Jon

new apiary

Rating: 17 votes, 5.00 average.
Set up a new apiary today near my parents house.

I moved 6 Paynes Polynucs I had overwintered to the site this morning and set them up about midday.

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I opened them and left them a few hours while I did some clipping and marking at my fathers apiary.

His log hive had swarmed on Thursday and the swarm had gone straight into an empty hive.
It had a beaut of a queen which I marked and clipped. It already had a couple of frames laid up with eggs.

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At about 4 o clock I went back to the new apiary site and transferred the bees to Swienty poly boxes.
Some of them had brood over the 6 frames and will need a second brood within a fortnight.

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Comments

  1. fatshark's Avatar
    Blimey Jon, you must be built like Charles Atlas moving those tyres every time
  2. gavin's Avatar
    I've seen him lance axles straight through those double-tyre hives, flip 'em over, and with one command get Luna the labrador to jump into a harness and pull him home on the impromptu chariot! Some guy that Jon.

    Looks like the ability to use cast-offs to fashion new styles of hive was inherited after all. I think I prefer da's Bucket Hive to Jon's correx ones.
    Updated 26-04-2015 at 07:48 AM by gavin
  3. Jon's Avatar
    Luckily there was a heap of types right beside the apiary.
    I'll probably replace them with a strategic brick the next time.
    The set up was relatively cheap.
    I made the floors from scrap wood and the roofs are correx.
    The crown boards are about £3 each from a sheet of B&Q plywood.
    The Swienty brood boxes are about £20 each from C Wynn Jones.
    These are the old style ones embossed with Murray's Denrosa logo.
    This is an apiary set up just for honey production and I will try not to tinker taking bees for filling apideas.
    It's 40 miles away from where I live so that should act as a deterrent.
    A couple of the nucs had brood over the 6 frames so a second brood box will be needed within a couple of weeks.
    The forage in the area looks pretty good so I would hope to get 2 or 3 supers of honey from these, weather permitting.
  4. mbc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon
    Luckily there was a heap of types right beside the apiary.
    I'll probably replace them with a strategic brick the next time.
    The set up was relatively cheap.
    I made the floors from scrap wood and the roofs are correx.
    The crown boards are about £3 each from a sheet of B&Q plywood.
    The Swienty brood boxes are about £20 each from C Wynn Jones.
    These are the old style ones embossed with Murray's Denrosa logo.
    This is an apiary set up just for honey production and I will try not to tinker taking bees for filling apideas.
    It's 40 miles away from where I live so that should act as a deterrent.
    A couple of the nucs had brood over the 6 frames so a second brood box will be needed within a couple of weeks.
    The forage in the area looks pretty good so I would hope to get 2 or 3 supers of honey from these, weather permitting.
    I'm liking the thriftyness, especially the cortex roofs, given of work Jon!
  5. Jon's Avatar
    The tyres might be heavy but at least the roof is light to lift off!
    Those correx roofs last for years. The plastic does not seem to degrade much or get brittle.
  6. busybeephilip's Avatar
    Looks like away out in the country, should make a great location with loads of space for all those mating nucs you have, and I like you hive stands !
  7. Jon's Avatar
    Not a great site for mating. Too many mongrel colonies in the area. I have another one sussed out in the fivemiletown mountains where a friend has 10 acres at 600 feet. That site is remote.
  8. busybeephilip's Avatar
    I'd say thats a bit far away for a strole on a bike. I've been getting my glass/wood single frame nuc boxes out of storage, and guess what - one has mouse damage where the wee critter tried to get in via the queen cell hole by chewing the wooden top
  9. Jon's Avatar
    My mate lives in the next street and he has work down there. He travels down nearly every week so I should be able to manage an isolated site. 1 hr 15 min. travel time.
  10. chris's Avatar
    love that log hive, wouldn't like to try and run it though,
  11. Jon's Avatar
    >wouldn't like to try and run it though
    He just lets it swarm!
  12. Neils's Avatar
    Good plan with the tyres, been some fly tipping nearby, might just grab a couple as quick and easy hive stands.