Cleaning up hives, ongoing

So I’ve got some rather grotty hives that have been sitting in a garden for 5 years. They’re mossy and some have paint and some don’t. Seem to be structurally stable for the most part, but in need of love.

I know very little about woodwork.

So my plan is, scrub em down with bleach (I only have ecover) on the outside and soda crystals on the inside. Sand them down and then repaint outside.

I’ve scrubbed them down and so far they look much better! The ones that weren’t painted look nearly new, and the ones that were seem to have had a water based paint, as it ran a bit and seems to have recovered them somewhat. I’ve got some primer and Cuprinol ducksback fence paint, so I’ll use that and hope for the best.

You can apparently use Linseed oil, but it seems to take days to dry, and I don’t have a huge amount of space for drying off beehives. I’m truthfully a little worries about the structure of the hives, they do seem to be a little flakey around the edges. I’ll sand em a bit and see how it looks.

I dunno whether to sand inside or out either. Such a headache! But if I keep it up, it’ll be good to know how to do this.

Bees – the beginning

I bought a bee colony about three weeks ago. Frankly it felt a bit rushed, but it was cheap and available and the apiary manager was keen to help and lend kit so now I’m up about ten thousand bees.

Problem was, it was left in the nuc for too long so now they’re in swarm mode.

Week 1 – quashed the rebel uprising, frantically cleaned up nuc and installed frames.

Week 2 – wet. No uprising to speak of.

Week 3 – less wet. Uprising. Split colony using Phils half and half technique, which I truthfully don’t really understand the logic of, I’ll ask him next week.

The seller threw in the nuc with the bees – it’s a poly and I hate it. Its clearly kinda elderly and was therefore really needed a cleanup and repaint. Being a poly, it’s not a case of fire and hope, its a case of scrub with soda crystals. It’s too big to go in the bath and the propolis left a gross ring. In addition, I could not clean the side feeder. It’s very deep and narrow, all I could do was swill it out with hot water and soda crystals and hope. Absolute disaster, but it is now semi viable at least. 

Pro tip, cif cream cleans up yellow propolis rings in sinks and baths.

Buying hives hasn’t been easy either. I was going to go for a Thorne budget, but they’ve been out of stock for weeks. I finally gave up last week and bought some second hand ones, figuring they were cheap enough that it didn’t matter if they didn’t work. I spent 2 hours scrubbing them the other day, and so far they’re looking much better! Need to sand and repaint, I’ve got the kit just not the time atm. Downside with them is they’re Nationals, not 12x14s so I’ll need to get some ekes.

I need to get some frames and foundation too, I’ll ask Jamie if he has any.

The two year Return

Oh look, here I am again, have I published my year? No lol!

But let’s have a look:

1. To learn a new language
   1. I’ve started here with French. I would love to learn Chinese at some point.
   2. Well, I started learning French on the train in to work. Then moved closer and didn’t have time any more. Chinese is definitely not happening though! But would be nice to go back to French
2. To get good at writing and finish what I started
   1. To this end I’ll start another list
   2. Hah! enough (not) said
3. To feel more at home with people
   1. We’re slowly working on this
4. To develop my hobbies
   1. I need a camera that can photo long distances
   2. I have this now! A Huawei that actually photos things! Maybe I’ll post some of these up
5. To get a tattoo
   1. But possibly not the full back tattoo of a tree…yet.
   2. Oooh ooh I’ve done this too! A lovely moomin on the ankle, which hurt like anything and I’m very pleased with it.
6. To travel again
   1. Been to Wales and Cornwall, that counts right?
7. To read more books
   1. Working on it
8. To write on here more than weekly.
   1. hah! 

 

But I’ve taken up beekeeping in the meantime and it feels like a disaster, shall we try again?