I also keep my tool box by the bees in the form of one of those big plastic storage units but it is in my garden!

What is Fabi spray?

 

[enrico]

What is Fabi spray?

It is a sort of smoke alternative in a spray can. The bees hate the smell but as an emergency it is brilliant

 

[enrico]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Onetti-fabi-spray-Bee-Repellent-500-ml/dp/B06XGZNHR5Wouldn't buy it from there but just to give you the info