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British National Beehives


Based in a small workshop in Tideswell in the Peak District we make Highest Quality British National Beehives out of 1st grade American Western Red Cedar or High Quality Red Deal according to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) Modified National Hive Plans. Everything we sell we make here in the Peak District. We also stock other items of Beekeeping Supplies including Frames, Foundation Wax and Hive Tools. The driving forces behind peak-hives.co.uk are sustainability and quality workmanship. Sustainability because, well it matters quite a bit we think and quality workmanship because customer satisfaction is paramount.



Cedar Scarcity.

Unfortunately building materials are extremely scarce at the moment and pricing is highly volatile. This goes for Western Red Cedar too. I have decided that until the market settles down I will not be making up any Cedar hives or hive parts. We'll be back in operation once the supply issues have been resolved. Many thanks.

webcam...

Want to see your National Hive being made? Here's what's going on in the workshop right now. The image is updated every 10 minutes during working hours. Click to see full size...

webcam



blog...

The rest of the centre column is an ongoing blog of what's new at peak-hives.co.uk and other items of interest...veg garden...renewables etc, but please don't let reading about the allotment distract you from placing your order...:-)




6 Orders in One Day

We’re very busy at this time of year and things get a bit hectic.  Today I hit the machines early and worked hard to get out as many orders as possible and clear the queue down a little.  None of the orders were for full National Hives but in total I’ve made up 10 Supers, 2 14×12 Brood Chambers, 2 Travelling Screens, a Polycarbonate Quilt, an Apiguard Crown Board and 10 Queen Excluders.  Including packaging up time and booking it in with the couriers etc etc it was a good days work…

Time for a curry!!!

Gearing up…

For the growing season 2014!  The Polytunnel is now up and running after a lot of hard graft.  54 feet by 14 feet so lots of room to grow in.  Apart from the usual toms, cukes, strawberries and peppers the plan is to propagate bee friendly plants for sale through the Peak Hives website.  I’ve started off with Cotoneaster which are now coming on nicely.  We’ve got 8 raised beds each 8ft by 4ft and a couple of smaller ones for the children to learn a bit of horticulture.  One worry is it’s near to our apiary so I’m hoping we don’t have problems with bees getting caught inside.

Peak Hives Polytunnel

Peak Hives Polytunnel

Here’s a picture of recent products coming out of the workshop.  A couple of our popular 6 Frame plus a Dummy Board National Nucleus Hives in Western Red Cedar.  The customer asked for extra height on the stands and also ordered Nucleus Hives sized queen excluders and supers.   We’re getting busier and busier now that the weather seems to be picking up and I’ll probably have to change the turnaround time soon.

Two Nucleus Hives

Two Nucleus Hives

National Hive Observation Brood

This combination of a Cedar National Hive Observation Brood Chamber and Polycarbonate Quilt are to be used by a Beekeeping Association when they run their introductory beekeeping courses later in the Spring.  It should allow the novice beekeepers chance to have a very good look at the colony without actually opening up the hive and disturbing the bees.  We’re getting busier now that the days are starting to lengthen and people are beginning to think about their apiaries once again.  Here in the Peak District there’s still plenty of time for wintery weather so I won’t be going near our bee hives for ages yet.

Observation Brood Chamber

Observation Brood Chamber

 

 

National Hive – 2014

Here at Peak Hives we’re gearing up for the 2014 season here’s the latest delivery of first grade Western Red Cedar delivered to us by our timber supplier.  It really does look super quality material.  After briefly changing suppliers for a cheap deal on short lengths it’s a relief to be back with the supplier who has provided us with top quality timber for a number of years.  We’ve always found that quality of relationship is very important with those who we deal with.

Cedar Delivery

Cedar Delivery

I’ve been asked a few times about whether it’s best to buy Assembled hives or Flat Pack.  I would say that the flat pack option should only be chosen if you’re a competent woodworker with the right tools and a suitable place to assemble.  It’s also useful to have seen a National Hive before or better still already own one.  So if in doubt choose an Assembled National Hive as a safer option and then perhaps if you need to expand your apiary later try a flat pack.

Last year we managed to get approx 120lb of honey from our small apiary and that included leaving 2 full supers on each hive as we nearly lost colonies through starvation due to the late cold snap in April.  Hopefully with the extra stores all our colonies with go through this years winter and we’ll get as good a honey crop as 2013.

