I had my Poly Nuc, and a fully Assembled Langstroth Hive arrive today. I just need some Bees!
The poly Nuc I assembled, the Langstroth boxes are made (I bought them assembled - yeh I cheated!), Lots of Frames and Wax to be put together.
I all I have to do now is get some bees - get them started and wait for my flow hives to arrive.
I’ve set the Nuc up as Lure presently - filled with wax frames and put some Lemon grass oil on the wooden Hive stand. I’m working away from home until 12th so could only pop in and set up the Poly Nuc - Quite easy, any stray bees make yourselves at home!!
It feels like Christmas with all my goodies arriving on the first day of Summer!
Yes it is on the Wonk! I only had 1 hr home from work - I’m living in presently - Sat under my Wisteria tree South facing! NUC with fresh frames in and Lemon grass sprinkled on the wooden frame - you never know I may just attract a swarm!
OK just that they are not the best put together frames when compared with the ones in the wooden Hive assembled frames.
They are with the Poly nuc so I put the good frames from the assembled kit in the Nuc - I have frames to build when I finish this shift - Friday week so I know what I’m doing that weekend.
All in all I bought 10 assembled Brood frames and 20 unassembled, 10 assembled Super frames and 10 unassembled, so that should keep me out of mischief for a bit.
Anyone have an idea where I can get my kit stamped with my initials - all the places I have contacted want £100’s for the branding irons? Anyone got a DIY fix I can use?
How do you produce cut comb with the wires embedded? do you cut so the wires end up on a cut line not in the middle of a piece? I would like to wire my frames but I was concerned about how to get the comb out easily
You cannot wire for cut comb as far as I’m aware - the way DextersShed does is “glue” the small strips of comb with melted wax and the bees do the rest.
I was considering doing fishing line and trying to pull it out - But not sure if it will work.
I cut the comb whole from the frame then just gently pull the wires out with needle nose plyers. I used to use my fingers but arthritis made me swich to the plyers. Mind you, the wax is still warm from being in the hive.
By the way Valli, that Christmas feeling never goes away when beekeeping supplies are delivered
OK, I have to go back to hammering my own frames together Break time is over.
Hey Valli, looking good. Are you planning to externally paint the poly Nuc? Will give you better weather resistance over time. I was put off these poly hives because of the plastic runners that the frames sit on have a channel that could harbour a lot of small hive beetles that the bees cannot access, but you don’t have beetles do you? So this is not an issue… You mentioned branding, unless you can borrow them from a club, they are very expensive to purchase for very little use. Another option is to paint the top of your frames different colours for different year dates, make up a colour code chart to represent the year and the hive it came from. That way you can dispose of the frame after 4/5 years and ensure they are not transferred between hives. Same for your super boxes. Is this what you needed to brand for?
Just way of ID @Rodderick. I will paint my kit but I’m living-in for a month presently, hence the dash home yesterday to open my “pressies”.
After the 12th I will have time for all my little jobs, building frames, painting, branding, and putting the hives level.
I did wonder if the club had kit to borrow, but that is more time consuming doing each letter individually. I don’t mind £20 for peace of mind but £400 and £600 plus was a joke.
I like the coding of frames idea I was just going to felt tip the bottoms or sides with dates. I suppose I could really lash out and buy £1 bottle of nail polish and do a different colour each year on a corner. Food for thought.
The poly Nuc was more an opportunistic thing - and £36 was way better than £119 for a wooden one. This little Hobby is costing me a small fortune - Don’t tell Hubby LOL But I figure if I’m going to do this I need to do it properly.
I’m regarding this as sort of retirement planning and to keep me out of mischief while doing my bit for the bees
Hey, I like your thinking. Any chance of getting hubby involved? Is he keen on the idea? Helps to justify the extra spending needed. And did you manage to view Martha Kearney’s BBC programs on bees? I found them to be quite addictive and have watched them several times even though my climate here is very different. My wife got me into bees as she helps the local council to host and split a dozen or so native stingless hives each year. I was frustrated that we couldn’t harvest the honey without destroying most of the hive. It helps to have two people on hand when inspecting and moving frames around, oh and she doesn’t mind the occasional extra spend.
Hubby is very “English” in his ways - takes time to woo him around. Was hoping to get Junior involved
he’s 22, thought he would enjoy the bees.
Hubby was not best impressed taking delivery of various parcels and several deliveries yesterday - he works from home mostly. He does like honey though on his croissants.
I look on my Bees as an investment in the future of world, so it’s a small price to pay to do my bit.
[quote=“Rodderick, post:18, topic:2250”]
Martha Kearney’s
[/quote] will watch them now
Break time is over.