Repurposed – The Apiarist

Synopsis: Suppose laterally, use your creativeness, hoard stuff … there’s a lot you’ll be able to repurpose to make each your beekeeping and financial institution steadiness higher. And it’s one thing to fill the months till the season begins.

Advent

The large apparatus providers – Thorne’s, Abelo, Dadant and so on. – are more than pleased to promote you the whole thing you wish to have in your beekeeping … and loads of stuff you almost certainly don’t. A ‘laborious promote’ method to advertising and marketing isn’t wanted, they only supply an attractive catalogue or web page and rely on the lengthy, chilly, darkish, rainy and windy wintry weather to do the remainder.

It’s disturbingly efficient … I’ve were given the receipts.

An enthusiastic newbie may want a 2d loan after a go back and forth to Rand or a wintry weather afternoon in entrance of the fireplace surfing {the catalogue}.

Beekeeping isn’t an affordable passion when ranging from scratch. Hives, beesuits, bees, people who smoke, hive gear, multi-purpose eke/clearer/insulated crownboards and different necessities go away little trade from a considerable bite of moolah.

In fact, with positive exceptions, purchasing glossy new package makes issues simple. Apparatus is suitable, it’s been examined, constructed to a top usual and ‘simply works’. It’s one much less factor to fret about when beginning out, and – midseason – it supplies a handy guide a rough repair to rectify an pressing downside.

On the other hand … in addition to occasionally being painfully dear , it seems that the providers don’t promote the whole thing you wish to have. With a bit of effort, some opportunism, a sprinkling of creativeness and the ones lengthy winters you’ll be able to rectify this and get monetary savings.

These days I’m going to speak about repurposing stuff you beg, borrow or scouse borrow to find (or in all probability purchase affordably) to toughen, and even reinforce, your beekeeping.

And your financial institution steadiness.

Repurposing

I admit it’s just a little of a contrived submit name. Bring to mind it as the use of on a regular basis or another way pieces for a objective other from their standard software. It’s a catch all time period and there’s no approach this submit can do anything else greater than supply examples to whet your urge for food.

Take into accounts your beekeeping and the issues you come across.

Suppose laterally; what might be progressed?

Stay your eyes open and don’t essentially be expecting an answer in a single day … the garage bins I speak about under took greater than 11 years to search out (even though I wasn’t taking a look too laborious). I’ve most effective noticed a few truly just right galvanised wheelbarrow ‘frames’ in a decade however had up to now purchased one to construct Buster the hivebarrow, alternatively they do flip up periodically.

Hoard belongings you to find that could be helpful. It prices little greater than house however may prevent a fortune whilst you in the end bring to mind an software for it.

Insulation

I’m a large fan of most sensible insulation. All my hives, regardless of the season, have a block of insulation immediately over the crownboard. In the summertime this prevents overheating because the solar beats down at the steel (or, extra ceaselessly, black Correx) roof. Within the wintry weather it prevents precious heat generated by way of the cluster from escaping, so decreasing the intake of retail outlets.

Even the poly Abelo hives I exploit have an extra block of insulation over the crownboard. The extra the merrier.

Of selection I choose the Kingspan- or Celotex-type foil-sheathed expanded foam insulation this is used throughout area development, typically lining the partitions or included into the ground. You’ll purchase these items from DIY retail outlets (typically quarter sheets) or industry retailers (in, somewhat less expensive, 2.4 x 1.2 metre sheets), however it’s no longer affordable.

Dumpster diving

Or you’ll be able to cross ‘dumpster diving’ and supply it your self from just about any development website online or area renovation.

Take a jar of honey, take a look at the skip, ask properly and make the industry.

Don’t fear if the insulation is tatty or rainy. It dries out and gaffer tape will conceal all varieties of blemishes.

Use a handsaw to chop it into 46 cm squares , or in all probability fractionally smaller so it doesn’t get jammed within the roof. I typically reduce 45 cm squares for my Nationwide hives. The noticed generates a number of foam ‘sawdust’ however it’s higher than the use of a breadknife which flexes an excessive amount of in thicker sheets.

