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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.

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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...

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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...:-)




Getting Ready for 2016

These two Peak Hives products are just about to be dispatched to our customers who are getting ready for the 2016 beekeeping season.  Thanks to them for ordering during the quieter part of the season!  They are a full sized National Hive in Western Red Cedar with a 14×12 Brood Chamber and one of our popular 6 frame National Nucleus Hives along with a Nucleus Hive Super also in Cedar.  The customer for the Nucleus Hive already had one from us in 2015 and ordered another because he said it had been very useful for queen rearing in his first beekeeping season.

2016 Season Hives

2016 Season Hives

On another note…listening to Inside Science the other day I noticed an interesting piece of work on identifying the curative properties of honey.

Quote from BBC…

“Bees and antimicrobial drugs
The antibacterial properties of honey have been exploited for thousands of years, but now scientists at the University of Cardiff are using honeybees to collect and identify plant-derived drugs which could be used to treat antibiotic resistant hospital pathogens. By screening honey for these plant compounds and identifying the plant through the pollen grains in the honey, researchers can narrow down the active ingredients and even exploit this to get bees to make medicinal honey.”

An interesting part of the report stated that all plantlife in Wales had been DNA fingerprinted so pollen collected from the bees pollen sacs could be DNA matched to the plant it came from…

No doubt that debate will go on but it does lean towards there being something of substance to the Manuka Honey/Hay Fever argument.

 

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.

National Nucleus Hive Options.

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 Hives

National Nucleus Hive Options

National Hive Varroa Floors…

Phew.  Now that the worst of the big freeze appears to be over I can start working away in the workshop again…Next winter I’ll have dry lined it with kingspan insulation (if the temp goes below 5 deg C then glues don’t set which as things stand pretty much closes the workshop down!!!).  Apart from the difficulties that the extreme weather has caused work wise it’s been hard enough just keeping warm at home…Managed thanks to the Husqvarna and a beautiful Jotul 602N.  Best thing my Dad ever bought!!!

Any road up…here’s a couple of Open Mesh Floors…One for a full size British National Hive and one for a National Nucleus Hive…One in Cedar and the other in Red Deal…

I do find the Nuc one cute…there again I need to get out more…

British National Open Mesh Floor with Slide out Tray

British National Open Mesh Floor with Slide out Tray

British National Nucleus Open Mesh Floor

British National Nucleus Open Mesh Floor

Btw,  the jury’s still out for me on the OMF versus Standard Floor…

national hive nucleus roofs

Quick post while I’m having lunch…Here’s a shot of this morning’s activity.  National Hive Nucleus Roofs with the new lock joints.  These are for a couple of orders for 14×12 nucs and standard nucs in red deal.

back to the workshop…

national hive nucleus roof

national hive nucleus roof

14×12 Nucleus Hive dry assembly

Just working on orders and there’s a couple of 14×12 nucs in there in red deal so I’m making up a batch of 5.  Here’s the brood chamber dry assembled.  Back to the workshop now to start on the roofs.

14x12 nucleus hive

14x12 nucleus hive