Taylor's (or Tailor's?) Cottage Hive

[Headnavigator]

CDB was an irish hive and look more like your picture , never seen one in any english old books

and has the double super, so i think he is wrong

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/cdbside.html

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/cdbhive.html

Well it certainly fits the bill, doesn't it? What a neat bit of detective work!

 

[victor meldrew]

What a beaut! Being nosy and having a look-around, love the teapot! And the honeypots, but especially your teapot. Brings me out in a wicked fit of covetousness!

Just a small sample . went through a spell of acquiring bee memorabilia , relatives and friends suddenly had a whole new subject to explore when buying gifts for birthdays, Christmas etc. .

John Wilkinson

 

[BobH1]

I knew I had something on Taylors - here's extracts fron their 1981 catalogue - two or three years before they were bought out by T*****s:

I thought it interesting to see also the prices then for up-market cedar National hive parts

 

[MJBee]

I started my beekeeping journey with a Taylors 2 day beginners course and came away with a WBC and all associated gear. The 6 frame nuc arrived by rail a few weeks later!

I still have the nuc box which I use for swarm collection and sold the 30 year old WBC last year still in good nick. I have probably set another record in that I still have the hive tool bought in 1980 - it has had many coats of Hammerite though

 

[Headnavigator]

Oh dear - are we going for the record for antique gear? This could be interesting! I'll start it off with three skeps in the family which were used by my Grandfather who died nearly fifty years ago. Two of the three look extremely old and delicate and I think had been used by his Father before him, which takes us back to the late 1800s.
Anyone got any antique queen-raising equipment? That would be of interest.

 

[BobH1]

Keeping it still marginally on topic, and talking of antique equipment, the Beekeepers Quarterly for November 2009 has an article by Chris Evans (page 34) in which he describes his continued use of a "Cottager Hive". He says: "The oldest of the hives is the Cottager ... Single walled on two sides and double skinned on the othe two sides, the brood box and supers are all filleted to slot one above the other. They use the same frames as the National hive." he goes on to say "My hives are reputed to be 80 years old, having been made for Chivers Fruit Farm just after the first world war." The article includes two nice photographs of the hives.

 

[nonstandard]

Well blow me there is now a cottage hive on eBay, looks in good nick too.

item number 290541454644

 

[ToGGoT]

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but i have a bit more info on this one.

My Fiancée and i took our camper up to north Cornwall for the weekend, and while in Port Isaac we fond some stickers for "Portreath Bee Centre" - as it was only a few miles down the road, we thought we'd go and have a look!

Aside from having the biggest WBC i have ever seen in the garden (Approx 10-12 feet tall, with a slide coming out of the front!), they have in their bee exhibition room, a very small white painted hive, labelled as a "Cottage Hive".

I was intrigued, having never seen one before, and if i'm honest, it didn't look big enough to take national frames (It even seemed slightly smaller than the Smith demonstration hive they had around the corner), and the brood box only looked deep enough to accommodate a national super frame. It was very similar to the hives at the beginning of MuswellMetro's video, except it was just the base, brood box, and lid, giving it a very squat look!

I took the lid off, and it appeared to be only single skin, and it was sat on angular stuck out legs, rather than the vertical ones you seen on WBCs sometimes.

Sadly, i forgot to take any photos before we left, as i assumed i'd be able to get plans/more info online.

I'd love to have one as a garden ornament, so if anyone does have measurements/plans, i'd love to get a copy!

ToGGoT

 

[Poly Hive]

Just had a trawl through my library and no mention of this one.

Wedmore, and a few others don't mention it.

DC's site is very good but like any site not infallible.

PH

 

[ToGGoT]

Thanks,

I have ordered a copy of Phipps, J. - Making a Cottage Hive, as it was only £1.50. Looks like the best bet at the moment!

If not, its a good excuse to get my motorbike out of the garage and take a trip and get some measurements of the one at Portreath!

ToGGoT

 

[Headnavigator]

Thanks,

I have ordered a copy of Phipps, J. - Making a Cottage Hive, as it was only £1.50. Looks like the best bet at the moment!

If not, its a good excuse to get my motorbike out of the garage and take a trip and get some measurements of the one at Portreath!

ToGGoT

Fascinating - do please keep us posted, would love to see what you come up with!

 

[REDWOOD]

Yes they were local to me, i remember collecting beehives from their factory in Welwyn with my Grand father in the 60's and bringing them home on the steam train on the Welwyn to Dunstable railway ( both factory and railway long since gone)

EH Taylor of Welwyn once the largest beehive maker in england were taken over by EH £hornes,

i think the Cottager hive was a square WBC type hive, not the one mention in the previous post

from memory the hives on the left in this video at the start are cottage hives, squarer than a WBC

Amazed how so little has changed brill video

 

[REDWOOD]

This is one of Taylors products of old .Sorry about the flash bounce!


John W>

they Don't make them to last anymore, I have a honey jar just like yours on the right and you honey jars almost empty