Seal the sides with overlapping strips of gaffer tape, water-resistant should you use very shallow roofs. Seal any primary dings within the floor with extra gaffer tape – don’t go away the froth uncovered because the bees will bite it.

Those aren’t simply helpful to stay the heat within the hive … I’m lately the use of them to retain the warmth in my heather honey supers which can be stacked on my warming cupboard ahead of extraction.

This kind of insulating foam ‘carves’ simply. You’ll make identical form of insulation for nucs, even recessing the threshold to that the roof suits smartly. Simply be sure you give protection to the reduce foam edges as they’re friable and simply broken.

And, ahead of you ask, 25 mm turns out to be useful, 50 mm is best and thicker nonetheless is completely applicable, specifically should you use deep roofs. The blocks above are 70 mm thick.

Wooden

And, when you’re perusing the skip, take a look for any quite lengthy and immediately items of wooden. It’s possible you’ll to find all varieties of offcuts that you’ll be able to convert into hive stands and different issues.

If the wooden has sat out within the rain for weeks then chastise your self for no longer taking a look previous … it will smartly warp because it dries, however it should nonetheless be helpful.

If shed or storage foundations had been poured there’s virtually at all times some cement-stained 4×2’s or 3×2’s chucked apart. I’ve had each constructed not too long ago and the wood formwork was once merely discarded afterwards.

With just a little of a scrub and scrape, and a few coats of fence preservative, a few of these have been transformed into the transverse wood helps on my ‘final hive stand‘

Talking of which … it’s debatable (as they’re no longer affordable if purchased new) however the legs of that hive stand also are repurposed. They’re adjustable scaffold jacks. Mine have been purchased new, however I’ve noticed fairly a couple of being offered off on Gumtree for a fiver each and every.

It’s price remembering that the bees don’t have any reviews about hive stands or your woodworking abilities. It doesn’t subject how tatty they give the impression of being, so long as they’re strong and protected all might be smartly.

Trip safely

Except you observe some form of migratory beekeeping you almost certainly hardly ever transfer hives. A phenomenal wooden-framed commute display is a ‘factor of attractiveness and a pleasure for ever 20 mins’ , and prices £21 a pop. It’s possible you’ll use it as soon as according to season and it’ll then languish in a spider-infested nook of the shed till you’ll be able to’t to find it the next 12 months.

As an alternative, purchase a few sq. metres of fibreglass insect display. It’s bee-proof, rip-proof, tear-proof, ‘affordable as chips’ and typically to be had in white, black or gray. I’ve purchased all 3 colors at one time or any other, the use of the colors to tell apart between commute displays for nucs or hives.

Reduce it outsized. On a poly nuc you’ll be able to merely pin it in position, taking care to overlap the corners to forestall escapees.

On a complete hive, with 15,000 extra bees, I take a bit of extra care. I’ve discovered the best way to carry the mesh down securely is with an eke, strapped tightly down. What’s extra, on arrival on the far-off apiary, you’ll be able to go away the whole thing in position, upload the roof and go away them to relax.

It’s price noting that this insect mesh is identical as Thorne’s propolis display however is ~1/6^th the fee according to unit house (3 m² of insect mesh prices about £8, while the ‘propolis display’ prices £4.60). It’s not so good as a cheese draining/ripening mat for propolis assortment, however that prices much more.

If the elements is cool you could no longer want a commute display to transport your hives, however should you do that mesh takes up no house and prices little or no.

Trip blocks

Whilst we’re in the case of commute I’ve discovered that the closed cellular foam (ceaselessly used to pack computer systems or printers) may be very helpful to forestall frames jiggling round on pothole-strewn roads.

If you happen to ever to find this type of foam, snap it up PDQ. You’ll reduce it to measurement with a breadknife and bore massive holes thru it with a hollow noticed.

