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| The stand with cedar ramp... |
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| ...and Varroa mesh base... |
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| ...then brood box... |
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| ...queen excluder on top of that... |
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| ...then a super... |
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| ...or two supers with the crown board above... |
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| ...and then the lid with metal top. |
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Tadaa!
Finally, after much banging of thumbs and cutting of skin, I've completed my first hive. Not perfect by any means, it's a start.
I'll probably bolt the stand to a suitably sized slab for stability. Most of the brood and super frames have been made up - then I'll just need some bees!
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That looks like a great hive, Chris. Howsabout you get your wife to stand next to it naked?
ReplyDeleteOnly Joking! I would love to keep bees, but all the fishing and shooting I do sort of rules it out. I bought some beeswax recently to make candles, and - would you believe it - it attracted bees through the window, but luckiiy not a swarm with queen.
I have already asked her but she surprisingly declined. Possibly only due to her aversion to bees.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick post to say, thank you for standing up for the fox.
ReplyDeleteI whole heartedly agree with you on the topic of the fox having had his natural habitat taken from him by man.
I would have posted on John's blog but do not want to be chastised by the fox hating populate.
Of course I hate the thought of the poor chickens being taken, I love all animals large and small but to condemn the fox outright is short sighted.
Have passed your site on to my son who is at present thinking of keeping bees.
Briony
Hi Briony
ReplyDeleteI agree, if you keep chickens you're going to have fox problems, just as rats and mice populate all allotments.
I sympathise with John as he's obviously a caring guy looking after his chickens in the best way but free range hens are an easy target and Mr Fox will kill everything in sight once he's in.
I'll be posting some plans for the national hive soon in case your lad wants to have a crack at making his own.
Hi Chris, read the interplay between you and John and it reminds me of what the government here in Nova Scotia has decided to do with the coyote population. They have put a bounty on their pelts and this of course has led to a much larger 'kill' of this species. Much the same as with the fox I guess. But I do not agree that killing/hunting/trapping the coyote is a solution to the perceived problem.......that is that they are moving closer to human populated areas. We have infringed on their domain and are suffering the short term consequences.
ReplyDeleteEducation is the answer I feel as far as keeping safe....for both us and the chickens.
There's a stretch of busy road near where I live that has a dead fox on it every other night. It's a wonder there's any left to prey on poultry.
ReplyDeleteGlad we don't have coyotes prowling about here. It's the people you have to watch out for hehe...
Hi Chris a great start indeed! I am looking forward to more bee adventures.
ReplyDeleteMy plan at the end of the Summer here is to move a huge hive out of an old Victorian house on my property to some hive boxes.
We will see how that goes!
Enjoy the good life.
~crow
Hi Crow
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing about that...
Chris.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteSeriously, are you really afraid of bees or are you being humorous?
You made me LOL with your comment about the waitress (over on John's blog)!
meggs.
Hi Meggs
ReplyDeleteI've not got too much fear of bees but presented with 50,000 of the little blighters all flying at your face is prone to freak some folks out a bit.
Just something I'm gonna have to get over I think.
Watches a Hornet loitering around my incinerator bin yesterday which was the size of a small bird - now that's scary...
Wow Chris - that looks really impressive
ReplyDeleteOh, I would so liked to have kept bees. I should have started when I was younger. Defeatist maybe, but I now do so many other things that I have to leave honey making to others.
ReplyDeleteIt's never too late for anything Cro, but I'm with you on the time thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've got plenty of flowers about though to help the little blighters forage.
My life has never been fuller and time so scarce since getting my little plot of land.
Love your bee-blog! I can't wait to follow your experience. We took a class this spring and were planning on purchasing bees, but decided to wait until next year. ...I like your "stings to date" counter-ha!
ReplyDeleteLooks great. I would love to keep bees. Still musing about whether it is compatible with my marriage, bearing in mind my husband's allergy to bee stings. ....
ReplyDeleteHey Chris...it's Sophie's Dad Ron with the coveralls/dungees/overalls....anyway...that beehive is mighty cool. I've never seen the construction of one before!
ReplyDeleteHi Ron and welcome.
ReplyDeleteThere's a load of new content about to hit this site so keep watching...
Just had to remove the chisel from my hand and the saw blade from my hip before continuing...
PS Sophie is a lovely pooch
This site is wonderful....thank you for all of the great tips and photos. I am forwarding your site to my hubby who is looking into raising bees here. Thanks!!
ReplyDelete