Greetings from SW Montana

Started by MTWIBadger, February 01, 2011, 09:17:32 PM

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MTWIBadger

February 01, 2011, 09:17:32 PM
I've been absorbing Beemaster forum info for over a year and thought I'd better register.  It has been a great source of beekeeping info for me.

I had hives as a teenager and knew nothing about them.  I bought some bee equipment 8 years ago but never got around to buying some bees.  Two years ago a friend gave
me two swarms in mid-summer and with my mismanagement, they both died over the winter.  I bought 3 packages this past spring and did a trapout so now I have 4 hives.

Last week we had a day with temps up to 60 and all 4 hives are still alive.  The trapout is the weakest but I've supplemented it with a 20# sugar board and two 7watt lights under a SBB
which I turn on when it is below zero. I'm wintering my hives in 2 deeps and a honey super this year with two inch rigid insulation. 

I'm planning on doing some splits in the spring and also have a wine barrel with bees in it to cutout or trapout.  Only problem is I have to give the barrel back to the owner INTACT. Does anyone know how to make a big enough hole in a wine barrel to do a cutout but get it back together?  I want the bees since they have been there for 3 years. 

This is a purely a hobby for me but I have become addicted!  My hives are next to the garden and receive a visit each day after work before I enter the house.

Luke

AllenF

#1
February 01, 2011, 09:25:13 PM
Welcome to the forum.  With the barrel, you have 2 options.  Trap out the bees or buy another barrel to replace that one.  I would trap them out in the spring.

AllenF

#2
February 01, 2011, 09:34:32 PM
One more thing,  It is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."   :-D

MTWIBadger

#3
February 02, 2011, 02:12:48 AM
Allen

I was hoping for a great idea regarding a wine barrel cutout but I guess I'll settle for a trapout.  The only thing I could think of was cuttting a circular piece out of the top. Would that cause the comb attached to it collapse and create a huge mess?

AllenF

#4
February 02, 2011, 11:26:33 PM
If you lift out the top without letting it drop and did not shake the comb loose while cutting and if the comb was not attached to the sides then it might be done.   If you do try to cut them out, get it on video.

hardwood

#5
February 03, 2011, 12:15:21 AM
I took one apart once by knocking off the retainer hoops after taping the staves together and then removing one stave at a time. The problem being that you can never get the hoops back on right without heating them to expand their diameter so that they cinch tight when cool.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

MTWIBadger

#6
February 03, 2011, 01:55:38 AM
Scott

Your experience with taking apart a wine barrel confirms to me that doing a trapout is my best option.

Allen

Thanks for you advice.  Too many factors have to line up to make a top approach successful.

Luke
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