Top Bar Hive

One of our existing clients requested this Top Bar Hive.  It’s been a very interesting build and having seen it I’d love to have one myself but alas this is shipping tomorrow to our client.  It’s made of Western Red Cedar and has a hinged viewing panel as well as a Varroa Mesh floor and a mechanism for counting Varroa drop.  About this time of year I can take a little time away from the bread and butter business of National Hive making and take on these ‘specials’.  It has been a bit of a labour of love.  I shouldn’t really have spent so much time on it but pride in my work led me to dedicate perhaps rather more time and effort than I should.

Top Bar Hive in Cedar

Top Bar Hive in Cedar

I can imagine the management of one of these Top Bar Hives is quite different to a National Hive and if I do get time I’ll make myself one for our apiary.  They look fun.

Top Bar Viewing Panel

Top Bar Viewing Panel

It’s near enough Christmas now and any orders received from today onwards won’t be delivered in time for Christmas Day delivery.  We wish all our customers past, present and future a merry Christmas, happy New Year and happy beekeeping for 2014

Nucleus Hive Full Set

This batch of our 6 Frame National Nucleus Hives in Western Red Cedar are going to one of our repeat customers.  They’ve ordered two 14×12 National Nuc Hives and some of our Nucleus Hive Supers to go with them.  Also Ashforth Feeders.  A new item was requested as well.  I’m always happy to accommodate special requests if there’s time and it’s a sensible idea.  This one was for Queen Excluders sized to fit on top of our Nucleus Hives.

Nucleus Hive Full Set

Nucleus Hive Full Set

Nucleus Hive Queen Excluder

Nucleus Hive Queen Excluder

Essentially our customer intends to use our Nucs for full colonies or some such similar idea.  What with the extra size of our Nucleus Hives and the Supers it should be possible.

 

Observation Hive No2

Earlier on in the year we were approached by a visitor attraction to build an observation hive to be installed for public viewing.  We were, as usual, too busy building our National Hives so we couldn’t accommodate them at the time.  Now that the main season is over I can make up special requests and this is the result

Observation Hive 2

Observation Hive 2

It will be wall mounted and takes 3 DN1 brood frames and an SN1 super frame as specified by the customer.  I was concerned that having only 4 frames it might be too small but the client assures me that they have seen similar observation hives run successfully over long periods.  They are also quite well in with local beekeepers so should have assistance on hand should they need it.  I’m currently discussing with the customer as to whether I travel up to the lake district where the attraction is to fit the hive.  Hopefully I will be and can make a weekend of it and do my best to get up Scafell.

 

National Hive Travelling Screen

After having had several customers request these I finally found time to seek out the right mesh and make some up so they’re now added as a Peak Hives product in the left hand column.  In the past I’ve seen some of these done with quite a wide mesh hole.  We’ve chosen to use a small mesh hole to reassure that no bees are going to escape on that journey up the M1.

travelling screen

travelling screen

I’ve also added the National Hive 6″ Roof as a flat pack option.

A Cubic Metre of Cedar

Last order of raw materials for National Hive manufacture this season.  One Cubic Metre of Canadian Western Red Cedar.

A Cubic Metre of Cedar

A Cubic Metre of Cedar

Together with what’s already in the store we should have enough for our National Hive and Nucleus Hive orders up to Christmas.  It means I can spend a bit of time at the end of each day out of the workshop on other projects and the current job is erecting our polytunnel.  54 feet by 14 feet with double doors at either end.  Should be just what we need to extend the growing season up here in the Peak District.  Apart from Strawberries etc we will also be using it to start a micro nursery of bee friendly plants.  I’ve an extensive list of plants sent us by the British Beekeepers Association and need to decide on a couple of dozen which are not too difficult to propagate to get started.

Carnival Float

Here’s our entry for Tideswell and Eyam Carnivals this year.  A friend suggested the theme of bees and beekeeping and I was happy to make up a WBC for a change.  The colony reached about 15 bees in the end and there were a few of us as beekeepers with smokers etc.  All good fun but we didn’t win a prize.  I wasn’t expecting to when we saw the floats other teams had put in.  They spend months in barns making amazing floats.  One lot had converted ride on lawnmowers into the Whacky Races.  Dick Dastardly, Penelope Pitstop, Red Baron, Pat Pending etc…

Peak Hives Carnival Float

Peak Hives Carnival Float

It’s back to the workshop tomorrow.  We still have a large order book for our National Hive products and it will be hard going after the holiday but customers are waiting.

Neonicotinoids on Horizon

Beekeeper and journalist Bill Turnbull has made an interesting program for Horizon re bee decline.

Amongst other reasons for the problems our bees are experiencing presented in the piece was the role of the controvertial pesticide ‘Neonicotinoids’.  They act on the insect nervous system and a compelling piece of evidence was submitted when they showed bee disorientation after exposure to ‘Neonics’.

