What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Very

Made up 2 more nucs ready to follow Mike Palmer’s double nuc management regime this year.

Very nice. Looks like you have a drainage angle at the bottom of the ends and a rebate at the top to make space for the lugs.

I wish I could source planks here but an excellent timber merchant has closed down. I think the business got too old.

 

[madasafish]

AT the design stage of utilising my Nicot system to 10mm cup sizes as per the Apiarist as an experiment.
https://theapiarist.org/bigger-queens-better-queens-part-1/

 

[drex]

Have taken over as apiary manager in my new home division in Devon.
There was a tatty looking WBC which was to be chucked. However it is still perfectly sound so have taken it home and am painting it up. Undercoat on today and looking good.
Hate working WBC's but think it will be a good advert at the apiary. Will likely put bees in it later

 

[Swarm]

Got the last of my wax done so all ready to trade in.

 

[Steve7962]

You will like the double nuc / resource hive setup. I typically drop 2 swarms in them and let them build up to 4 over 4 then a Queen excluder and super them in common. I have had them draw and fill 3-4 supers.

I was going to trial exactly this later this spring, I was going to use a segregated brood box with nucs above.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Very


Very nice. Looks like you have a drainage angle at the bottom of the ends and a rebate at the top to make space for the lugs.

I wish I could source planks here but an excellent timber merchant has closed down. I think the business got too old.

They are basically a copy of a national brood box but with an overall width of 230mm which allows 2 under a standard roof.
I’m lucky that I have a local timber mill who cuts cedar to any size I want. ( I might have to wait a couple of months tho) I have to season it then run it through the thicknesser and table saw to get the size I want.
It takes time but I’ve normally got enough timber in stock to make a few floors, roofs and boxes if I need them.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I’ve always been disappointed that the Instantvap doesn’t come with a carrying case so I made one up today.
I’ve lined one side with insulation to keep the InstantVap as warm as possible between apiaries to hopefully save some battery power.

 

[JamezF]

I’ve always been disappointed that the Instantvap doesn’t come with a carrying case so I made one up today.

That looks very like a case that Maplin used to sell and was regularly on offer. I have a few of them for my telescope eyepieces and so on. Once I get my own InstantVap I might well do something similar to keep OA etc. altogether.

Are you using Einhell batteries?

James

 

[Ely]

I assembled my first langstroth frame today. I was surprised there were no grooves on the side bars for the foundation to sit in.

 

[JamezF]

My understanding is that it's pretty much only the UK that does pre-wired foundation. If you're wiring the frames yourself and melting it into the foundation then slots in the sidebars might well be a nuisance and are probably unnecessary, too.

James

 

[JamezF]

I've been fiddling about over the last couple of days to make a new toy to check that my table saw blade and fence are aligned to the T-slots:

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

That looks very like a case that Maplin used to sell and was regularly on offer. I have a few of them for my telescope eyepieces and so on. Once I get my own InstantVap I might well do something similar to keep OA etc. altogether.

Are you using Einhell batteries?

James

Yes I bought a small battery mower and strimmer for doing the small lawns I have so opted for Einhell. Bought a couple of 6ah copies from eBay which seem to be ok.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I was surprised there were no grooves on the side bars for the foundation to sit in.

As James says - we are the only people in the world that use (expensive) pre-wired foundation. the rest of the world wire their frames and then embed foundation on to it - grooves aren't needed as the foundation doesn't even need to reach the sides

 

[JamezF]

Yes I bought a small battery mower and strimmer for doing the small lawns I have so opted for Einhell. Bought a couple of 6ah copies from eBay which seem to be ok.

I bought the Einhell cordless hedgetrimmer, which can't really compete with a dino-juice version, but it is at least light enough that my almost 90 year old father-in-law can still use it. Whether it's a good idea to let him loose with any kind of power tool is of course a completely different question. I've been pondering on a mower and strimmer too.

James

 

[Ely]

I've just attached my wired foundation to the top bar. It seems OK. I can see I'll need to be extra careful to keep the foundation straight so that it doesn't bow in the frame. Hopefully it will be fine.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I've just attached my wired foundation to the top bar. It seems OK. I can see I'll need to be extra careful to keep the foundation straight so that it doesn't bow in the frame. Hopefully it will be fine.

Admittedly these guys in videos like this use plastic foundation. (Jump to 10.00)

I remember Murray MacGregor on here posting about this and that while wiring frames; everyone else was watching the football. That's mad: wiring frames by hand for 4,500 hives! I've seen him demonstrate this. After pulling the wires through and clamping then ends, he sits the wax on the wires and puts a current briefly through them from a car battery. The foundation is as tight as a drum.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I’ve always been disappointed that the Instantvap doesn’t come with a carrying case so I made one up today.
I’ve lined one side with insulation to keep the InstantVap as warm as possible between apiaries to hopefully save some battery power.

I like that your box has space for the whole kit. I use an ammo box, as I do for the smoker. A perfect fit - but without space for the bits and batts. I splashed out an extra fiver and got a new one for the InstantVap, not like the old dented ones which seem right for a smoker.

Whether a smoker or InstantVap, it's good to have something to hold a hot piece of kit where it can't do any damage.

 

[Aneebe]

Admittedly these guys in videos like this use plastic foundation. (Jump to 10.00)

I remember Murray MacGregor on here posting about this and that while wiring frames; everyone else was watching the football. That's mad: wiring frames by hand for 4,500 hives! I've seen him demonstrate this. After pulling the wires through and clamping then ends, he sits the wax on the wires and puts a current briefly through them from a car battery. The foundation is as tight as a drum.

Would anyone know if this is the method used in Norway? I've "cousins of cousins" there who bee farm along with raspberry growing - they posted instagram footage of frames being made up with wires and seemingly a battery being used. I couldn't at the time work out what the method was!

 

[Antipodes]

Admittedly these guys in videos like this use plastic foundation. (Jump to 10.00)

I remember Murray MacGregor on here posting about this and that while wiring frames; everyone else was watching the football. That's mad: wiring frames by hand for 4,500 hives! I've seen him demonstrate this. After pulling the wires through and clamping then ends, he sits the wax on the wires and puts a current briefly through them from a car battery. The foundation is as tight as a drum.

I've done thousands of frames like that.
I'm much quicker than the bloke in the video you posted too . We don't use pre wired foundation or anything like that. The end bars are pre drilled though. A bit more like this.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Brilliant video.

Nationals, long lugs on frames... I think we could do things differently and much better.