Differences in Foundation

I have decided to use Small cell foundation in my hives. I have purchased two different types form two different manufacturers .

 

I got some wire ( Vertically ) Small Cell from Brushy Mountain and i got some unwired from Dadant ( None Wired ). You can notice the immediate difference. The Dadant product is so thin that if you hold your hand behind it you can actually see your hand through it.

I'm going to use the Dadant as starter strips for some of the frames, for one thing making it last a bit longer and for another I don't think it would by think enough to wire up. i have noticed that Dadant have started to cell a wired version. Hopefully this is a little bit thicker.

The Brushy mountain Small cell although a bit thick I have found bows slightly. From advise from the Beemaster web site I have strung up some 15lb fishing line to support it horizontally.

Today we also got some Lemon Grass essential oil and we are going to use some of this to see if we can capture a wild swarm to increase our Bee Population.

Making my Bee hive tops

Finished making two off my bee hive tops today.

I first cut all the pine to the rights size. I got 6 foot lengths of 3/8th by 9"  I cut them to 24 Inches length giving me enough for 4 tops.

  

I then cut some 1"x 1 1/2" pieces to act as braces. I was going to use 4 for each top . Two on the underside and then two on the top I used 2.5" Screws to hold it all together and glued with gorilla glue .

 

 

The tin I cut to length and then glued with a strong glue and used the baton to hold in place.

Then screwed through all three peace of wood and the tin to hold in place.

I hammered the access around the edge and them smoothed of with a file any burs or sharp ages.

Straightening out foundation

Some of my frames are going to have a full sheet of foundation that is wired. one of the things are noticed apart from it being fragile is that is warps and bends. Today on the beemaster.com forum it was mentioned about using fishing line to hold wireless foundation in place using a criss cross pattern. I tried it and was not to happy, mainly because I had strength in my wires. It also didn't seem to take the warp out. I then thought hang on i only need it on the side that is bowed out so I'm now running it straight from one side to the other and then back again on the same side. Then something else happened as i was putting it in place I noticed I could press down lightly on the fishing line and the wax sheet would stick to it giving a more uniform and held in place structure. It is all tied off with a thumb tack so cheep solution all in all

 

 

This seems to work so for all my frames that the foundation is bowed and warped I'm now fixing with fishing line.

 

I also started making my custom lids to my hives. They will be a cross between a telescopic and a migration hive top.ill post pictures once I have got a bit further along !

Free Bee Keeping Book

I came across this free Bee Keeping book today. Excellent way to learn how to start keeping bees. It is written by Penn State University...

Bee Keeping Basics - Penn State University

This is a test with windows live writer !