I’ve grabbed the screen from iplayer showing the flight path of bees exposed to the pesticide and bees who haven’t been exposed. According to the program the test results have been validated using hundreds of bees.

1.  Flight path of bee not exposed to Neonics (found hive through landmark recognition)
Neonicotinoids Free Bee Finds Hive

2.  Flight path of ‘lost bee’ after exposure to Neonics

Neonicotinoids Lost Bee
The program did say that there might be more than one cause for the problems including varroa, intensive farming etc etc but as an interested amateur beekeeper concerned for the environment after seeing this program I think we need to reconsider the use of such chemicals.  After all if it is actually affecting the bees brains might it not be rewiring our own…

Once again at the centre of the controversy is big money.  Bayer/Monsanto.  The UK government lobbied heavily and voted against the current EU 2 year moratorium on the use of Neonicotinoids.

2013 Holiday

Hi.

After a very busy season making our Cedar National Hive beekeeping equipment our annual holidays are coming up so any orders placed from today 02/08/2013 will be made up upon our return in the first week of September.  Many thanks to all our clients new and old.

Nick & Adriana.

Swarm

Got a call today from one of the local Youth Hostels.  They have a healthy colony that for some years has resided in a roof and it had swarmed.  Nick, the manager, called and asked if I could capture the swarm as he was concerned about the youngsters in the hostel.

As quick as I could I got together all the requisite National Hive items and donned my bee suit and headed down there.  Lovely swarm of bees hanging in a tree bough at chest height that was easily pulled down into the hive and snipped off with secateurs.  New colony for our apiary!!!  Tomorrow I’ll be off down to the apiary to put a feeder on and open up the entrance.  With a bit of luck and sugar they’ll build up for the winter and won’t be ‘chasers’.  Last swarm we had were chasing me out of the veg garden.

France hols (2 weeks) beckons and after a busy season we’re all ready for a break.

National 6″ Roof

Added to the hive options and also added into the left hand side bar of the Peak Hives site now is our new 6″ National Roof.  It’s been something asked for several times and I have made it FOC as a special but as it’s a pretty popular option I thought I’d add it to the product line up.

Bees aren’t the only creatures to ‘make increase’ and our expanding brood has ended up in my buying a new ‘people carrier’ vehicle.  Had a tear in my eye when the old Berlingo went but the new car’s been well received by the family so a good buy overall.  Had the PH logo done on the back again by Hotline Signs in Buxton.  Looks a treat.

Peak Hives New Vehicle

Peak Hives New Vehicle

Here’s the latest batch of Western Red Cedar delivered to the workshop.  We now buy it by the cubic metre.  It doesn’t sound like alot but we’ll get quite a few beehives out of the couple of cubic metres in the picture.

2 Cubes of WRC

2 Cubes of WRC

Finally,  here’s a picture of an ‘Apiguard Quilt’.  The customer suggested it and we try to please.  It should do the trick quite nicely as it would allow a quick peek to see if the treatment has been taken without disturbing the colony.

Apiguard Quilt

Apiguard Quilt

Two National Hives and a 14×12 Nucleus

Latest lineup finished today in the Peak Hives workshop. The customer is, I believe, writing an article on beekeeping for a National Sunday Supplement which we’re very excited about. Would be great to see some of our National Hives in a widely distributed Sunday. Apart from our website we don’t advertise and we’re always busy so the thought of a deluge of orders the Monday after publication is a little daunting but in today’s economic gloom it’s definitely better to be worried about having too much work than too little.

Each hive comprises of National Stand, National Brood Chamber, 14×12 Eke, 2 Supers, Framed Queen Excluder, Apiguard Crown Board, Gabled Roof, Ashforth Feeders, Top Bee Space, all in first grade Western Red Cedar. The Nucleus Hive is one of our own popular 6 frames plus the supplied dummy board with a varroa floor again in Cedar.

Sunday-Sup

 

Given that we’re due about a foot of snow overnight it’s unlikely to leave the workshop tomorrow. Just have to work round them until the courier can get!

66 National Hives – One Order!

On Monday I delivered Peak Hives biggest order to date for our Cedar National Hives to our customer in South Wales.  They are involved in a transnational project regarding bees and biodiversity and a part of the project involved running apiaries and educational workshops in their area.  For sensible reasons I won’t say exactly where they are.  They had already taken a delivery last season from us for 33 hives and were happy to then go on to order another larger order.

Many thanks to Rob, Gareth and all involved in the project for placing your orders with Peak Hives.

