Lighter Equipment Lighter Equipment & Top Entrances Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush.

Lighter Equipment

Lighter Equipment &

Top Entrances

Copyright 2007 by Michael Bush

Lighter Boxes

"Friends don't let friends lift deeps" Jim Fischer of Fischer's BeeQuick

Lighter Boxes

Ten Frame boxes: Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 90 - 100 lbs

Brood & Extracting Medium, Illinois , ¾, Western 6 5/8" 60 - 70

lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 50 - 60 lbs Comb &

Extracting

Lighter Boxes

Eight Frame boxes: Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 65 - 70 lbs

Brood & Extracting Medium, Illinois, ¾, Western 6 5/8" 45 - 50

lbs Brood & Extracting & Comb Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 40 - 45 lbs Comb

and Extracting

Gravity increasing?

I'm wondering how many aging beekeepers have been forced to give up bees because they hurt themselves lifting deeps and it hasn't occurred to them there are other choices?

Richard Taylor said:

"...no man's back is unbreakable and even beekeepers grow older. When full, a mere shallow super is heavy, weighing forty pounds or more. Deep supers, when filled, are ponderous beyond practical limit."

All one size frame

All one size frame

The frame is the basic element of a modern bee hive. Even if you have various sized boxes (as far as the number of frames they hold) if the frames are all the same depth you can put them in any of your boxes.

Advantages to all one size

You can: Put brood up a box to "bait" the bees up. Put honey combs in for food wherever you

need it. Unclog a brood nest by moving pollen or

honey up a box or even a few frames of brood up a box to make room in the brood nest to prevent swarming.

Run an unlimited brood nest with no excluder and if there is brood anywhere you can move it anywhere else.

Cutting down to mediums

I cut all my boxes and frames down to mediums.

The boxes, are easy. Just cut 3” off the bottom of a deep or add 11/16” to a shallow.

Cutting down frames to mediums

Set a table saw fence to 6 ¼”. Run the frames through the table saw to cut

off the bottom. Set a table saw fence to 3/8”. Run the ends of the bottom through and cut

off the end bars. Put the resultant bottom bar between the two

end bars and nail.

Cutting down frames to mediums

Eight or ten frame?

Eight Ten Eight

Transition from ten to eight

When you have a mixture of sizes

Cutting down ten frames to eight

Marking

Cutting down to eight frames

Cutting off the side

Cutting down to eight frames

Knocking the scraps off the side

Cutting down to eight frames

Pulling all the nails out of the sides

Cutting down to eight frames

Cutting the sides to fit

Cutting down to eight frames

Finishing with a hand saw

Cutting down to eight frames

Side reinstalled on the box

Cutting down a bottom board

Getting the screen out of the way

Cutting down a bottom board

Measure and mark

Cutting down a bottom board

Cleaning up the side

Cutting down a bottom board

Putting the side back on

Cutting down a bottom board

Back together

Top Entrances

Advantages to only a top entrance

Tall grass doesn’t block access Deep snow doesn’t block access Dead bees don't block the entrance in winter No need for mouse guards No skunks or opossums eating the bees Combine with a SBB for excellent ventilation Migratory covers are simpler and cheaper Hive can be 8 inches lower for less lifting When supering horizontal hives, bees have to go

through the super Less condensation in the winter Sundance II pollen traps easy adjustment

Easy top entrance

You can just add shims under your inner cover or a migratory cover

Making a top entrance cover

Shingle shims on a simple plywood square

Making a top entrance cover

Nailing and gluing the shims

Making a top entrance cover

Finished top, upside down

Cover (with wire clip)

Making a top entrance cover

Finished top in place

Top entrance in use

Bees at top entrance

Caveats

Remember, if you have no bottom entrance and you use an excluder you will need some kind of drone escape on the bottom for them to get out. A 3/8" hole will do.

Bottom Feeders

Classic Jay Smith bottom feeder Made from a

standard solid bottom so no extra equipment to buy

Can double as a cover and top entrance for the hive below

Modified Bottom Feeder

Screened fill area No bottom entrance

(less robbing issues) Provides reduced

entrance below for a top entrance on stacked nucs or hives

Allows feeding stacked hives without unstacking

Top View

Bottom view

With Hive

Apartment Nucs

Fill covers in place

www.bushfarms.com

More information concerning top entrances, lighter equipment, natural cell size and varroa, horizontal hives, queen rearing, general beekeeping, observation hives and many other topics.

Many classic queen rearing books. Huber’s New Observations on the Natural

History of Bees

Picture from Jay Smith’s Better Queens

Contact

bees at bushfarms dot com www.bushfarms.com Book: The Practical Beekeeper