Good idea Gilliane, I love the idea of complete wasp exclusion. I'll try
that next time I'm taking honey from my top bar. Got to get it over to
Wales somehow first though :(
Enjoy the sunshine
Ann
On 01/05/2020 21:43, Gilliane Sills (Redacted sender gillianesills for
DMARC) wrote:
If a tbh isn't completely full, I think it should be possible to move the full honeycomb plus any bees that happen to be on it to the other side of the follower board, having first installed a bee escape in the follower board. The bees would make their way back in to the occupied part of the hive through the bee escape and the combs could be removed whenever it was convenient. The honey-filled combs wouldn't be accessible to wasps at all. I can imagine a box similar to Paul's would be helpful in transporting the comb back to be processed...
Gilliane
On 01/05/2020 12:46, Oxnatbees wrote:
TBH comb harvesting:
See attached photos. The box came from The Really Useful Box Company. If I had to make another I would use one half this size, because I never harvest more than 4-5 combs from my 2 TBHs and this box is so large it is awkward to lug around.
The box is black, so any bees inside only see one source of light, the red bee escapes above.
The wooden bar supports are screwed in to the sides of the box.
I found it necessary to add 2 extra supports, and ridges, to stop the top bars + comb sliding around as I carried the box. The ridges are just lumps of wood glued to the cross supports.
Paul
On Fri, 1 May 2020, 11:30 Helen Nunn, <helenmaynunn@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:helenmaynunn@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Paul
Could you please describe your big black box with bee escapes,
that you use to clear bees from comb when harvesting honey? And
also when/if you take some comb, do you remove a whole box
(depending obviously on how much is left for the bees to use over
winter) or just a few combs? Being a new Warre keeper I'm
thinking I should be prepared ahead of time.
Thanks
Helen