It’s been a big job for a small business like ours but I finished off the last Varroa Floors on Friday and can now get back to the standard order queue.  Thanks to all Peak Hives customers for your orders and your patience.

National Brood Chamber Cross Section

A very cross section indeed.  I’d made this National Brood Chamber up out of first quality cedar and after sanding it and finishing with metal runners placed it upon the rest of the order I was working on.  Summat not right there!  I’d made the sides about 35mm too short!  So after a mild curse it was destined for firewood.  Makes a nice cross section of a Brood Chamber though so here’s a piccy before it went on the fire.

Brood Chamber Cross Section

Brood Chamber Cross Section

National Observation Hive

One of our school customers wanted an observation hive and sent me an image of one they had seen to see if I could make a copy.  They also wanted it to be compatible with frames taken from their existing Peak Hives National Hive so as to facilitate colony management etc.  The photo they sent me was of a hive based upon the Langstroth so it did take a bit of modifying to make it National Hive compatible but here’s the result.

National Observation Hive

National Observation Hive

 

National Observation Hive

National Observation Hive

 

National Observation Hive

National Observation Hive

As you can see with the hinged doors open and the polycarbonate quilt it will make for easy viewing of the entire colony.  I added toggle latches to hold the floor to the brood chamber and to the modified super above the brood so as to make sure there weren’t any mishaps whilst the hive was being observed.  I’m pleased with the result and think our client will be too.

 

Snow

We’ve been having a nightmare getting deliveries out as we are well off the route the gritters and ploughs cover.  If there’s a hint of snow in the UK Tideswell always gets it bad.

One customer, Jim from Sheffield, decided to pick up his flat pack National Hive from the workshop but he had to abandon his car in the centre of the village and walk the rest of the way.  After boxing up his hive it was clear that carrying it wasn’t on so Jim’s order became the first Peak Hives product to be delivered by sledge.

Sledge Hive

Sledge Hive

Thanks for bringing the sledge back Jim and happy beekeeping!

 

Merry Christmas 2012!

From all of us at Peak Hives to all our customers, past, present and future…have a wonderful Christmas.

Our colonies here in the cold, wet and windy Peak District have been tucked away with a kilo of baker’s fondant and a slab of insulation on top of the crown board.  I’ll heft the hives in Jan 2013 and put more fondant on if needs be.

Here’s hoping all your colonies make it through the winter and ever the optimist let’s look forward to a bumper honey crop for 2013.

Nick, Adriana & Fam

School Apiary

Here’s the latest order being checked over in the workshop.  A complete Apiary for a school in Shropshire.  Comprising 3 fully assembled National Hives in Cedar each with a Varroa Floor, 2 Supers, 14 x 12 brood chamber, Framed Queen Excluder, Apiguard Crown Board with Porter Bee Escapes and a Gabled Roof.  PLus there’s a couple of our popular Nucleus Hives which come with Varroa Floors and a dummy board and will take up to 6 frames of bees.

School Apiary

School Apiary

We get alot of orders from schools and it’s nice to think of our products being used in educating potential future beekeepers.  Given the size of the order I’ll be putting these hives into our van and delivering in person tomorrow.

 

2″ Drop on Varroa Floors

Research conducted by the USDA shows that a 2″ gap between the Varroa floor mesh and the collection tray results in none of the living Varroa mites making their way back to the hive when they drop.  With only a half inch gap all of the living mites that dropped made their way back to the colony with a graduation between the two extremes.

Our Cedar National Hive Varroa Floors already had a wide gap (over 1 3/4″) but I had a request for some 2″ gap floors and have decided to make that the Peak Hives standard as shown in the picture below.  From now on all Peak Hives National Hive Open Mesh Floors will come with the 2″ gap.

2 inch varroa floor drop

2 inch varroa floor drop

Order Queue

Managed to get on top of the order queue.  With 6 large orders going today it means I can mostly concentrate on a huge order that doesn’t need delivering until Jan 2013 and fit in a little time for my own projects…

National Hives aren’t the only thing made from Western Red Cedar.  It’s a bit off topic for a National Hive maker but here’s how our Freedom 15′ Cedar Strip Canadian canoe is shaping up.

Canadian Cedar Strip Canoe

Canadian Cedar Strip Canoe

I’ve been grabbing 20 mins here and there to do work on it now for over a year but now that the high season madness has subsided I can fit in a bit more time along with my son James (part of the idea is that he sees the value in taking time over – and finishing – a project).  We’ve just done fibreglassing and epoxy…When finished I’ll pop some ‘on the water’ piccys on the Peak Hives blog.

