I was just reading an older thread about buying equipment for new beekeepers and I started to review things I have paid for but ended up not using. Here is my short list, what is yours ?
Bee brush, brand new and sitting on a stump in my yard, I never pick it up
Frame grip, got it, used it once. It is laying with the bee brush.
Queen excluders, I have two brand new, never been out of the shed. I have no plans on using them.
Foundation, I paid for 80 sheets pierco foundation and then decided to go foundationless, ended up selling it to a club member for a big discount.
keep the 1st 3, they do come in handy from time to time.
i got some things with wire cones on them. something about keeping hives from swarming by keeping the queen in? looked like drone clogs to me!
extra helmets and veils.
odd size and odd bits of wooden ware.
other bits and pieces that i have not identified. all from bulk buys.
Queen excluders, Hive top feeders
Bee brush, smoker fuel, a container of Fumadin B, 3 queen excluders, four wooden hivetop feeders, about 15 plastic hivetop feeders, metal frame spacers, electric capping knife, and three insulated hive wraps. Probably have more but this is all I can think of now.
boardman feeders and queen excluders never used either one but I have them if ever needed
Quote from: kathyp on July 02, 2009, 12:16:31 PM
keep the 1st 3, they do come in handy from time to time.
i got some things with wire cones on them. something about keeping hives from swarming by keeping the queen in? looked like drone clogs to me!
extra helmets and veils.
odd size and odd bits of wooden ware.
other bits and pieces that i have not identified. all from bulk buys.
Yea this is a drone trap. They used to use these years ago to get rid of drones so they weren't a "drain" on the colony. Boy how things have changed! :-D
frame eyelets, eyelet tool, clip queen catcher
Funny how different we all are;
Eyelets and a small star bit screwdriver adapted as the eyelet tool . . . use them to rewire the 12 or so frames I cut comb honey from each year
Hive top feeders . . . hope to not have to feed, but when I do, that is my feeder
Queen excluders . . . . one for each hive and would not be without them. It is so nice to have white honey comb, and to know where the queen is not.
Bee Brush . . . now and then I need to pull a frame or two of perfect, capped honey to sell as is, or to cut for wide mouth jars.
Frame grabber . . . thinking about using it to turn brats on the grill. Don't use it for anything else.
Electric capping knife . . . . love mine but then can't justify an uncapping machine.
2 solid bottem boards . . . . priceless errrrrrrrr usless
Frame grip, bee brush, box of unopened apiguard.
...JP
About 10 hive top feeders, would say bee brush but found a use after carrying it around for years.... boxing swarms from side of a building.
In my case everything i have i've used with decent results but the biggest blunder i made was buying a beesuit and gloves. Way too hot way to restrictive and end up making the girls madder suited up then with nothing. So i'm gonna say my most worthless junk has to be my bee suit. Just from my persective though i know alot of you guys love them and use them all the time just not my thing.
frame grip, should use it, used once or twice, worked ok but then so do my hands, boardman feeders, came with kit, don't use them, queen excluder, sittin in the corner, not going to use them , don't want to. frame holder should use it, don't seem to remeber to carry it out.
Frame grip, never
Smoker, rarely
Pollen patties, never
Gloves, never
Mite trap, never (yet)
Different strokes for different folks seems to be the statement of the day here. One example is opinions on the frame pullers. I bought a new one from Mann Lake and two second hand ones off a guy a few years ago. I love mine and just like hive tools I can never seem to find my good one when I'm looking for one. If anyone here who doesn't use theirs anymore wants to get rid of it please shoot me a PM and let me know how much you want for it and what brand it is. Maybe we can work something out ? Thanks,
Queen excluder
smoker fuel ( I now use burlap and love it)
Rite Cell plastic foundation that came with the kits (I did recently saw it up for starter strips, however, and it works great for that)
Inner Covers
My two frame hand crank extractor and hot knife for removing the capping. Now I do only crush and strain. My 2 Queen excluders, my followers boards (although I may give them another try)
I keep everything just in case things change in the future.
One gallon bucket feeders with the screens. The plastic heaves too much from changing temperatures and makes them leak. Now I use the bucket for a place to put my hive tools.
Poultry waterer. Too many drowning victims.
I like the one gallon paint cans. That one came from Brian Bray. Even the cans don't get used very often.
I seem to be the only one who uses everything I bought. Maybe its because I didn't go overboard buying stuff, but still it seems like alot of people find at least some of their tools useless.
I bought a toolbox with a few hive tools and I use all of them, I never bought chemicals or food.
Greg, I do love my frame grips, the yellow one with the prybar on the end is my favorite.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Pry-and-Grip-Tool/productinfo/217/
The only thing from the original kit that I do not use on a regular basis is the hive tool. I bought a maxant hive tool that I like better. The old one is secondary and disappears alot. No excluder came with the kit, styrene hive top feeder is used if feeding is needed, the foundation was cut into starter strips and screened bottom board is still in use as well as the mite drop board.
Quote from: Natalie on July 04, 2009, 12:27:39 PM
Greg, I do love my frame grips, the yellow one with the prybar on the end is my favorite.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Pry-and-Grip-Tool/productinfo/217/
I'll be putting that on my list for the free shipping sale in December. :-D
queen excluder (never used), solid bottom board (switched to screened) and 10 super Plasticell frames (I do crush and strain).
I like my frame grip since I wear gloves and I use my bee brush to move the girls out of the way so I don't crush too many.
Naproxen (Aleve).
I had a serious level of arthritis in my right shoulder but since receiving multiple stings earlier this year the pain and discomfort have largely gone. It returns for a while if I'm using the arm too much but isn't there all the time. It's hard to describe how debilitating the constant pain used to be. I don't miss it.
SH
Here's pretty much everything I DO use.
I have a Merril toolbox from Brushy Mt that makes a nice toolbox and stool.
I have several of the "Bee Breifs" which make a nice carrier for queen cells, small nucs etc from one place to another and even a nice toolbox for those things I usually leave in the minivan.
I have an Italian hive tool. I got rid of the rest.
I have an Ultra Breeze jacket that I wear most of the time to do bee work and a Golden Bee Products suit I wear on the really hot days with just shorts. The Ultra Breeze suit works as well (and I have one now) but I'm saving it for when the Golden Bee Products one wears out. :)
I have several hair clip queen catchers.
I have a queen muff (from Brushy Mountain).
I have a marking tube and tester's enamal pens to mark queens.
I have regular leather gloves that I tuck into the sleeves of the jacket.
I have a few bee brushes.
I have a bottle of Lemongrass essential oil for swarm lure.
I have a bunch of medium depth two frame nucs for mating nucs and a lot of five frame ones as well.
I have a bunch of hives made up of a solid bottom board converted to a bottom feeder.
A bunch of flat covers with shims to make the top entrance.
A bunch of eight frame medium boxes for my hives.
I have a lot of Mann Lake PF120 frames.
I have a lot of PermaComb frames.
I have a lot of Honey Super Cell cut down to mediums.
I have a lot of Walter T. Kelley frames with bevels cut into the top bars for foundationless.
I have a lot of custom made 1 1/4" wide foundationless frames from Dave W. (from another forum).
I have several smokers, and several of those are Rauchboys.
I have a 9/18 extractor from Mann Lake and an ucapping station (the size of a ten frame box with an excluder underneath and a honey gate on the bottom section.
I have an electric uncapping knife.
I have a Hackler honey punch for the low capped HSC and PermaComb.
I have a bunch of double bucket strainers and five gallon buckets with and without honey gates.
That's about everything that I still use. There is lots of stuff around here that I don't...