It’s nice as a result of it’s fairly company, however does have a bit of little bit of ‘give’, briefly returning to form after compression. I’ve discovered all varieties of makes use of for it; along with packing frames in combination I’ve used it for front blocks when shifting hives and many of the within my queen cellular incubator is constructed from it.

The Nicot cages are driven into the holes and are held securely.

Crownboards and issues

A big IKEA ‘RIBBA‘ framed image fell of the wall remaining month .

The body was once constituted of some form of foil-wrapped pulped and reconstituted ‘wooden’ with 0 structural power – disappointing – however the ‘glass’ was once a sheet of skinny polycarbonate. Those frames used to have glass ‘glass’, however they switched to versatile 2 mm (?) polycarbonate a number of years in the past.

These things makes superb crownboards for nucs. Actually, many business nucs are supplied with crownboards constituted of the similar stuff .

I controlled to get 4 crownboards for Paynes nucs from a unmarried 60 x 90 sheet . The best way to chop it’s the use of a Stanley knife and a steel straightedge. Don’t try to reduce during the sheet. Merely rating the place you wish to have to chop the sheet after which snap it sharply over a troublesome, sq. edge. It is going to damage cleanly alongside the scored line.

However don’t throw the offcuts away … you will discover a use for them.

I reduce a number of items of a measurement appropriate to hide the holes in a few of my wood crownboards. If truth be told, I reduce them slightly outsized after which drilled a 12-15 mm hollow thru a part of the offcut. In customary use the offcut covers the opening during the wood crownboard, preventing the bees wandering about the place they’re no longer wanted.

On the other hand, when I’ve rainy supers that want clearing I position the opening within the offcut over the opening within the crownboard. The bees have unfastened get entry to, the opening will also be situated above an opening between frames, however the bees imagine the tremendous ‘outdoor’ the hive and produce the honey dregs down, emptying the supers.

Insulated perspex/polycarbonate crownboards

A few years in the past I made 10-12 insulated perspex crownboards (that submit is ~10 years outdated … ). Those have customary bee house on one aspect, however have a 50 mm deep rim at the – typically – higher aspect which comprises a block of Kingspan insulation.

Generally higher as a result of I take away the insulation, invert them, they usually accommodate a block of fondant when feeding colonies, with the insulation positioned excessive of the inverted crownboard.

Those don’t have to be ‘see through’ polycarbonate, however it will probably assist to look at the colony, or see how briskly the fondant is being fed on.

You want thick perspex/polycarbonate for those. The two mm stuff I describe above will sag and obliterate the bee house. Don’t even check out it.

You probably have a forward-thinking native council they could permit scavenging on the tip. Glance out for bathe doorways or displays. They typically take away and recycle the metalwork, however the polycarbonate is going to landfill. If you’ll be able to rescue it you’ll be able to repurpose it to make your individual crownboards.

Honey for bartering is helping.

Propolis and crownboards

Whilst I’m in the case of polycarbonate crownboards it’s price citing that you’ll be able to simply blank off propolis and wax the use of a DIY painter’s window scraper.

Screwfix’s ‘No Nonsense’ window scraper prices a few quid and has a retractable blade that can forestall you lacerating your palms and bleeding profusely over your crownboards.

The crownboard wish to be utterly flat ahead of scraping it blank. If it isn’t you chance scratching the crownboard. It’s additionally more uncomplicated to do on a chilly day when the propolis is much less sticky.

That also counts as ‘repurposing’ as Screwfix state that the scraper is perfect for ‘skilled, commercial or house’ use … and make no point out of apiaries.

The bee bag

For years I’ve used a grocery store ‘bag for existence’ to hold stuff right down to the apiary. I’ve written about my bee bag ahead of so received’t rehash issues right here.

The bag is sufficiently small to be manageable, however big enough to deal with virtually the whole thing I may want.

It’s additionally big enough that I’d lose issues in the event that they have been simply dropped into the bag, so I want some form of inside ‘compartments’ to stay issues in combination and vaguely tidy.

