Will someone tell the bees it's winter!

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Looked out of the kitchen window this morning and the sun was shining brightly on to the hives - on checking through the binoculars there were clouds of bee around all three - hive number one (the one that's hardly stirred for ages seemed to have loads of bees on their orientation flights, plenty of very light coloured pollen coming in the nearest match i can find is Christmas rose - but i don't know of any around here. here's some pics.

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Wow!

 

[susbees]

Come onnnnnn jbm, smarten up, you've a twist in your hive strap lad

 

[Red Bee]

What have you painted your floor and nuc with?

Nice activity by the way

 

[Vergilius]

There was a freezing cold wind here today... No bee in their right mind would be flying.

Ben P

 

[victor meldrew]

What have you painted your floor and nuc with?

Nice activity by the way

I like the Dartington floors
VM

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What have you painted your floor and nuc with?

Nice activity by the way

Three coats of Ronseal 5 year woodstain in golden cedar.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Come onnnnnn jbm, smarten up, you've a twist in your hive strap lad

It's a fashion statement - I've got one similar on the back of the hive as well!!

 

[oliver90owner]

Y'allways put a twist in a loading strap or they flap while travelling.

 

[Torq]

I like the Dartington floors
VM

I've never seen (or heard of) them before. So I googled and found this thread. I can see a few advantages, reduced draught and a built in landing board. Bigger entrance reducers and mouse guards needed but I think I might put a few together this spring.

 

[oliver90owner]

Mouseguards and entrance reducers are a block of wood.

 

[susbees]

Y'allways put a twist in a loading strap or they flap while travelling.

Expect he's glad they haven't travelled anywhere with the recent weather...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've never seen (or heard of) them before. So I googled and found this thread. I can see a few advantages, reduced draught and a built in landing board. Bigger entrance reducers and mouse guards needed but I think I might put a few together this spring.

You don't need a mouseguard - you just make the gap 9mm so it's too narrow for a mouse to squeeze in. the theory is, when defending against wasps there's two lines of defence - one on the landing board and the next line of guard bees standing above the entrance to get the wasps as they pop their heads up, but just in case I did put reducers in - a piece of wood 4x1 with a two inch notch in the middle slid in standing upright. this summer I had one nuc and one hive on a solid floor with conventional entrance, the two were constantly bothered by wasps - they never came near the Dartington
Try this link http://www.edinburghbeekeepers.org.uk/downloads/diy_open_mesh_floor-graham-white.pdf the only real mods I made was I use 4x2 planed for the two side rails and then one inch planed timber for the entrance top bottom and back

 

[BeeJayBee]

I like the look of those floors too. Would it be relatively easy to put one together?

I've had a quick look, but I can't find a drawing or design to fit a Langstroth.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I like the look of those floors too. Would it be relatively easy to put one together?

I've had a quick look, but I can't find a drawing or design to fit a Langstroth.

They're easy enough to make, use the same drawings as supplied on the thread in post #15 just change the lengths of the timber to match the Langstroth's footprint - the plans are for bottom beespace hives - if you have top beespace it's only a matter of tacking a lath all around the floor and you're done - a piece of standard doorstop timber would do the trick I should think.

 

[Apisboy]

Very nice to see such activity.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Try this link http://www.edinburghbeekeepers.org.uk/downloads/diy_open_mesh_floor-graham-white.pdf

Thanks for that. I've just shown my husband this and he's run away, head in hands....I wonder why?

 

[Tim1606]

You don't need a mouseguard - you just make the gap 9mm so it's too narrow for a mouse to squeeze in. the theory is, when defending against wasps there's two lines of defence - one on the landing board and the next line of guard bees standing above the entrance to get the wasps as they pop their heads up, but just in case I did put reducers in - a piece of wood 4x1 with a two inch notch in the middle slid in standing upright. this summer I had one nuc and one hive on a solid floor with conventional entrance, the two were constantly bothered by wasps - they never came near the Dartington
Try this link http://www.edinburghbeekeepers.org.uk/downloads/diy_open_mesh_floor-graham-white.pdf the only real mods I made was I use 4x2 planed for the two side rails and then one inch planed timber for the entrance top bottom and back

I have used these floors for about 18 months now and i love them.
No mouse guard needed, and i use a piece of foam to reduce the slot down to about an inch or so when wasps are a problem.

Finished making seven more last week, and in the middle of painting them now.

 

[oliver90owner]

I've used Dartington floors for about five years - they work very well on Dartington hives.

RAB

 

[Moggs]

Jumping back to the OP, it was a real pleasure to watch the garden bees all over our flowering cherry this morning. I couldn't bring myself to tell them that it's not spring yet. Bees everywhere, including some taking some unsavoury looking rainwater from the conservatory guttering. Bees know best!