Transcript Lighter Equipment

Lighter
Equipment
Lighter
Equipment &
Top Entrances
Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush
Lighter Boxes
"Friends don't let friends lift deeps" Jim Fischer
of Fischer's BeeQuick
Lighter Boxes
Ten Frame boxes:
 Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 90 - 100 lbs
Brood & Extracting
 Medium, Illinois , ¾, Western 6 5/8" 60 - 70
lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb
 Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 50 - 60 lbs Comb &
Extracting
Lighter Boxes
Eight Frame boxes:
 Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 65 - 70 lbs
Brood & Extracting
 Medium, Illinois, ¾, Western 6 5/8" 45 - 50
lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb
 Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 40 - 45 lbs Comb
and Extracting
Gravity increasing?
 I'm wondering how many aging beekeepers
have been forced to give up bees because
they hurt themselves lifting deeps and it
hasn't occurred to them there are other
choices?
Richard Taylor said:
"...no man's back is unbreakable and even
beekeepers grow older. When full, a mere
shallow super is heavy, weighing forty
pounds or more. Deep supers, when filled,
are ponderous beyond practical limit."
All one size frame
All one size frame
 The frame is the basic element of a modern
bee hive. Even if you have various sized
boxes (as far as the number of frames they
hold) if the frames are all the same depth you
can put them in any of your boxes.
Advantages to all one size
You can:
 Put brood up a box to "bait" the bees up.
 Put honey combs in for food wherever you
need it.
 Unclog a brood nest by moving pollen or
honey up a box or even a few frames of
brood up a box to make room in the brood
nest to prevent swarming.
 Run an unlimited brood nest with no excluder
and if there is brood anywhere you can move
it anywhere else.
Cutting down to mediums
 I cut all my boxes and
frames down to
mediums.
 The boxes, are easy.
Just cut 3” off the
bottom of a deep or
add 11/16” to a
shallow.
Cutting down frames to mediums
 Set a table saw fence to 6 ¼”.
 Run the frames through the table saw to cut
off the bottom.
 Set a table saw fence to 3/8”.
 Run the ends of the bottom through and cut
off the end bars.
 Put the resultant bottom bar between the two
end bars and nail.
Cutting down frames to mediums
Eight or ten frame?
Eight
Ten
Eight
Transition from ten to eight
When you have a mixture of sizes
Cutting down ten frames to eight
Marking
Cutting down to eight frames
Cutting off the side
Cutting down to eight frames
Knocking the scraps off the side
Cutting down to eight frames
Pulling all the nails out of the sides
Cutting down to eight frames
Cutting the sides to fit
Cutting down to eight frames
Finishing with a hand saw
Cutting down to eight frames
Side reinstalled on the box
Cutting down a bottom board
Getting the screen out of
the way
Cutting down a bottom board
Measure and mark
Cutting down a bottom board
Cleaning up the side
Cutting down a bottom board
Putting the side back on
Cutting down a bottom board
Back together
Top Entrances
Advantages to only a top entrance
 Tall grass doesn’t block access
 Deep snow doesn’t block access
 Dead bees don't block the entrance in winter
 No need for mouse guards
 No skunks or opossums eating the bees
 Combine with a SBB for excellent ventilation
 Migratory covers are simpler and cheaper
 Hive can be 8 inches lower for less lifting
 When supering horizontal hives, bees have to go
through the super
 Less condensation in the winter
 Sundance II pollen traps easy adjustment
Easy top entrance
 You can just add shims under your inner
cover or a migratory cover
Making a top entrance cover
 Shingle shims on a simple plywood square
Making a top entrance cover
 Nailing and gluing the shims
Making a top entrance cover
 Finished top, upside down
Cover (with wire clip)
Making a top entrance cover
 Finished top in place
Top entrance in use
 Bees at top entrance
Caveats
 Remember, if you have no bottom entrance
and you use an excluder you will need some
kind of drone escape on the bottom for them
to get out. A 3/8" hole will do.
Bottom
Feeders
 Classic Jay Smith
bottom feeder


Made from a
standard solid
bottom so no
extra equipment
to buy
Can double as a
cover and top
entrance for the
hive below
Modified Bottom Feeder
 Screened fill area
 No bottom entrance
(less robbing issues)
 Provides reduced
entrance below for a
top entrance on
stacked nucs or
hives
 Allows feeding
stacked hives
without unstacking
Top View
Bottom view
With Hive
Apartment Nucs
Fill covers in
place
www.bushfarms.com
 More information concerning top entrances,
lighter equipment, natural cell size and
varroa, horizontal hives, queen rearing,
general beekeeping, observation hives and
many other topics.
 Many classic queen rearing books.
 Huber’s New Observations on the Natural
History of Bees
Picture from Jay Smith’s
Better Queens
Contact
 bees at bushfarms dot com
 www.bushfarms.com
 Book: The Practical Beekeeper