After my knee op I’ve now had a chance after 9 weeks to check my hives. I had one Langstroth frame in my Flow for a particular reason, but I pulled it out today. I knew straight away it was bloody heavy and I’m surprised they didnt build some bridging comb but, they didn’t. Weighed up at over 5kg. Holding it up by one arm tested my depleted stamina. On another subject I’ve noticed the girls are building bridging comb between frames when I have 9 frames in a 10 frame box. The comb is solid and tough to break apart. I do use a 9 frame spacer.
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Wow, that IS a nice frame Alan, what caused the bands? I got a few frames like that yesterday from my hives at Kuluin. I figured that you might be busy with your bees. I get a little bit of bridging comb on the top, but that’s it. I have had some bees build comb across the frames at the bottom. As it turned out the supers were a bit deeper than normal, which created a larger gap above the QE, which caused the bees to build comb in the gap. Consequently the bees continued building that comb between the frames. Removing those supers did the trick. To save me shaving the extra wood off, I decided to use those boxes for 10 fr nuc boxes.
Hi Jeff. The dark bands were shadows from my blinds. Just keeping it in the sun to keep it warmish before I uncap it. I’m trying to catch up now, as it’s been a good few weeks for the bees. But I’ve also found the hives that I’ve bought in a hurry,(from online stores at a discount) are rotting. And in fact one has actually rotted a big hole in the brood box. I paint my hives with 3 coats, especially on the end grain to try to ‘stop the rot’. I hope I can find a picture of it. I now buy my sheet panels from the Bunker. Much better quality and price than the usual Bummings rubbish. The brood box is the bought one, the super is my own build. Ok. Rant over
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The bloke at the bunker bought a colony from me. From memory it was his wife that wanted to keep bees.
I got a LOT of hoop pine from free furniture, such as tv cabinets etc. I found it on marketplace in the free furniture section. People find it hard to get rid of on account of the size & weight, plus life line wont pick it up. I sand it all back to bare wood, so that I can treat it with copper naphthenate. Then I give the boxes etc 3 coats of paint. The thin back panels work well on lids & bottom boards. Not all of these boxes are made from hoop pine furniture, however you get the idea.
On 2 of those boxes I got too engrossed in what I was doing & cut the end panels across the grain, which is why I screwed those strips across to hold them together in case they split down the grain. They are a constant reminder of a silly mistake I made.
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Oh it’s lovely to see it peel off like that!
I remember you telling about the freebies. For me it’s an ever changing ‘learning by mistakes’ thing. But I have a semi retired, fellow surfing, carpenter mate who is always keen to help me out with his skills. Very grateful for that.
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I have to apologize for Wilma’s typo. That frame is just under 4 kilos, not 5. I had a few like that, however in getting thick frames like that, we have to be aware of the skinny frames adjacent to them.
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I’ve come across that issue in the Langstoths. In this case I had one langstroth frame next to the side of the box and on the other side was a Flow frame. So that surprised me there was no bridging comb. Very yummy honey too.
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Well done Alan. I often thought of evenly spacing 8 frames in a 10 frame super, just to get some fat frames, but it’s probably not worth the risk of bridging comb, plus they get very heavy.
That bloke at Yandina still promotes ideals & half depth supers for old blokes. I found a simple solution, don’t try to lift a box full of full depth frames full of honey. Then the frames can be used for brood or honey. I talked one of his customers into joining 2 half depth supers into one. He bought a colony from me. You can buy side bars separate, which means you can simply change the side bars.
I agree Jeff. I used to try to lift full 10 frame boxes. But a hernia operation was a result, I think that was the cause anyway. But if I need to go into the brood box, I’ll now make sure the frames aren’t full. I need to ask your opinions on a few things, so is the best time to ring late arvo’s?
Hi Al, any time except for late this arvo. I’ve got a bloke with a Flow hive picking up a colony.
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A thing of beauty! Gotta love it!
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