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  • Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #9607  by Little John
 16 Dec 2020, 20:34
Patrick wrote:
15 Dec 2020, 12:13
Very interesting LJ.

"sliding drawers" and working beehives sounds er, challenging. By the second season I wonder if anything still slid.
.
Indeed - if anyone's interested, they can see the complexity of John Weeks' Vermont Hive by downloading his 1841 Patent ( US2151 ). Although complex, it was an ingenious idea to have three honey-boxes attached to the brood chamber instead of just one - which was to play an important role in beekeeping history.
Because - Gilbert Doolittle's father kept 20 of them, and the significant increase in honey harvest when compared with their neighbours was to make an indelible impression upon the young Doolittle - such that he became fascinated with beekeeping, and walked away from the family farm as soon as he was old enough in order to become a full-time beekeeper. He then set about designing a framed beehive to emulate his father's Vermont Hives, that is - to create a hive which would support side-storage as well as top-storage of surplus honey. Which is why - after comparative testing - he chose the Gallup frame rather than the Langstroth-dimensioned frame.

Interestingly, Bastion chose exactly the same sized frame (pages 165-168) - only without a bottom-bar, to create what he called an 'Open-Frame' Hive. Unfortunately he complicated (imo) an otherwise simple and straightforward design by securing the frame side-bar bottoms with metal latches made from panel pins - which are totally unnecessary (again, imo).
LJ
 #9645  by Steve 1972
 23 Dec 2020, 18:52
The weather has been vile today so i decided to have a go at what i have been wanting to do for a while now..
And this is it..make my own super foundation..
It was a bit of a trail and error to start with and i buggered the first twenty plus up which had to be remelted but after a quick think and a bit of problem solving i got my head around it..the paddle template had to be mad a tad bigger as the wax sheets seem to shrink a little when cooling...once made the sheets are fairly brittle but a quick go over each side on the work top with a rolling pin gives them a rubber effect..i did try and emboss them between two sheets of plastic foundation but it did not work..if i make them thinner it might..?..
Anyway i am happy with the finished product i will just have to wait and see if the bees are.. :roll:

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 #9650  by Patrick
 24 Dec 2020, 14:48
Very true Adam - I have never been forgiven for the kitchen wooden spoon incident. Obviously, it was the “favourite” wooden spoon.

Until that moment that there ever could be such a thing as a “favourite” wooden spoon had passed me by. My polite explaining my doubting the fact did not help. Not one teensy bit. In fact, you could say it made it quite a lot worse.. 🙄
 #9659  by Chrisbarlow
 25 Dec 2020, 09:08
Patrick wrote:
24 Dec 2020, 14:48
Very true Adam - I have never been forgiven for the kitchen wooden spoon incident. Obviously, it was the “favourite” wooden spoon.

Until that moment that there ever could be such a thing as a “favourite” wooden spoon had passed me by. My polite explaining my doubting the fact did not help. Not one teensy bit. In fact, you could say it made it quite a lot worse.. 🙄
A comment I can relate to 😂🤣😆👍🏻
 #9702  by Steve 1972
 01 Jan 2021, 20:25
It has been cold and miserable for a good while now so i have started to do what i wanted to do earlier last year..
And that is make rows of hive stands from scaffolding..this is the first of three i will be doing over the next couple of weeks..each one will take four hives being 12ft long and take 2ton in weight easily ...the legs can easily be adjusted for leveling when the odd mole or vole decides to make a home under the pad stones and they will definitely not rot..
The only down side was my wooden hive stands have a built in landing board so i had to make some removable ones that can easily be swapped about on my wooden floors if need be..the new landing boards are made from For Sale signs as are my inspection boards as they also will not rot..
All the building and moving of the hives was done without my bee suit UNTIL i got the third one on the new stand when a couple of die hard guard bees decided enough was enough and flew out on the attack..i did a runner and with it being 1C i was quickly left alone without a sting..i need to do a couple of tweaks regarding strapping the colonies to the stands but that will not take long.
Here is a front and back picture of my bomb proof hive stand.. :)


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