I’ve also updated the order turnaround time in the right hand column and it’s now approx 2 weeks from order to delivery for one of our Cedar or Red Deal National Hive products.

Double Brood Nucleus Hive

We’re back from our annual family trip to the Vendee and back into the workshop.

This client likes to use a double brood chamber on his nucleus colonies and asked if we could make up an extra brood chamber in nucleus size.  We’re always keen on custom orders and here’s the result…

Double Brood Nuc

Double Brood Nuc

As with all Peak Hives products it is manufactured to National Hive standard dimensions.  But we do our Nucleus Hives for 6 frames plus a dummy board (supplied) for easier manipulation.

Bees in the Belfry

What do you get when you cross-pollinate bees and the Church?  A Peak Hives National Hive on top of Manchester Cathedral!

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral

 

Adrian (Peak Hives customer and also an Honorary Canon at the Cathedral) emailed me…

‘…The project is beginning to take shape now. Manchester Cathedral is very much a working cathedral – very involved in the city and highly active at a social level.  We have a Volunteer Project – for young people struggling to get a step on the ladder of life. The Cathedral Apiary project is part of that.  We will be training up individuals in beekeeping – but there is a level of involvement beyond that.  We will take the different elements of it – building hives/frames etc, managing the hives, extracting and selling honey, and use of other products of the hive –  as a way of getting people to learn how to start and work up a project and follow it through – so that they can use these skills in other fields.  It will be a rolling programme of development…’

Many thanks Adrian for choosing Peak Hives to supply the project.

Nick & Adriana.

Nucleus Hive – The Full Set.

Quick update and a piccy.  We’re still busy but will soon thankfully be taking a couple of weeks holiday in the Vendee (and really looking forward to it).  The picture is of one of our 6 Frame Nucleus Hives but this time the customer ordered the full set.  From the bottom up…Nucleus Hive Stand with Splayed Legs and Landing Board, Nucleus Hive Varroa Floor, Brood Chamber (which comes supplied with a Dummy Board for easier manipulation), Nucleus Hive super, Nucleus Hive Ashforth feeder, Crown Board and Deep Roof with enough space to take a feeder.

Nucleus Hive

Nucleus Hive

Nucleus Colonies Available

Our bee breeder Helen has some strong nucleus colonies available for pick up over the next couple of weeks.  You can email me at nicholas@localhost and I’ll pass on details or visit her new website at Helen’s Living Garden.   The nucs are Buckfast x Caucasian bees on at least 6 frames with all stages of brood with stores and a marked home bred queen. All in accordance with FERA recommendations for nuclei sales.  Each nucleus will have been treated against varroa prior to collection.

Nucleus Hive Super

Time to respond to customer requests.  I’ve had numerous enquiries as to whether I’d make a ‘Super’ for a Nucleus Hive.  Well here it is (See pic below).  It’s sized to sit atop of our 6 Frame Nucleus Hive and comes with fitted metal runners.  The work involved in making one is more or less the same as for a full sized National Hive Super so unfortunately they can’t be sold for half price for the small amount of material that’s saved.  But they’ve been requested a good few times now and we try our best to satisfy demand.

Nuc Super

Nucleus Hive Super

 

They are now available to purchase in the left hand column.  All the best and happy beekeeping.  Nick and Adriana.

Two National Nucleus Hives

Quick shot of the order finished today.  Two Nucleus Hives in Cedar with Varroa Floors and our new Splayed Leg Hive Stands.  At Peak Hives we put as much work and attention to detail in making our Nucleus Hives as we do into making our full sized National Hives.  In fact the time it takes making one is not far off about the same as making a full sized hive as they have essentially all the same components but scaled down.  Stand, Varroa Floor, Brood Chamber, Crown Board and Roof.

Two Nucs

Two Nucs

All the best.  Nick.

National Brood Chambers

This stack of National Hive Brood Boxes in Red Deal has just been completed and is now ready for putting on a pallet for delivery to our beekeeper customer in Herts.  After sizing it up for delivery it was decided that a single pallet would be better as it would have taken 8 individual packages to be sent by the normal courier route.

National Brood Chambers

National Brood Chambers

We did have a relatively quiet period in November when I managed to get more or less up to date with the order queue but with the new season that’s now history and we’re as busy as heck and I’m currently working 7 days a week in the workshop trying to get on top of the workload.  Thankfully Peak Hives tends to attract customers that understand that when ordering from a cottage industry there may be a wait between clicking ‘buy now’ and delivery.  We really do appreciate our clients patience.  Our customer satisfaction rate suggests they think it’s worth it.

 

The Honey Man – Tideswell Theatre

Coming to Tideswell on 10th May – The Honey Man, by New Perspectives Theatre Company, about a bee keeper.

