peak-hives.co.uk » Cedar

Ashforth Feeders

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:50:48 +0000

The weather’s turned a bit unpleasant here in the Peak and due to my swarm control activities I have a new nucleus colony. I’ve decided to feed them up and made up a pair of Ashforth Feeders, one for a full size National Hive and one for my 5 frame Nucleus Hives. I tried the plastic contact feeders that most of the other suppliers sell and having been warned by experienced beeks that they were rubbish I can confirm from my own experience that they’re right. They are rubbish. I’ve decided to opt for the Ashforth as the best feeder. The other option would be the Miller but according to other beeks they are not as good as they require your hive to be perfectly level (and I know mine aren’t).

They are made of First Grade Cedar and have a bee space underneath to allow the bees maximum access to the syrup. The full size feeder can easily accomodate 10 litres of syrup and the nucleus size around 5 litres. I’ll be adding them as Peak Hives products as soon as the broadband arrives at the new house.

Ashforth Feeders

One BIG Order!

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:52:09 +0000

After dedicating myself to getting up at 5am and finishing in the workshop at 11pm for the last week I’ve finally finished Matthew’s 23 fully assembled Cedar National Hives. That’s 23 National Hive Stands, 23 Varroa Floors, 23 National Brood Boxes, 46 National Supers, 23 Framed and Wired Queen Excluders, 23 Crown Boards with Porter Bee Escapes, 23 National Hive Gabled Roofs and a partridge in a pear tree.

Here’s a piccy of Matthew (and Alexandra, one of mine) who runs Honey Bees At Home just about cramming it all in to a long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter Van. Many thanks to Matthew and all the best with Honey Bees At Home!

I am well and truly knackered but will be making up orders again tomorrow first thing…it’s a good job I love my workshop.

23 Assembled Hives!

Peak District Cedar National Hive

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:32:07 +0000

It’s taken up most of the afternoon but I’ve just been down to Rowsley Sawmill and picked up the latest batch of locally sourced Western Red Cedar. I’ve had a towbar fitted to the Peak Hives Berlingo this morning and then borrowed my brothers 3/4 tonne trailer to pick up the lumber. It will now join the Chatsworth Cedar to be seasoned ready for making up into National Hives. The Chatsworth Cedar is feeling lighter by the day now and I’ve started machining up some hive parts with it. Cedar is an incredibly good wood to work and it’s characteristics are so well suited for beehive construction. Many thanks to Adele and Dave at the Peak Park for helping me get to the trees before they were chopped up for firewood!

Peak District Cedar

Peak Hives Quality Control

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:00:27 +0000

There’s nothing worse than woodworking for leaving you with egg on your face. It happens in even the very best cabinet makers. Just as this standard National Hive floor was about to leave the workshop to be sent out to the customer I decided to lay the tape measure across it and lo and behold it was 8mm short in one dimension! The workshop air didn’t quite turn blue but I did sigh with relief that I wasn’t going to get a call in a couple of days asking why my National Hive floors were different sizes to everyone elses.

oops!

The only solution was to quickly make up another as the rest of the order was ready for delivery.

To err is human.

Air Drying Chatsworth Western Red Cedar

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:35:22 +0000

Whilst the locally sourced timber is sticked and stacked in the now nice and dry spring weather I’ve been conducting a little experiment in timber drying. I cut a piece of the Chatsworth Cedar to the dimensions of a National Hive top or bottom rail and I’ve been taking photos of how it’s gone on weight wise inside a centrally heated house…the difference is dramatic to say the least. From a whopping 372 grammes and feeling like a truncheon it’s now a mere 145 grammes and feeling like a piece of balsa wood. It’s incredibly light. Part of the reason why hives are made out of cedar is that it’s light but the reason why it’s light is because there are lots of air pockets in the timber which gives it another potentially useful property. It’s a good insulator. Nice warm bees in nice light and comfy cedar hives…

Drying Western Red Cedar

Every now and again I go to the lumber stack and ‘heft’ a piece of the Chatsworth cedar and I can feel it getting lighter in weight almost day by day.

A National Hive from Peak District Cedar

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:09:58 +0000

Had a busy and tiring day felling two Western Red Cedar trees with tree surgeons Paul and Dan. The trees had to come down anyway as they were about to topple the chimney stack on the house they were next to. Once they were down I sliced them into National Hive sized logs and then as soon as possible it’s down to Simon at Rowsley Sawmill where they’ll be milled into 2″ boards ready for air drying this summer.

Peak District Western Red Cedar

Here at Peak Hives we’re very keen to obtain locally sourced materials if at all possible and many thanks to Dave for giving the heads up on the trees and to Paul and Dan for letting me come along on the day. Can’t wait to get one of Peak Hives National Beehives made up out of Peak District Cedar.

More locally sourced Western Red Cedar

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:17:40 +0000

Local tree surgeon Paul has contacted me with regard to a couple of Western Red Cedars that he has to fell. They need to come down anyway as they are threatening the buildings nearby. He’s been very helpful and positive about these trees being used for National Hives rather than just burning them as firewood and is in negotiation with the owners now to see if it’s possible to do a deal on their unwanted trees.

Peak District Western Red Cedar

Many thanks to Paul!

Custom made National Nucleus Hives

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:51:06 +0000

These four flat pack cedar national nucleus hives were custom made to the client’s preferred dimensions. Took a little longer than usual as I had to order special meshes for the varroa floors but they’ll be packaged and sent today and I’m sure the customer will be satisfied as will their bees…

custom made nucleus hives

Locally sourced Cedar for National Bee Hives.

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:49:07 +0000

Hi. Dave and Adele at the Peak Park have come up with another Western Red Cedar that is about to be felled. More locally sourced timber for National Hives! I’m very pleased and would like to thank both Dave and Adele for their support for the cottage industry that is Peak Hives. The tree is due to be felled anyway as it’s leaning a bit too close to it’s owner’s conservatory. My opinion is that it’s better used as timber for National Hives than put through one of those awful chipper machines and ending up as garden mulch. I’ll have to arrange milling again into 2″ boards with Simon at Rowsley Sawmill and then it can join the Cedar from Chatsworth that is already sticked and seasoning. It’s not really economically sensible to do this as the time and effort it takes is enormous but there’s definitely a satisfaction in knowing that the timber I’m working came from just down the road rather than the other side of the world.

Here’s a pic.

Locally Sourced Western Red Cedar

National Nucleus Hive Options.

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:41:25 +0000

Here’s a couple of National Nucleus Hives I’ve finished today. On the left a flat pack National Nuc in Red Deal with a standard floor. On the right a fully assembled Cedar National Nuc with Varroa Floor (with slide out tray). Both take 5 Hoffman DN4 frames with an extra 8mm manipulation space.

National Nucleus Hive Options