What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[Moobee]

Nice job!
I presume the coloured hexagons are to aid bee orientation on the hives?
I did see some data somewhere on what colours and shapes they can tell apart, but can't remember where...

Thanks! Yes, all the nucs are different colours with different coloured entrance discs & differing patterns & colours. For bee orientation and I also use these for mating queens so hope they can find their way back from mating flights.

 

[Moobee]

Finished off a batch of deep insulated pallet wood roofs and some of the 20 under floor entrances I've recently made from old
pallet racking slats and reclaimed plywood.

Nice work

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I presume the coloured hexagons are to aid bee orientation on the hives?
I did see some data somewhere on what colours and shapes they can tell apart, but can't remember where...

I just put different numbers on all mine - seems to work

 

[E&MBees]

Not quite me, but got my eldest back from uni to design and produce some label guides using Solidworks, a CAD program and a 3d printer.

 

[Superlativesoul]

SWMBO gave me this tin to keep the first Baldock cage I bought, I would still be using the cage but way back in 2017 (I think) I was marking queens at the castle apiary when it slipped off the hive without me noticing and fell in front of the hive, that area was just littered with rocks which probably came down the cliff when the castle was slighted during the wars of the roses, I look there regularly (I know exactly where it fell) but it probably slipped down a crevice between two rocks - it will probably do some archaeologist's head in one day!. The featured Baldock cage is it's replacement, the paint is from when my queen marking pen fell to bits whilst marking a queen last Friday.
View attachment 40096View attachment 40097

Would it not be green this year ,or were you marking a queen from last year
John.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Would it not be green this year ,or were you marking a queen from last year
John.

A lot of us use just what’s handy. I mark swarm queens pink and my own green… both fluorescent. Queen colour matters only if you’re selling

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Would it not be green this year ,or were you marking a queen from last year
John.

she was a queen from a Demaree last year, also, as I use Demaree as my primary method of swarm avoidance, I get quite a few late season supersedures which I mark up in the following spring inspections

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Queen colour matters only if you’re selling

or you need reminding of the age of the queen in each hive

 

[The Poot]

Made some super frames but after eight frames I found the remaining Hoffman side bars were all identical, so correct spacing was knocked on the head. An email to Abelo was quickly followed up by a phone call from them with a promise to post corrections today.
Good service as always.

 

[JamezF]

You've lost me there. Surely Hoffman sidebars are all identical?

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You've lost me there. Surely Hoffman sidebars are all identical?

James

I'm assuming he means he was sent either all right hand or left hand sidebars. Not that it matters a jot, as I was given a load of chinese hoffman frames one, and they are made back to front so when mixed with UK frames I had flat against flat and pointed against pointed sidebars

 

[JamezF]

I'm assuming he means he was sent either all right hand or left hand sidebars.

Nah, I'm still lost. I didn't sleep well last night and it's been a busy day (already fallen asleep on the sofa once ) so perhaps I'm just not interpreting the words correctly, but I feel sure all Hoffman sidebars are identical (other than your Chinese example).

As it happens, I've also been making frames this week so I can get them off the shelves in the bee shed and into storage in the racks where they're not in the way so much. I also want to empty the bee shed so I can finish lining it and would rather take them off the shelves, make them up and store them rather than putting them back on the shelves afterwards and then taking them off again to make them and store them.

I've made lot of Hoffman frames over the last couple of days and I never stop to worry which sidebar goes where. They just all work, flat to bevel every time. In fact I'm sure they have to be the same, because if you took a frame out and rotated it 180° to put it back into a box, the side-bars will look exactly the same as they did the other way around.

I'm genuinely confused here

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Nah, I'm still lost.

Looking at poot’s picture both sides appear flat.

 

[The Poot]

Assembling the frames with the groove facing the correct way, the frames would have two flats on one side and two bevels on the other.

 

[JamezF]

Looking at poot’s picture both sides appear flat.

I think I can see a bevel there myself, though if they were flat I'd just use them anyway. I don't really understand why bevels are there in the first place. They don't seem to do anything useful.

However, a quick check in the workshop on the way to tuck the chickens in for the night reveals that if the slot for the foundation is facing me then the bevel is on the left (assuming the sidebar is the correct way up of course). The frame in the top right corner of Poot's photo appears to have a bevel, but it's on the right hand side (unless he's fitted the sidebar inside-out). So perhaps he meant that they were not all identical?

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Looking at poot’s picture both sides appear flat.

no, zoom in, there's a bevel on one side

Nah, I'm still lost.

If you put a pair of side bars for one frame down flat on the table with the groove for the foundation facing upwards, you will have one bevel facing to the right and the other facing to the left.
If you have two of either right hand or left hand sidebars and construct the frame with (if you put the finished article flat) one bevel facing up and the other facing down, you will find that one of the grooves is on the outside of the frame, if you, with the same two side bars) construct it with all the grooves facing inwards as they should then you will have both bevels facing the same way

 

[JamezF]

Assembling the frames with the groove facing the correct way, the frames would have two flats on one side and two bevels on the other.

Ah, yes. Sounds like you have some of Emyr's Chinese ones.

James

 

[JamezF]

If you put a pair of side bars for one frame down flat on the table with the groove for the foundation facing upwards, you will have one bevel facing to the right and the other facing to the left.

I'm sure that's incorrect, but I'd be fascinated to be shown to be wrong if you have time to post a photo at some point.

I buy my sidebars in fifties and never think to consider which side goes where. I just pick them up and stick them on and they "just work". If I've got it right every time over thousands of frames purely by chance I shall be buying a lottery ticket next week.

James

 

[The Poot]

no, zoom in, there's a bevel on one side

If you put a pair of side bars for one frame down flat on the table with the groove for the foundation facing upwards, you will have one bevel facing to the right and the other facing to the left.
If you have two of either right hand or left hand sidebars and construct the frame with (if you put the finished article flat) one bevel facing up and the other facing down, you will find that one of the grooves is on the outside of the frame, if you, with the same two side bars) construct it with all the grooves facing inwards as they should then you will have both bevels facing the same way

I'm sure that's incorrect, but I'd be fascinated to be shown to be wrong if you have time to post a photo at some point.

I buy my sidebars in fifties and never think to consider which side goes where. I just pick them up and stick them on and they "just work". If I've got it right every time over thousands of frames purely by chance I shall be buying a lottery ticket next week.

James

try it tomorrow James, then have a stiff drink and a lie down

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I buy my sidebars in fifties and never think to consider which side goes where. I just pick them up and stick them on and they "just work"

as long as you make sure that all the grooves face inwards, think about it