Lighter Equipment Lighter Equipment & Top Entrances Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush.
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Transcript of Lighter Equipment Lighter Equipment & Top Entrances Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush.
Lighter Equipment
Lighter Equipment &
Top Entrances
Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush
Lighter Boxes
"Friends don't let friends lift deeps" Jim Fischer of Fischer's BeeQuick
Lighter Boxes
Ten Frame boxes: Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 90 - 100 lbs
Brood & Extracting Medium, Illinois , ¾, Western 6 5/8" 60 - 70
lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 50 - 60 lbs Comb &
Extracting
Lighter Boxes
Eight Frame boxes: Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 65 - 70 lbs
Brood & Extracting Medium, Illinois, ¾, Western 6 5/8" 45 - 50
lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 40 - 45 lbs Comb
and Extracting
Gravity increasing?
I'm wondering how many aging beekeepers have been forced to give up bees because they hurt themselves lifting deeps and it hasn't occurred to them there are other choices?
Richard Taylor said:
"...no man's back is unbreakable and even beekeepers grow older. When full, a mere shallow super is heavy, weighing forty pounds or more. Deep supers, when filled, are ponderous beyond practical limit."
All one size frame
All one size frame
The frame is the basic element of a modern bee hive. Even if you have various sized boxes (as far as the number of frames they hold) if the frames are all the same depth you can put them in any of your boxes.
Advantages to all one size
You can: Put brood up a box to "bait" the bees up. Put honey combs in for food wherever you
need it. Unclog a brood nest by moving pollen or
honey up a box or even a few frames of brood up a box to make room in the brood nest to prevent swarming.
Run an unlimited brood nest with no excluder and if there is brood anywhere you can move it anywhere else.
Cutting down to mediums
I cut all my boxes and frames down to mediums.
The boxes, are easy. Just cut 3” off the bottom of a deep or add 11/16” to a shallow.
Cutting down frames to mediums
Set a table saw fence to 6 ¼”. Run the frames through the table saw to cut
off the bottom. Set a table saw fence to 3/8”. Run the ends of the bottom through and cut
off the end bars. Put the resultant bottom bar between the two
end bars and nail.
Cutting down frames to mediums
Eight or ten frame?
Eight Ten Eight
Transition from ten to eight
When you have a mixture of sizes
Cutting down ten frames to eight
Marking
Cutting down to eight frames
Cutting off the side
Cutting down to eight frames
Knocking the scraps off the side
Cutting down to eight frames
Pulling all the nails out of the sides
Cutting down to eight frames
Cutting the sides to fit
Cutting down to eight frames
Finishing with a hand saw
Cutting down to eight frames
Side reinstalled on the box
Cutting down a bottom board
Getting the screen out of the way
Cutting down a bottom board
Measure and mark
Cutting down a bottom board
Cleaning up the side
Cutting down a bottom board
Putting the side back on
Cutting down a bottom board
Back together
Top Entrances
Advantages to only a top entrance
Tall grass doesn’t block access Deep snow doesn’t block access Dead bees don't block the entrance in winter No need for mouse guards No skunks or opossums eating the bees Combine with a SBB for excellent ventilation Migratory covers are simpler and cheaper Hive can be 8 inches lower for less lifting When supering horizontal hives, bees have to go
through the super Less condensation in the winter Sundance II pollen traps easy adjustment
Easy top entrance
You can just add shims under your inner cover or a migratory cover
Making a top entrance cover
Shingle shims on a simple plywood square
Making a top entrance cover
Nailing and gluing the shims
Making a top entrance cover
Finished top, upside down
Cover (with wire clip)
Making a top entrance cover
Finished top in place
Top entrance in use
Bees at top entrance
Caveats
Remember, if you have no bottom entrance and you use an excluder you will need some kind of drone escape on the bottom for them to get out. A 3/8" hole will do.
Bottom Feeders
Classic Jay Smith bottom feeder Made from a
standard solid bottom so no extra equipment to buy
Can double as a cover and top entrance for the hive below
Modified Bottom Feeder
Screened fill area No bottom entrance
(less robbing issues) Provides reduced
entrance below for a top entrance on stacked nucs or hives
Allows feeding stacked hives without unstacking
Top View
Bottom view
With Hive
Apartment Nucs
Fill covers in place
www.bushfarms.com
More information concerning top entrances, lighter equipment, natural cell size and varroa, horizontal hives, queen rearing, general beekeeping, observation hives and many other topics.
Many classic queen rearing books. Huber’s New Observations on the Natural
History of Bees
Picture from Jay Smith’s Better Queens
Contact
bees at bushfarms dot com www.bushfarms.com Book: The Practical Beekeeper