Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

[Merlyn Votaw]

You have a lot of good pictures Thanks for sharing From what I saw your hives were all a dark color.Most of us here use a light color to reflect the heat more.

[Robbo]

Yea, I have some contacts in the packaging industry - that same ink that is used for printing expiry dates on packets of chips, cereal boxes etc I reckon would be the go.

Thats interesting with the green paint / leaves of tree's etc. I hadnt thought about the efficiency of that paint colour. I just use it purely for camoflage for theft / not alerting the neighbours etc. (I should paint the white insulated lids I have on them too - haha - as they stand out a bit). me personally, Im not a fan of multi coloured boxes - I like everything to be the same etc. The lids I am using are the migratory ones with the air vents in them. The bees seem to block that air flow off with propolis for most of the year, and there is always plenty of bees in the underside of the lid, so the insulation must be doing the trick.

[max2]

Regarding how colour affects temperature have a look here as a guide only:
http://www.colorbondcolours.com/go/h...olours-for-bca

[max2]

"The bees seem to block that air flow off with propolis for most of the year"

Some of my bees also do this ( and I find it a nuisance as they also tend to seal off the AJ beetle traps) while others leave the place as clean as can be.
I'm trying to select splits more from the clean ones.

[Robbo]

Well, not much happening here with the dismal summer. The local guys reckon its the worst production period since the early 1970's.

Hopefully thats the worst I will see!!

On a brighter note, the new hive stencil turned up today, and I gave it a small test drive. Love the new gear!!







And the old ones - not doing them like this anymore

[Robbo]

The latest project around here is a small scale de-humidifying cabinet to reduce the moisture content of some honey crops at different parts of the year.

I'll have the cabinet as a multipurpose unit as well Im thinking - some for wax straining, and wax melting.

1..Buiy a big box


2..Fit out with some outlets for heater lamps, fan, and dehumidifyer unit


3..start looking at electric controls

[Robbo]

Just starting to think about touch screen design for the control unit.


more ideas etc


Still working on the whole process. It sort of looks like it might work - more to come on this.

[max2]

Hi Rob,

my beehouse ( for storage and extraction) is as good as finished. I will take some photos and put them on my website soon.
Good honey flow on at the moment and looks like I will have a pretty good store for winter. Lots of markets coming up and the local IGA is buying a lot and paying a fair price too.
I have no need to reduce humidity/moisture if I take the honey fairly fully capped.If I have a bucket full of honey flowing to slow I place it in the car in the sun. Works well.
Still dealing with the SHB - the Department has sent a letter to all Bee Keepers with some advice. Must be bad if they are getting seriously involved.
Autumn is looking pretty good and I have big hopes for a winter flow and early spring.
max

[Robbo]

After all the posts on here I knew I had to make the aussie equivalent of a presto pot. This ones the Sunbeam!!



Im still fiddling around with cleaning wax. The latest trial for me is the shortening filters in paper.

[Robbo]

My labourer is only too happy to help undo the mold's.





We had a small holiday with my mum and dad. I hung around dad while he was doing his bee jobs. This one is supplying a school with bees for their garden / agriculture studies setup

[Robbo]

Hey fella's,
I have been doing my spring and summer bee keeping. I should update my photo blog here a bit more often I reckon.

One thing I have been playing with is a website.

If anyone has a minute or 2 to ckeck it out?? I would like some positive and negative feedback so I can finish that off - cheers for the help!!

www.ballinahoney.com.au

[max2]

G'day Rob,

Looks great. Would love to see more photos.

I've got a website started here: http://ecovillageresearchgroup.com.au/?p=198

Needs more photos

cheers

max

[Slow Modem]

This is an amazing thread to me (but, I've only had one hive for four months so I'm easily amazed). Thank you for sharing some great pictures and ideas.

[Robbo]

Well, after 2 bad wet seasons, this year we have a surplus of honey.

We started selling at the local markets last month (learnt a lot the first day), and had our second market day today. Here's a few pics of our stall

Its amazing how many local people, and also visitors to our town want to talk about bees!!! I love talking about the subject anytime anyhow, but today my lungs and throat are sore I spoke so much. Brings a tear to the eye how concerned people are with whats going on with general bee health.

[Robbo]

Well my apiary bees have good taste!!

Had a little helper while bottling off the other night for the market stall - had to fish her out

[max2]

"Well, after 2 bad wet seasons, this year we have a surplus of honey."

Hi Rob,

yes, an excellent season here too. The Brush Box have been flowering ( maybe the first time in 8 years?) and bees are still bringing it in. We took off 260 kg of honey off just the wife and i with our little set-up. Working well but still room to improve. I have been bottling and labelling and cleaning up....and in the next couple of days we will be starting again. Not complaining!

I will have a bit of a stockpile for when the rain hits. Some I will store on the concrete floor and it should go crystalised. Sells well. I may have to have a look for another outlet. We sell at two markets - smaller then your market but we sell about 60 to 80 kg of honey on a good Saturday morning. We charge a bit more then you do - $ 6.00 per 500g and $ 10.00 for a kg and we give a dolar back when they return the glass jar. We can get more then 20 jars returned on some days - a guarantee to make another sale. We also sell Beeswax Candles. A good product at Christmas but at other times a little slow.
Our main product is vegetable seedlings which we grow ( and some buy in in bulk).
The combination of seedlings and Honey is a good way to get return sales. Most are regulars which come to each market and buy.
I put out a little Gardening Newsletter ( for free) and this allows me to keep in touch with my clients.

[Moon]

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing all the wonderful photos Robbo. When I make it back down to Oz to see family maybe I could twist your arm into letting me swing out and check out your operation?

[Robbo]

Yea, that would be cool
We have a few months left to go on house renovations, but after that, that would be great.
Will have to get you working though - haha - just getting to that stage where I am doing something bee related every weekend of the year

We are getting into the Market thing Max. Its definitely better when you are the only bee keeper there. We have met so many great people wanting to have a bee chat. Im 1/2 way thru getting on to facebook with 'ballina honey' as that will be my 'flyer' I think. People are coming around to supporting local products so thats bee awesome.

[Robbo]

Went out to one of my apiary sites for a peek today - It was so hot!!! - Hot and no wind.

Check out those beards!!

I ran out of frames and spare supers 3 weeks ago (when I thought the last 20 would 'do me') - haha

I flipped out the entrance reducres while I was there.

[Robbo]

If there was a thread for 'best thing you bought for beekeeping in 2011', this would be mine.

One of these scissor carts. Im amazed how much I use it!!

This one pumps up enough to get a super to the bench, then can go on top of that super which is great. It gets a bit hard to pump up with 5 or 6 supers on it, but will apparantly lift 350kg's (umm about 800 pouinds I think??)