Norfolk Honey - getting started - a new hive with bees in it
Norfolk Honey - new equipment made to order with bees
New beehives made to order
I make up beehives to order - please see the pictures below
(click on each picture to see it larger)
Getting started
The complete hive with bees - from the bottom up
Varroa open mesh base (floor) with entrance block --
Made up £30
The beehive floor has had some considerable attention paid to it since the
Varroa mite reached the UK some ten to fifteen years ago. Now open mesh floors
are recommended as the mites fall through the mesh onto the ground. The bees
don't seem to mind the extra ventilation and it's possible that open mesh floors
help to prevent dampness in the hive over the winter.
British Standard National Bee Hive -- Made up £30
The size of the brood box has been developed and experimented with over the
years and there are now a
variety of sizes on the market. I find that it
is easier if all my kit fits together and is exchangeable with other
beekeepers and I therefore stick to the British Standard Deep box specifications.
There are good arguments for some of the other sizes of brood box but the
ease of use that standardisation offers outweighs the other arguments for
me.
12 brood frames -- Made up @ £2.50 each = £30
The frames that go into the brood box are called brood frames or deep frames.
I use Hoffman self spacing frames that slide on the metal
runners in the brood box and sit together neatly automatically leaving the
required bee space between each frame. There is no need for plastic spacers
with Hoffman frames.
Crown board with feeder
hole in the middle -- £10
The crown board sits on the top of your hive immediately under the roof. In
the summer that is likely to be on top of a super. In the winter it is going
to be on top of your brood box. The crown board has a hole in for feeding through.
In the summer I cover the hole with a piece of glass (window pane) the
bees will then seal down the glass with propolis. Some crown boards have the
hole cut in an oblong shape to take porta bee escapes (as in my photograph).
I don't use bee escapes preferring the bee brush method for taking off the
honey. My crown boards have a single round feeding hole
in the middle of the board.
Bees on four frames with a marked
2009 laying queen -- £185
When I make a new brood box up ready to travel with bees in it I initially
make up twelve new brood frames as I assemble the brood box. In order
to put the bees in the box I swap four of the new frames from the side of
the box and exchange those frames for four frames from an existing colony that
have bees and brood on. So I am taking four frames out of an established hive
that have brood and stores on them and putting them at one side of the new
brood box. One of those frames of course has the all important queen on as
well. So the new brood box has eight un drawn brand new frames with no bees
or stores on and four older drawn out frames with brood and stores on. Later
in the year (July) you may get three frames of bees and brood and only one
frame of honey that will be taken from my stores.
I can fix the box to the floor and tack the crown board down in order that the new brood box with bees in it can be moved easily and if you wish you can put a strap on as well so that you can be certain that the brood box and floor don't come apart in transit. I will tape over the hole in the crown board and wait until the evening once the bees have been put in box for the bees to stop flying before I tape up the entrance block. Therefore the ideal time to pick up a brood box with bees in is in the evening at dusk or first thing in the morning.
The brood box on the open mesh Varroa floor and the crown board on top will easily fit into the boot of a car and the open mesh floor allows plenty of air for traveling. I find that a couple of old pillows or cushions can be used to stuff up any extra space to stop the box from rocking around in the boot.
Once the box has been transported to a new destination and sited it's easy to pull the tape off entrance block to open it up to enable the bees to fly.
After a day or two once the bees have settled down in their new location the
tape can be pulled off the crown board and a feeder put on. Even if it is in
the height of the season the bees in a new box with new frames will need to
be fed because only four of the frames in the box are drawn out. In order to
make the wax to draw out the new frames the bees need a lot of energy and a
constant supply of feed will give them the energy they need and encourage
the queen to lay eggs.
The building up of numbers is the main priority once you get them home.
When the bees have built their numbers up and the queen is laying on four
or five frames and most of the new brood frames have been drawn out then it
will be time to stop feeding them and time to put on a super so that
your bees can start to make honey. They will start putting honey into the
super frames above the queen excluder before they finish drawing out all of
the outside frames in the brood box.
Price for the above £285
To make the above into a complete hive you will need a queen excluder, some supers and a roof
Queen excluder (metal) -- £10
On top of the brood box fits a queen excluder that prevents the queen and the
drones from going upwards and accessing the supers where the honey is stored.
I like the the metal perforated queen excluder although the wire ones are also
good. I have seen plastic queen excluders but I don't have any in use.
Supers with made frames (10 in each) £55
I recommend at least three supers per hive to get you started in
the first year if you are collecting your bees in April or May
x 3 = £165
Hive roof £35
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Total
above = £495
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You
may also need:
Beekeeping suit £42 (£5 p&P if not collected)
Bucket
feeder £8.00
Smoker £40.00
Hive tool £15.00
Bee brush £8.00
Email and mobile phone help & advice £80 so
you won't be left high and dry without someone to call when
that vital bit of information you learned on your bee keeping course eludes
you.
Honey extractors can be often be shared with other beekeepers or borrowed from
beekeeping associations.