I've come to learn that the location that I've been keeping my bees is not good for making honey. I've found a much better location, and need to move my beehives up there.
It's quite a distance and I will need a trailer. I'll be moving 12-15 hives, all of them are 2 supers deep or less, except 2, which are at 4. I'm thinking what I'll do is get a bottom board, and separate the 4 deeps into two separate closed units, then rebuild them into 4 deep when I arrive at the property.
All the hives are quite full of honey, I presume I should do a honey extraction before I make the move?
I have a dilemma in that I have a number of nuc colonies that are full and desperately need to be moved into a bigger box, but they use deep frames and I don't have any deep boxes. Really unsure about how to proceed with this... I do have deep boxes that are currently being used as a honey super on other hives, I figure I could take that off, put a bottom on that and use it as a deep.. Is there some sort of method I could use to put the deep nuc frames into a medium brood box?
This is unorthodox. How far are you planing to move them? What do you thing your problems are at your present location?
Omni,
I move my 10-12 hives twice a year. I extract before moving them. I strap my hives together and get help lifting them on my bee trailer. When at the farm they stay on the trailer. The trailer is big enough to separate the hives on the trailer on site.
You can put 2 mediums together for the deep frames but you will end up with but comb. Do you have any shallow frames to put together.
Jim
Moving them about an hours drive away. Essentially there's not much nectar sources; it's mostly pasteurised scrub land, main source of nectar comes from some trees that grown on the sides of streets and inbetween properties. There's also a couple of other beehives in the area, at least 4, that's competing with quite a limited supply of resources. I'm moving them near an eucalyptus forest.
I've only ever moved hives once before, I had to put them in my passenger seats and it was an awful and stressful experience. Is it much easier to move them, before extracting? My partner could help me lift them, but she's very small and weak. It's going to be difficult to lift them, especially in a way that doesn't rattle them up. How can I properly clog up the hole so that bees don't go everywhere? I saw the man who taught me beekeeping simply used this cloth sponges to block the hole, but it never seems to work for me, bees always seem to get out. I need this man to help me drive the trailer as I don't know how, but he's scared of bees and doesn't wish to be anywhere near them.
Interesting about the mediums together. Sounds like it'd turn into a nightmare clean job later on when they fill that space with comb, honey and brood. I have medium manley frames that fit with the medium manley supers I made.
Omni,
Use a piece of screen or number 8 wire cloth bent at a 90 degree angle and staple it over the entrance. Due this before sunrise when most of the bees are in the hive. Use a red light, not white to see. Use your smoker to heard the bees in the hive. Try not to get the smoke in the hive. 99.99% of the bees cannot see the red light. There is always one bee in my apiary that can see it.
Put the empty trailer on your vehicle and learn how to drive forward and backward with the trailer. You need this skill from now on.
Remember your bees travel a 2 to 5 mile radius from your hive to find food. Don't worry about 4 other hives. I have over 100 commercial hives that I see placed from a few feet to less that a mile from me. And they tell me there are hundreds more that I don't see. That many do seriously affect my production.
Jim
Quote from: omnimirage on December 16, 2016, 06:58:22 PM
Is there some sort of method I could use to put the deep nuc frames into a medium brood box?
If I'm faced with putting frames into a box which isn't deep enough for them (which doesn't happen often these days), then I place an eke of suitable height under the box. It's the simplest workaround solution I know of.
LJ
can you build a pivot pole frame? use 4x4 posts and make just wide enoughtfor two hives . use hinges on bottom to pullies and then use legs that extend out as arms to swing hivesonto trailer. uncle had one he made for when he had to move hives when he only had few guys to work. takes a little longer to load the trailer but did save injuries. he could load a 25 foot triaaler in a hour or so.. thats loadedd and covered ready to go.
john
ill try make a diagraam of it.
Quote from: little john on December 17, 2016, 11:41:05 AM
then I place an eke of suitable height under the box.
What is an eke?
Quote from: Acebird on December 17, 2016, 12:23:52 PM
Quote from: little john on December 17, 2016, 11:41:05 AM
then I place an eke of suitable height under the box.
What is an eke?
A topless, bottomless, shallow box. They were first used with skeps to raise the cap a little higher or inserted below the skep (nadired) in order to extend the combs downwards a little.
There's some info at: http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/nateke.html
A very flexible bit of kit - can simply be four boards of the right height nailed together. The British 'National' system uses 6" frames for supers, 9" frames for broods, and 12" frames for extra-deep broods - so I have a dozen or more 3" ekes which enable me to mix 'n' match as needed. I've also used them as impromptu feeder shells.
LJ
I see, so an eke is a shim.
I use shims/ekes under a medium when I need to use deep frames.
The hardest part is that you have to remember they're two separate boxes if you go to do an inspection underneath. I've lifted the medium off, turned around to set it down only to realize that the frames are all sticking out, so I have to set it on its side instead. Does not make the bees happy.
Quote from: Acebird on December 18, 2016, 08:36:46 AM
I see, so an eke is a shim.
Near enough. It might be worth me adding that the term 'shim' as commonly used in beekeeping is an abuse of the word.
To
shim is to insert something to reduce, take-up or eliminate a space or gap, or to make level. The process being one of
elimination.
To
eke is to extend or expand, to make something go further or last longer. The process here being that of
extension.
But I don't suppose for a moment that my saying this will change how the word 'shim' is used by beekeepers.
LJ
Quote from: Rurification on December 18, 2016, 11:40:25 AM
I use shims/ekes under a medium when I need to use deep frames.
The hardest part is that you have to remember they're two separate boxes if you go to do an inspection underneath. I've lifted the medium off, turned around to set it down only to realize that the frames are all sticking out, so I have to set it on its side instead. Does not make the bees happy.
Hi Robin - that certainly
is a problem. Whenever I have an eke or some other potential hazard in place I leave a warning note for myself underneath the telescopic roof. Written with a felt-tip marker on a plastic ice-cream tub lid works well. Similar to this one (where I have some custom frames extending downwards occupying two boxes) :
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2dahuvo.jpg)
LJ
Your bees don't propolise the shim/eke together? I have set many a box on their side. That does not seem to phase my bees unless of course it was robbing season. But even then it is no more of a disturbance than leaving the box open top and bottom.
>What is an eke?
You should know where to find the answer...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesterms.htm#e
Quote from: Michael Bush on December 19, 2016, 03:38:23 PM
>What is an eke?
You should know where to find the answer...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesterms.htm#e
Sounds a bit like "Who ya gonna call? . . . . " :happy:
You should not have bees
If a person should not have bees it usually resolves itself. So if the person can continue to have bees your statement is wrong.
My beekeeping isn't hurting anyone, though I realise I'm quite a poor beekeeper. I have a few more hurdles to get past until my operation is running smoothly. It's been a bumpy slow journey but I'm consistently making progress and learning. Honestly not sure what I'm going to do about these nucs. I happen to have some unpainted deeps that I made from 2014, that I wanted to sell in order to phase out the deeps, but I'm thinking it may be best to just use them. I have people who'd like to buy a few nucs off me, I think in time I'd like to aim to sell all of my nucs because I wish to move away from this deep frame system.
ominimirage; crawl, walk, run. Beekeeping is an ever ending learning process. Some times we learn more than at other times.
Quote from: omnimirage on December 21, 2016, 08:19:22 AM
I have people who'd like to buy a few nucs off me, I think in time I'd like to aim to sell all of my nucs because I wish to move away from this deep frame system.
I kept one of my deeps and use it as a swarm trap and if not it is always there for any unseen situation.