Ready to escape the site with a load of honey, bees busily trying to get in any cracks and steal some of it back.
Should be a ton or so of (hopefully) manuka.
Should be a ton or so of (hopefully) manuka.
Apiary Diary January 2021
- Thread starter Grant
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it freaks me out looking at that photo !
nothing gets me stressed as much as robbing !
nothing gets me stressed as much as robbing !
It probably freaked out the dairy owner when A stopped for a milk shake too.
Let's just say I was glad to get out of there 
.
I got these new box covers with kind of escape things that let the bees out but not in, so I stopped a few paddocks down and had my lunch, then drove home.
Unloaded with the forklift and removed the covers, hardly any bees in the boxes.
.I got these new box covers with kind of escape things that let the bees out but not in, so I stopped a few paddocks down and had my lunch, then drove home.
Unloaded with the forklift and removed the covers, hardly any bees in the boxes.
I like the sound of that more!Let's just say I was glad to get out of there
I got these new box covers with kind of escape things that let the bees out but not in, so I stopped a few paddocks down and had my lunch, then drove home.
Unloaded with the forklift and removed the covers, hardly any bees in the boxes.
Just incase anyone wants to know, here's a link to the covers
www.beequip.nz
Technoset Bee Escape Cover
Technoset Bee Escape Cover among Bee Escapes reflecting the future of novel bee products by Beequip. We are quality suppliers of beekeeping supplies in NZ.
www.beequip.nz
Robbers in the boxes don't necessarily leave as soon as you move so if I'd driven straight home there would have been bees left for quite a few km's. I had to drive through a small town about 8 km's down the road, therefore I stopped in a paddock for lunch which was about a 1/2 km away from the apiary, which gave most of the robbers time to exit and leave, and new robbers took a while to find me, then after that, a while to figure out how to get in through the escapes, I don't think many did. So by the time I made it to the town it was pretty much a non issue, although I wouldn't have stopped for a milkshake, much as I would have liked to LOL.
thats always the problem of one man band. its really tough doing it by your self. you often spend so much time on site the bees get worked up.
that stacking didn't help
Exactly right Tristan. I had to load a few boxes on the deck, then jump on the deck and load them onto the pallets. No way to keep everything covered, all the time, there was stuff exposed almost continously.
As you say, problem of being a one man band. However the hives are strong and will not get robbed, give it a few days and all will be right back to normal.
As you say, problem of being a one man band. However the hives are strong and will not get robbed, give it a few days and all will be right back to normal.
In my truck today, I caught up to a ute load of hives, next thing 'splat splat splat', I couldn't bear to keep killing them, so I backed it off!
Probably same reason I am...I used to be 7'2" but spent so much time tramping with a heavy pack I'm now 5'9". I could only imagine what bee hives do to a man but now know ... which is what I tell my kids when they tell me I'm getting shorter. They then tell me that explains my expanding girth. Mass has to go somewhere.
So ..... we is busy as bees . All our mates have been chasing the Manuka, and I think it fizzed. So we have been shagging the donkey with access to empty sites and clover going ballistic, Kamahi has done it's thing and the Rata doing very nicely , Thankyou.
The only issue we have is drums.
We ordered 120 drums off Visypak last week, were a bit slow in paying the invoice, and they sold the drums on us . So now have to wait in line while they crank up another production run , which is'nt ideal when you have 3000 litres of granulating honey sitting in the bulk tank.
Sometimes this country is very backward in coming forward.
The only issue we have is drums.
We ordered 120 drums off Visypak last week, were a bit slow in paying the invoice, and they sold the drums on us . So now have to wait in line while they crank up another production run , which is'nt ideal when you have 3000 litres of granulating honey sitting in the bulk tank.
Sometimes this country is very backward in coming forward.
@Alastair , for most of the time I admire you how hard you still go. Other times I'm just speechless.
However, my 2 cents say...... I would not imagine someone like you(with all the bells and whistles) to struggle with those supers.
Rather I will imagine that you have micro pallets(the size of a bottom board - 18mm ply with 2 legs) and the lifting gear attached to your crane. Build 2-3 stacks of 5-6 supers on micro pallets with the lids on and use your crane to put them up on the truck.
Meanwhile I wish I have proper tools. Recently I had to move my hives within the same apiary like 100m(lovely neighbour had beepoo on the washing - they didn't have in the past so.....???). All the supers on, one man show and one wheelbarrow. I walked 17km(mobile phone says). Unfortunately not all the bees followed me and 2 days later I discovered a very large cluster of foragers left behind, all on a tree branch. Lucky me, they were waiting 1.5m from the ground. A massive cluster, that needed 6 boxes. I had 2 small splits with one EQC each and I added 2 boxes with frames on top of them.
On Sunday I had a look and one colony has a nice VQ while the other one had a beautiful emerged QC so the virgin must be there. I still wait until the Qs will lay and I will move those hives too. All those 17km wheelbarrowing I was dreaming about a setup like yours - solid ute and a crane.
However, my 2 cents say...... I would not imagine someone like you(with all the bells and whistles) to struggle with those supers.
Rather I will imagine that you have micro pallets(the size of a bottom board - 18mm ply with 2 legs) and the lifting gear attached to your crane. Build 2-3 stacks of 5-6 supers on micro pallets with the lids on and use your crane to put them up on the truck.
Meanwhile I wish I have proper tools. Recently I had to move my hives within the same apiary like 100m(lovely neighbour had beepoo on the washing - they didn't have in the past so.....???). All the supers on, one man show and one wheelbarrow. I walked 17km(mobile phone says). Unfortunately not all the bees followed me and 2 days later I discovered a very large cluster of foragers left behind, all on a tree branch. Lucky me, they were waiting 1.5m from the ground. A massive cluster, that needed 6 boxes. I had 2 small splits with one EQC each and I added 2 boxes with frames on top of them.
On Sunday I had a look and one colony has a nice VQ while the other one had a beautiful emerged QC so the virgin must be there. I still wait until the Qs will lay and I will move those hives too. All those 17km wheelbarrowing I was dreaming about a setup like yours - solid ute and a crane.
Fine weather here in the valley, Rata not looking that specatacular with over 300 hives in the valley now it will be interesting to see how much pure rata comes off
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