A four star review in The Guardian today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/mar/22/the-honey-man-review?INTCMP=SRCH

Splayed Legs Hive Stand

I’ve been asked a number of times for these so I set aside some workshop time to make up the required jigs and ensure that they could be manufactured to a consistent high standard.  That done I have now added them as a product in the left hand column and they are also an option on our National Hives.  Apart from looking good, the splayed legs add stability and the longer landing board should be appreciated by both bees and beekeeper alike.

Splayed Legs Hive Stand

Splayed Legs Hive Stand

Baker’s Dozen

Of National Nucleus Hives in Western Red Cedar.  These 13 were ordered to rejuvenate a Channel Island Beekeeping Association’s equipment inventory.  Modesty aside I think they look a treat and hope that the clients will be as pleased with them as I am.  Our 6 Hoffman Frame plus Dummy Board (which comes supplied with the nuc) configuration is proving a popular product and the fact that Peak Hives supplies them with the option of a Varroa Floor adds further benefit.  Anyway, enough banging our drum here’s a piccy of them prior to shipping by pallet…

Jersey Nucleus Hives

Jersey Nucleus Hives

Cleaner Cuts

Since starting National Hive production at Peak Hives I’ve used my trusty Sedgwick morticing machine to cut the slots for the rails to sit into brood boxes and supers.  Cedar is an extremely light wood with air between the fibres therfore affording extra insulation to bees housed in a cedar hive, BUT that lightness means that on occasion the morticer can sometimes cut/crush it’s way through the timber rather than just cutting.  The image below illustrates the problem…

National Hive Rail Slots

National Hive Rail Slots

 

Time for a Dado head!  They’re not normally available here in the UK because of our Health and Safety laws but I’ve been searching ebay for a while and found one.  After making up a custom jig and some more fettling it’s doing a grand job.  Nice clean precise cuts every time and it’s also slightly quicker.

 

Dado Head

Dado Head

 

Custom Varroa Floors

Our client wishes to place his apiary with the back of his hives against a limestone wall.  After having picked up his original order for a National Hive in Cedar with a standard Varroa Floor he realised that the slide out Correx tray meant that his hives would have to be 1/2 metre away from the wall.  After a quick consultation with us we’ve come up with these bespoke Open Mesh Floors.  On one the tray slides out to the left and on the other it slides out to the right allowing two hives to be inspected from a central position.  We always try to meet any special requirements if we can.  If the customers happy, we’re happy.

 

Custom Varroa Floors

Custom Varroa Floors

 

Hoffman Frames

Finally got round to making all the jigs and workarounds to make the production of Hoffman Frames viable.  They’re now added to the frames section in the left hand column.  We’re offering our frames in flat packs of 10 or 50 and the Hoffmans are available in standard National Hive Brood Box size and 14×12.  All our frame packs come supplied with frame nails.

Hoffman Frames

Hoffman Frames

As is the case with all our National Hive products every stage from raw material to completed frame is done in our workshop in Tideswell.

 

Christmas orders 2011

We’ve had a number of enquiries as to when is the last date for ordering Peak Hives National Hive products to ensure timely delivery for giving as Christmas presents this year.  Up at the top of the page from now until around Christmas time there’ll be a ‘last order date’ which will be continually monitored and updated to ensure delivery in time.

Hope that helps.

6 Frame Nucleus Hive!

Here at Peak Hives we take product development seriously.  When we get National Hive suggestions from customers they are always considered carefully and incorporated into our product line if they’d be a useful addition to the beekeeping experience.  Hence the new Peak Hives Nucleus Hive.

6 Frame Nucleus Hive

6 Frame Nucleus Hive

The most noticeable improvement is our new Nucleus Hives have room for 6 frames instead of the previous 5.  But also we’ve built in room to add a dummy board (which comes included) alongside the 6 frames to make inspection easier.

As can be seen from the photos there’s the optional 7 litre Ashforth Feeder sized to sit perfectly on top of the brood area.  The other feeding option is provided by the feed hole in the crown board which allows the use of a contact feeder should you prefer.  Also optional is the Nucleus Hive stand with landing board again sized to sit perfectly under the hive.

 

6 Frame Nucleus Hive

6 Frame Nucleus Hive

We’re the only National Hive makers to incorporate a Varroa Floor with our Nucleus Hives and with the new 6 frame Nucleus Hives and that will continue.  Whether a hive is for a nuc or a large colony it’s always useful to be able to inspect for Varroa infestation.  As can be seen in the photo we use yellow correx trays in our Open Mesh Floors to aid visual identification of the mite.  The standard floor will also continue as an option should you prefer.  Both floors come with an entrance block.

