Dear David,
Thank you for inviting me to inspect your newly arrived Warre hive.
It is a well established colony of gentle bees.
The upper two boxes (from memory) were self assembled by the previous beekeeper
and were full of capped honey, but the lowest is a plywood structure sadly
falling apart and not crammed with honey.
Had this been the case we would have had to add an empty box to prevent late
swarming: an error I fell into recently. We learn.
We agreed to defer taking honey till Spring although we could have, if we had
suitable receptacles and cut comb boxes.
We separated the upper two Warre boxes from the lowest plywood structure and
relocated them by 90 degrees, allowing you to be able to view the girls with
natural light without altering the hive entrance direction.
At the foot of the email I will give links to things to acquire.
We agreed to meet after my return from the Sorento Conference in a few weeks
and all going well,
move the Warre boxes and colony across to a healthier structure.
There is always a risk of losing the queen in doing so but his could be done on
Spring. However this carries the risk of the bottom structure collapsing. Full
Warre boxes are heavy so at least 50 kg is sitting on a rotting plywood box.
As they say.. what could ever go wrong with that?
https://www.simonthebeekeeper.co.uk/clothing/10013-1172-buzz-work-wear-white-fencing-veil-suit-gloves.html#/88-suit_size-l/110-glove_size-l
New suit: with up zip allowing a quick wee without fully disrobing.MUCH
cheaper than Thornes.
https://www.thorne.co.uk/hives-and-bees/hives/warre?product_id=5130
If there is no Warre base in new (empty ) hive
https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=wax&page=6&product_id=389
500 gm natural bees wax : shave or grate into hot linseed oil . 1: 10.
That is: into 500 ml linseed oil shave 50 gm wax, stir and seal: Apply all over
hives
https://www.thorne.co.uk/honey-and-wax-processing/tanks-valves-storage-and-strainers/strainers?product_id=7751
20 litre bucket with valve and three
strainers<https://www.thorne.co.uk/honey-and-wax-processing/tanks-valves-storage-and-strainers/strainers?product_id=7751>
Plastic bucket with valve and three strainers. Holds 20 litres. Complete with a
plastic honey gate and a lid plus 3 reusable, hand washable filters that recess
down about 4" (10cm) into the bucket.
www.thorne.co.uk
This is the idea: tank lid strainer and honey gate
https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=comb%20cutter&product_id=7448
To illustrate: a comb cutter cutting the comb exactly to fit the box. A knife
will do and old takeaway cartons to hold the comb but this looks better when
giving comb as a gift
If you dispense with the comb in a jam jar idea you will need a Warre cloth. we
can discuss this.
Best wishes
Eric
________________________________
From: David Gosling <dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 16 September 2019 13:06
To: Eric Asher <eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Check hive: yes indeed
Thank you so much for your informative visit today and it was lovely to meet
you. You left your hive tool here Eric, would you like me to post it to you ?
David
On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 at 12:51, Eric Asher
<eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
________________________________
From: David Gosling <dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx>>
Sent: 14 September 2019 11:44
To: Eric Asher <eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Subject: Re: Check hive
On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 at 11:43, David Gosling
<dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Eric, It just occurred to me that you may have been replying about being
available on Monday to a different email altogether. As is usual, I am
confused! If you did mean visiting here, could you let me know. Thanks, Rachel
and Dave
On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 at 00:01, David Gosling
<dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:dgosling49@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Many thanks Eric, appreciated. Monday would be marvellous . It’s a bit of a
distance for you to get here? My address is ; 80 Cromwell Road , Banbury , OX16
0HG<https://www.google.com/maps/search/80+Cromwell+Road+,+Banbury+,+OX16+0HG?entry=gmail&source=g>
01295 257345
