Tools of the Trade - The Technology of Beekeeping Equipment

Transcription

1 Tools of the Trade - The Technology of Beekeeping Equipment Tools, Equipment, and Supplies Required Very useful Nice to have Specialty / gadget Clothing overalls hat & veil sweat band gloves ankle bands Tools note pad & pens smoker smoker fuel fireproof metal smoker storage bo or metal popcorn can long-nose lighter or wooden matches hive tool: "L" hive tool: "J" grip-type frame lifter hive-side hanging frame rest bee brush 9-frame spacer tools (2) sting relief stick heavy 3" wide scraper grass trimmer pruning shears spray bottles for water and sugar water scraping tray frame bottom scraper covered plastic sweater bo for scrapings covered plastic sweater bo for tools big tub for everything Hive parts (10-frame standard Langstroth hive) shims and pallet or cinder blocks for base ant guards for base hive stand or base bottom board or screened bottom board entrance reducer "brood chamber" or "brood bo" with hole & cork (2 deep or 3 medium per colony) brood chamber frames & foundation: wired wa (and pins) or Pierco or Plasticel or Duragilt (9 or 10 per brood bo) medium or shallow super bo (at least 2 per colony) Northern Illinois Beekeeping Association Page 1 of 5 2/14/05

2 medium or shallow frames & foundation: wired wa (and pins) or Pierco or Plasticel or Duragilt (9 or 10 per super bo) plain frame rails or spacing frame rails queen ecluder: plastic or metal inner cover or ventilated inner cover telescoping cover brick or half cinder-block to weight down cover feeder: hive front or division board or hive-top pail or hive-top tray (1- or 3-gallon) hive-top sugar board for emergency feeding clean 1-gallon milk jugs for hauling syrup hammer brad setter Bee acquisition bee package with queen cage and feeder can nuc bo with top and entrance screen swarm catcher bo, ladder, loppers or pruning shears, pheremone lure Medications / treatments Teramycin (use with powdered sugar) Fumidil sugar for feeding anti -mite strips pollen substitute grease patties menthol crystal Honey-B-Healthy mite stickey board EFB and AFB test kits Honey harvesting and moving tools fume board Fischer's Bee-Quick (bee chasing liquid) bee escape inset for inner cover or bee escape triangle board empty super boes for sorting frames etra cover boards etra telescoping cover boards weighted fabric inspection sheet strap clamps bungee cords hand cart furniture dolly for moving stacks of hives (several) Honey etracting tools Northern Illinois Beekeeping Association Page 2 of 5 2/14/05

3 etracting tub & strainer hot knife & rheostat & stand uncapping fork centrifugal honey etractor coarse, medium, and fine strainers 5-gal honey bucket with honey gate (several) bottles & lids & labels overalls & hat big pail of hot water lots of newspaper! Wa processing tools 2 big tubs for washing wa cappings collander & stand distilled water solar wa melter bread pans candle molds, wicks Winter care hive wrap (tar paper or commercial hive wrap) staple gun mouse guard utility knife Specialty nuc bo pollen catcher propolis catcher cut-comb foundation, cutter & boes Ross Rounds frames & boes square bo frames & boes observation hive queen-rearing tools & supplies Information resources Beekeeping for Dummies, Howland Blackiston Honey Bees & Beekeeping, Keith S. Delaplane (book & video) Beekeeping, A Practical Guide and Hive Management: A Seasonal Guide for Beekeepers, Richard E Bonney catalog: BetterBee catalog: Brushy Mountain Bee Farm catalog: B&B Honey Farm catalog: Dadant on-line catalog: other beekeeping books and magazines your local beekeeping group Northern Illinois Beekeeping Association Page 3 of 5 2/14/05

4 Notes / Frequently asked questions * a deep super (or hive body) is 9 5/8" high and uses 9 1/8" frames * a medium or "Illinois" super is 6 5/8" high and uses 6 1/4" frames * a shallow super is 5 11/16" high and uses 5 3/8" frames * A standard hive uses 2 deep supers for the brood chamber, with 2 or more mediums for honey etraction * Lifting-challenged beekeepers might prefer to use 3 mediums for the brood chamber, with 2 or more shallows for honey etraction What is the weight of... - deep honey-filled frame - medium honey-filled frame - shallow honey-filled frame - deep super with 9 honey-filled frames - medium super with 9 honey-filled frames - shallow super with 9 honey-filled frames - honey: 5 gallons - honey: 1 gallon - honey etracted from a medium super (9 frames) - wa cappings from a medium super (9 frames) How many bees are in pound package - typical colony How long does a bee live? - summer bees - winter bees - queen How far do bees fly to make a pound of honey? How many flowers to make a pound of honey? What size is "bee space" about 7 pounds about 3 1/4 pounds about 2 1/4 pounds about pounds about pounds about pounds about 60 pounds about 12 pounds about pounds about 1/2 to 1 pound about 11,000 from March low of about 25,000 to a high of nearly 60,000 in June 4 to 6 weeks 4 to 8 months 2 or more years more than 50,000 miles more than 2 million flowers about 1/4" to 3/8" wide Additional copies of this handout web site: (HTML version) web site: (Adobe Acrobat version) Collected by Gary Plazyk for the ISBA Spring Meeting, June 26, 2004 Please direct any comments or suggestions to: g_plazyk@i.netcom.com Supplemental tools and gadgets laminated business card, with apiary registration number stapled to each brood bo Northern Illinois Beekeeping Association Page 4 of 5 2/14/05

5 slat board or slatted rack sugar board Imrie shim board electric tennis racket zapper vacuum tube "light saber" for capturing bees in honey house food-grade etractor grease small 6" crescent wrench for etractor 3" wide stiff scraper jelly strainer stand and bags rubber non-skid pad and 24 for tipping honey buckets bucket draining bracket bent farrier knife for cutting brood out of comb Northern Illinois Beekeeping Association Page 5 of 5 2/14/05