 

Nucleus Hive Varroa Floor

Nucleus Hive Varroa Floor

And of course we’re offering the new product in standard National Hive brood size and 14×12.  All in Western Red Cedar or the more economical Red Deal.

Frames and Dummy Boards

Just added Frames and Dummy Boards to the Peak Hives product list.  They can now be purchased from the left hand column along with all other Peak Hives National Hive products.

These two products have been requested umpteen times.  Dummy Boards present no problem it’s just that I’m so busy with existing orders it takes some time for me to fit into the work schedule making up anything new.

Dummy Boards

Dummy Boards

Frames are another matter.  Each frame consists of 6 seperately machined elements and yet they command such a low selling price.  I’ve been working on this problem for a while and whilst it’s been sorted some time ago for supplying my own apiary I have been wary of offering them as a PH product up until now.  Various jigs have been designed and made and then remade and then again reworked but I’m now finally confident that they can be viably produced in batches meaning I’m not having to work for two penneth an hour.

DN1 Frame Pack

DN1 Frame Pack

So far we’re offering the bread and butter DN1 and SN1 frames in packs of 10 in the flat.  Hoffman brood frames will come before the new 2012 season.

Alea Iacta Est.

Peak Hives Nucleus Colonies

For the upcoming 2012 season Peak Hives has joined forces with a local bee breeder and will be supplying Nucleus Colonies of bees.  We still have to cross some ‘t’s and dot some ‘i’s but if you’re interested in a ‘nuc’ then please email.  Our bee breeder is very experienced and has invested recently in some Buckfast Queens to breed from for the next season.  More on this soon…

2011 Photo Competition Winners.

The season’s nearly over here in the Peak District.  Time to pop some Apiguard on the hives and get things ready for the winter.  We took over 200lb of honey off our 5 colonies and we’re jarring up to sell through local outlets.  James and Alexandra are already planning what to buy with their ‘honey money’.

Anyway to ease a bit of the upcoming winter gloom here’s the winning entries for our photo competition.  We have had tons of entries and it’s been VERY hard work to come up with 3 winners.

1st Prize of a complete Peak Hives Nucleus Hive goes to Paul M for this shot.  It’s just fantastic and I’ve even incorporated it into the PH banner at the top of the website.  Many thanks Paul.

Paul-M-1st

Paul-M-1st

Second prize (and it was VERY VERY hard deciding between 1st and 2nd) goes to Cora M.  Just a great image!  PH didn’t supply the supporting cast by the way and the pyrography must be all Cora’s work too.  Brilliant and thanks for the photo!  An assembled cedar super will be on it’s way.

Cora-M-2nd

Cora-M-2nd

Third goes to (this was another really hard decision as there was a super Christmas image in contention) Stephen S for this image.  Also on it’s way will be an assembled cedar super.

Stephen-S-3rd

Stephen-S-3rd

Many, many thanks to all the PH customers who participated.  It was a bit of fun and it worked well so I’ll probably do something similar next season.

Bearing in mind our order queue it’d be appreciated if the winners could be patient in receiving their prizes.  I promise that they will turn up in good time for the 2012 season.

New Product and 2011 Holiday.

Whenever I visit an experienced beekeeper I like to see how they operate and what modifications they have made to their National Hives to see if there’s an opportunity to usefully expand the Peak Hives product range. I don’t want to manufacture anything that isn’t good for practical beekeeping. On a recent visit to one of the Chesterfield BKA members apiary I noticed that he was using polycarbonate quilts. I’ve seen them before, of course, but having received the stamp of approval of a beekeeper with many years experience I decided to add them to the PH product line.  Framed in Cedar here’s No 1 in our apiary…

Polycarbonate Quilt

Polycarbonate Quilt

Peak Hives polycarbonate quilts are now available to purchase in the left hand column.

We’re off on our annual holiday tomorrow.  Back in 2 weeks to apply the Apiguard and resume production.

East Africa Appeal Auction

An attempt to raise some funds for a good cause.  Never tried anything like it before.  Click the Link below to go to the ebay page…

Auction on Ebay to raise funds for DEC East Africa Appeal

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120748180169&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Quick Update

We’re very busy!!!  Lots of National Hive products being made up and sent out to PH customers.  I’ve had to put the mobile phone on one side to allow me to maximise time in the workshop so apologies if I don’t answer.  Best bet is to email and we’ll try to answer asap.

