My 88 year old father-in-law kept bees for 24 years quitting in 1975 after "weevils" got in his hives. I remember his hives from when I started dating his daughter but wasn't interested in beekeeping at that time.
He never bought a package or any pre-made hive component. He found all his bees by cutting bee trees in the mountains of the Bankhead Forest.
Of his 7 hives only 2 deeps remain. He has been very interested in my entry into beekeeping and how my hives are made. He told me today I could have his old "boxes" if I thought I could use them. Here's the pictures I took after I got them home.
Photo 1 & 3 shows the box in comparison to a deep frame of foundation. Photo 2 shows the entrance. The slotted plywood was used to separate the "place the bees lived" from "where the bees put the honey." He said the bees would "build the comb they lived in between the slots cut in the plywood." Slots shown in photo 4 as well. Photo 5 shows the slot size in comparison with a piece of my plastic foundation. Photo 6 shows the two "boxes" and the way he "kept the bees inside while we moved them back to the house" meaning after cutting a bee tree and "drumming" the bees inside the "box."
The honey supers are long gone but were 1 x 4 inch boards made to fit directly over the box shown. He said the bees would almost fill the "super" up and he would "run a butcher knife under the super all the way around and lift it off and put on another one that was empty."
He never bought a package or any pre-made hive component. He found all his bees by cutting bee trees in the mountains of the Bankhead Forest.
Of his 7 hives only 2 deeps remain. He has been very interested in my entry into beekeeping and how my hives are made. He told me today I could have his old "boxes" if I thought I could use them. Here's the pictures I took after I got them home.
Photo 1 & 3 shows the box in comparison to a deep frame of foundation. Photo 2 shows the entrance. The slotted plywood was used to separate the "place the bees lived" from "where the bees put the honey." He said the bees would "build the comb they lived in between the slots cut in the plywood." Slots shown in photo 4 as well. Photo 5 shows the slot size in comparison with a piece of my plastic foundation. Photo 6 shows the two "boxes" and the way he "kept the bees inside while we moved them back to the house" meaning after cutting a bee tree and "drumming" the bees inside the "box."
The honey supers are long gone but were 1 x 4 inch boards made to fit directly over the box shown. He said the bees would almost fill the "super" up and he would "run a butcher knife under the super all the way around and lift it off and put on another one that was empty."