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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Michael Bush on Today at 03:35:38 pm »Yes, half height blocks are 4". Pavers might be only 2".
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 02:57:31 pm »In my climate wood is not an option. Even pressure treated lumber will only last a few years in contact with the ground. But I could probably use half-height cinder blocks.Paver stones would work but they might be costly.
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 02:53:32 pm »In my climate wood is not an option. Even pressure treated lumber will only last a few years in contact with the ground. But I could probably use half-height cinder blocks.
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Michael Bush on Today at 02:16:59 pm »A cinder block is 8" tall. A two by is 3-1/2" tall. A medium box is 6-5/8" tall. Basically if you drop it to 3-1/2" tall you'll gain one box.
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 02:06:23 pm »I just use two cinder blocks. Some of my stands are partially buried in order to level them.
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Michael Bush on Today at 01:39:02 pm »How high off the ground is the bottom box? A short stand can buy you one or two boxes...
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 01:14:53 pm »Thanks for the replies, guys.
I talked to my family about it, and what I'm going to do for now is just have my dad help me lift boxes down. He's 6' 4" so I should be able to get to 7 or 8 boxes before he'd have trouble lifting them, and he's almost always outside working on something over the weekend when I typically do inspections. That way I can just try letting the hives get big for this season and see what happens. If it becomes unmanageable then I'll develop a plan to do things differently next season.
If they are too tall, you can harvest, or you can split them. You'll get more honey if you don't split them and apparently you don't want to anyway. So it seems you'd be better off harvesting.My concern is that in our humid climate, it takes bees long to cap honey. I often have 3 supers on a hive and none are ready to be harvested because the first box isn't capped yet. But we'll see how it goes. The blackberry isn't as runny as the sourwood, so maybe it won't be a big issue, and perhaps I can reduce them when the dearth hits before sourwood.
There is also the option of a ladder... but it comes with it's own set of problems. Basically you have to lift the full super over you head to walk down the ladder with it.
LadderThere is absolutely no way I can do this safely with a ladder. Not only is that precarious under the best of circumstances, but the area around most of my hives is not level.
if you have the wooden-ware split then recombine later.I don't. I don't even enough boxes for the flow if things keep going like this. I'm going to have to get a few more, but I'd rather not invest in any more bottoms, tops, stands, etc. I just don't want or need this operation to get any larger.
Have you considered selling some nucs or whole hives? In PA we can do that fairly easily. My mentor tells me that it is a matter just getting inspected and then you are licensed.I have, and I don't think you even have to be licensed in NC, but I'm just not really set up for it this season. I'm also not sure about what is more economical, breaking the hives down and selling bees, or letting the hives get big and selling honey. And if possible I'd like to try to manage the hives for honey production because I've never had the opportunity to focus on that before, I've always been mostly concerned with growth.
I talked to my family about it, and what I'm going to do for now is just have my dad help me lift boxes down. He's 6' 4" so I should be able to get to 7 or 8 boxes before he'd have trouble lifting them, and he's almost always outside working on something over the weekend when I typically do inspections. That way I can just try letting the hives get big for this season and see what happens. If it becomes unmanageable then I'll develop a plan to do things differently next season.
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 09:33:44 am »Have you considered selling some nucs or whole hives? In PA we can do that fairly easily. My mentor tells me that it is a matter just getting inspected and then you are licensed.
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FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE / Re: Laser projects
« Last post by BeeMaster2 on Today at 08:52:20 am »Thanks all.
Right now I?m working on a retirement plaque for Judy I have it designed in Lightburn. Just waiting for Judy to bee out of the house long enough to engrave it.
She spent 22 years a the Director of Religious Education at our old church and never received anything for it. Not even a thank you from the priest.
I have been wanting to do this for a long time.
Jim Altmiller
Right now I?m working on a retirement plaque for Judy I have it designed in Lightburn. Just waiting for Judy to bee out of the house long enough to engrave it.
She spent 22 years a the Director of Religious Education at our old church and never received anything for it. Not even a thank you from the priest.
I have been wanting to do this for a long time.
Jim Altmiller
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RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH / Re: I Have Too Many Bees
« Last post by Bill Murray on Today at 08:49:11 am »Ladder, or if you have the wooden-ware split then recombine later.