First pic is of a machinery upgrade.  I’ve had my tenoning machine for some time now and it’s served me well.  It had old style cutting heads but they are now illegal and they also require sharpening quite frequently so I’ve bitten the bullet and bought some new TCT cutting heads made by Whitehill.  They are the business!  Nice clean cuts every time and they won’t shoot out a piece of high speed steel at 100mph to boot.

Tenoner Upgrade

Tenoner Upgrade

Next is an upgrade that I’ve been looking to do for a while but have only just found a supplier.  Flat pack hives don’t look their best if they are made up with clout nails.  I’ve been on the lookout for galvanised lost head nails for some time.  Found them!  So all Peak Hives flat packs will now be supplied with galvanised nails.

Nail Upgrade

Galvanised Hive Nails

Frames are on the way…DN1 and SN1 are up and running.  Will add as a PH product after I’ve made up a few hundred…

Frames!!!

And as usual I like to put a piccy of some recent orders made up in the PH workshop.  Here’s a load of National Hive equipment in the newly tidied storage area awaiting dispatch.

Latest orders

Latest orders

 

That’s it.  Workshop tomorrow.  Working for yourself has many benefits but one can’t shake off the feeling that you should be in there all the time.

PS.  Don’t forget the photo competition!!!

Too busy to post!!!

No updates recently as I’m flat out in the workshop making up orders…will put a posting on here in the next few days when time permits…

 

Varroa Floor Improvement

From now on the slide out trays used for Varroa inspections on Peak Hives Open Mesh Floors will be made from 4mm Yellow Correx rather than the 5mm ply previously used.  This change applies to full National size Varroa Floors and our Nucleus Hive Varroa Floor.

Open Mesh Floor Improvement

Open Mesh Floor Improvement

At Peak Hives we take suggestions/requests from our customers seriously.  Generally speaking I’d say that if a customer suggests an improvement it doesn’t always register as I’m so busy working on orders that product modification isn’t foremost in my mind  but if it’s asked for again then I try to stop what I’m doing and give the matter some serious consideration and come to a decision.

The main reason for this change to Yellow Correx slide out trays is better visibility as compared to the ply trays I previously manufactured.  It is much easier to spot a Varroa Mite against the Yellow Correx background than against the purpleish coloured ply.

Of course if you’re a previous Peak Hives customer and would like a Yellow Correx slide out tray then just get in touch and we can sort you out with a new tray at cost.

14×12 National Hives

The season is more or less upon us and I’m too busy to take photos of everything leaving the workshop and blog it but here’s another recent order.  The customer is moving from standard brood box size to 14×12 brood boxes.  He had two national hives from us last season but this year wishes to move to 14×12 and expand his apiary.  So there’s two fully assembled hives in cedar with 14×12 broods, a nucleus hive, an ashforth feeder and two ekes to convert his standard broods purchased last year to 14×12 size.

14x12 Hives and Ekes

14x12 Hives and Ekes

 

After cocking up the first attempt at making the ekes (my bees have to suffer once again…) I’m now very happy with them.  They just drop into the standard brood box (after removing previous metalwork of course) and you have a 14×12 brood chamber…

I’ll be able to join the debate as to whether 14×12 or brood and a half is better later in the year as I’m going to be running both side by side this season.

Little ‘n’ large

A couple of hives finished today.  On the left is a five frame National Nucleus Hive suitable for 5 frames plus 8mm ‘wiggle’ room.  On the right a full sized National Hive also from first grade cedar.  Comes with a Stand with Landing Board, Varroa Floor, Standard Brood Chamber, A Framed wired queen excluder, two Supers, An Apiguard Crown Board and a Standard 4″ roof.

little-n-large

little-n-large

These are to go tomorrow to a repeat customer.  It is very rewarding to find that many Peak Hives customers are satisfied with their first order and purchase again.

All the best.  Nick and Adriana.

Beautiful Apiary!

A much valued Peak Hives customer has sent me this stunning photo.  It’s two Peak Hives Nationals painted up in white and set in his beautiful garden.  I think the white works really well here and paint is also the best protection for any outside woodwork including hives.

Beautiful Apiary

Beautiful Apiary

 

Aesthetically it very much puts my apiary to shame…but you know what they say… ‘cobbler’s children…’

Isle of Wight Order

Still busy up here and here’s a quick picture of the order made up over the weekend (Yes including Sunday)…The order was for 3 14×12 National Hives in red deal each including a Varroa floor, a 14×12 Brood Chamber, Framed Queen Excluder, Two Supers, a Standard Crown Board and a Standard 4 inch roof.  Sunday working isn’t so bad when you love your job!

Isle of Wight Order

Isle of Wight Order