And, for almost so long as I’ve used any such baggage I’ve used repurposed grocery store ice-cream bins to supply those inside compartments.

Those have the merit that you just first need to consume the ice cream.

On the other hand, as I were given promoted and my wage larger (and my palate become extra selective), I switched from affordable grocery store ice cream offered in 2-4 litre bins to Häagen-Dazs tubs. Those are utterly needless for storing anything else as they’re product of soggy cardboard.

The promotions took many, a few years … throughout which the ones plastic ice cream bins cracked, or the lids have been out of place, or simply stopped becoming securely.

Frankly the bee bag was once taking a look just a little squalid.

However I lately came upon 3 litre ‘In reality Helpful Packing containers’ that are semi-transparent, made in Britain and feature clip fittings to carry the lids on securely. I discovered some being offered for £2 each and every and purchased so much (most commonly for the shed/storage), two of that have ended up within the bee bag, with one moreover reserved for queen rearing bits and items.

Technically no longer repurposed, however the ice cream bins have been and served me smartly for plenty of seasons.

Burning love

Different in all probability than the millionaire beekeepers who purchase smoker gas I be expecting virtually all readers might be acquainted with repurposing vaguely flammable stuff to smoulder smokily of their, er, people who smoke.

“What’s the most efficient smoker gas?” is in all probability one of the crucial ceaselessly requested questions by way of whole freshmen.

It’s additionally a query hardly ever heard from someone with even a modicum of revel in as by way of then they’ve learnt that the most efficient smoker gas is:

• no matter is handy … I’ve bees in a pals lawn and like it when the grass has been scythed. Packed in tightly, lengthy, dry grass is difficult to overcome.
• anything else that doesn’t cross out and generates a number of smoke

I’ve were given a dustbin outdoor the shed with all varieties of combustibles that finally end up in my smoker … eggboxes, outdated bits of burlap, larch chainsaw woodchips, dried rotten wooden, that razor-sliced cardboard packing utilized by Thorne’s.

The dustbin remains by way of the shed, however one of the vital contents are periodically transferred to a semi-transparent plastic bathtub that at the beginning got here full of fats balls to feed the birds. That is my repurposed smoker gas (and lighter) field that accompanies me to the apiary.

I assume you have to argue that the creme brûlée butane torch could also be ‘repurposed’ … and a complete lot smaller and lighter than a typical blowtorch. It’s additionally simply as efficient for lighting fixtures the smoker, however mistaken for flaming cedar bins.

Correx

I’ve written complete posts concerning the wonders of Correx and the way it turns out to be useful for every type of packages in beekeeping.

I most probably use it each day of the season for one thing or different … hive roofs, touchdown forums, front blocks, slides for Cloake forums, el cheapo clearers and so on. I even use unique white or black Correx shapes to enhance the entrance of another way an identical nucs to inspire my mating queens to go back to the proper field.

While you advertise the little colony to a full-sized hive you’ll be able to switch the form as smartly, no less than till they reorientate to the brand new place.

The most effective factor with Correx is that giant sheets – no less than of four mm or above – are hardly ever discarded .

‘For Sale’ and ‘undesirable’

The most efficient supply of Correx are typically ‘For Sale’ indicators. Those are continuously no longer retrieved by way of the property agent and sooner or later discarded. Ask round, you could be fortunate.

Sadly, I’ve hardly ever noticed ‘For Sale’ indicators which can be big enough to make a hive roof from.

However, don’t melancholy, we have now an election looming and one of the vital political events could have very massive Correx indicators published up … as an example, so that they’re visual from a commuter teach or primary street.

And a few of these applicants won’t most effective fail to get elected however abandon politics after being soundly defeated. If you happen to’re fortunate you’ll be capable of supply a pile of the indicators another way destined for landfill (even though Correx will also be recycled).

Glance out for applicants with unique names who lose ignominiously … preferably, the ones no longer within the first flush of teenage … and ask in a well mannered way.

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