Beehive for a birthday - advice please!

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Beehive for a birthday - advice please!
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chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun May 11, 08 12:36 pm Post subject:

spicycauldron wrote:

He couldn't do the beginner's course Airedale offered because frankly it wasn't held at a particularly clever time - a weeknight, quite early, and quite useless for those who don't live locally and have to travel to get there from workplaces in the city. It would have been fine if he worked 9 to 5 locally but how many people do these days?

Probably didn't want to do it too late in the evening, because of chilling the bees? Buy yes, I agree, not good unless you are a 9-5 person.

I am a WBC fan. We live quite high up and I think it gives them more protection. And, of course, they look pretty

.

Are you a wood-working type person or do you know someone who is? I've got some WBC plans I could email you if you'd like them.

Instead of the Hoffman frames Jo mentions, I use castellated spacers each side of the brood box or super to maintain the 'bee space' - then you can use bog-standard frames.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sun May 11, 08 6:24 pm Post subject:

WBC hives are awkward to work & expensive.
National hives are cheaper & more readily available second hand.
One year when we had a good honey flow I opened a WBC to find comb between the brood & lifts.
Nightmare! Stings, bees everywhere & lots of mess.
Sold them soon afterwards & went to nationals.
In the UK the extra insulation they supposedly give isn't necessary.
All of mine are on mesh floors which I leave open all year.
Cold doesn't kill bees, damp does.
A well made national with a good deep roof will give years of service & pay for itself many times over.
If your buying second hand I wouldn't bother buying one already with frames & wax.
Buy new frames & foundation.
Diseases & pests are easily spread in old combs & frames & can't be cleaned as easily as the boxes.
Good luck whichever route you go down.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Sun May 11, 08 6:47 pm Post subject:

spicycauldron wrote:

....From what I read, they take National Supers anyway.

No they don't - they take the same frames not the supers - A WBC super takes 10 frames whereas a National super takes 11 frames

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun May 11, 08 7:40 pm Post subject:

TAVASCAROW wrote:

WBC hives are awkward to work

I don't find them so!

spicycauldron

Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 418
Location: North Yorkshire

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 6:33 am Post subject:

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's clear there's controversy over hive choices that won't ever be resolved because personal choice is what it is, and not likely to change unless someone has a bad experience or simply fancies trying something different.

I don't think we're ready to try building a hive, although we're not the strangers to woodwork we were just a few years ago and of course you need to be reasonably adept with woodworking tools not only with beekeeping but general garden space maintenance when growing your own food, building compost areas, etc.

It's not the cold that's an issue here in winter, all the UK gets cold, but the temperature feels a lot colder in winter because we live somewhere that gets very, very windy. So windy things get blown over, so whatever hive is decided upon we're going to have to take every possible measure to ensure it stays put in howling gales.

spicycauldron

Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 418
Location: North Yorkshire

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 6:38 am Post subject:

And I'm telling friends and family to buy my partner gift vouchers from thorne.co.uk, as that seems the most sensible way forward, allowing him to make his own choices. Although he mentioned needing hive tools to me yesterday and I couldn't tell him he's got some already lined up as a prezzie from Jo's family, engraved no less, which is a lovely idea!

The thing is, I can't afford to buy a hive on disability benefits (partner works) but I'd really like to buy him something as opposed to a voucher - which is great from friends and family, not so great from your partner. He already has some excellent beekeeping books, the Bibles of the subject, so I'm stuck on ideas on bee-related paraphenalia that... might not be essential, but would be cool as birthday presents AND help him out in his first year as a beekeeper.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 7:16 am Post subject:

Posh leather gloves? I use marigolds a lot of the time, but I've also got a pair of proper gauntlet things that come almost up to my elbows - I used them at the weekend and afterwards realised that I hadn't spent all the time I was in the hive tugging at my cuffs.

And does he wear wellies, or boots? If the latter, you can get gaiter-thingies to stop the ladies crawling up your trousers - a comedy experience, but not one I would like to repeat

.

And what about a frame rest?

I think vouchers are a great idea - but I know what you mean about wanting to give something personal yourself.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 7:20 am Post subject:
Has he got a smoker?

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 7:53 am Post subject:
We've got WBCs and Nationals, prefer WBCs. Horses for courses.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 8:39 am Post subject:

woodsprite wrote:

We've got WBCs and Nationals, prefer WBCs. Horses for courses.

It's definitely a personal preference thing

spicycauldron

Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 418
Location: North Yorkshire

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 9:15 am Post subject:
Smoker, no... Good idea... Also good idea about the frame rest... Thanks! As for wellies, yes, he has those - needed round here when it's the Winter Monsoon season! - and he also has some of those ridiculous but practical things you put on the bottom of your trouser legs, what are they called... galoshes?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 10:44 am Post subject:

spicycauldron wrote:

and he also has some of those ridiculous but practical things you put on the bottom of your trouser legs, what are they called... galoshes?

Elastic bands?

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 10:47 am Post subject:

Chez wrote:

.

And what about a frame rest?

I think vouchers are a great idea - but I know what you mean about wanting to give something personal yourself.

We've been advised not to wear any gloves at all

Or if you must, thin latex to keep the propolis off.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 11:08 am Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

We've been advised not to wear any gloves at all

Or if you must, thin latex to keep the propolis off.

My Ma never used to, apparently - she used to roll her sleeves all the way up above her elbows and just wrap a bit of veil around her hat

.

She says she reckons her smell must have changed a bit after she had her babies though, because she started getting stung more ...

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon May 12, 08 11:19 am Post subject:

I use thin gloves and tape up the wrists to stop them from crawling up my sleeves - Our course recommends that rather than bare hands just simply from a hygiene point of view and also that propolis can cause skin irritation

So he will be learning to handle bee's with thin gloves not gauntlets because they are harder to clean the propolis off and also if they sting the leather - it can get impregnated with the sting pheromone that

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