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Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

49K views 92 replies 30 participants last post by  cerezha 
#1 ·
I'd like to update a thread weekly or fortnightly on whats going on @ my apiary. Bare in mind, Australia is 6 months out of season for you fella's in the states - Im smack in the middle of maintenance time here right now!!


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I run about 10 hives as a hobby on the farm here (Ballina, NSW, Australia) I have a real job that lets me pay for all this - haha.

Anyhow, just got thru making up some bottom boards - I modified them slightly for beetle captruing etc



Knocked together 10 full depth supers, and a few lids I had lying around in the flat. I assemble everything with the crown stapler these days - no nails.



Had to timber bog fill the holes left over from the crown stapler, then give the edges a bit of a rounding off with the sander. A coat of oil based primer (thats the white paint). All the exposed edges get 2 coats of primer. All done with a 3" wide paint brush.



 
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#80 ·
Hey Robbo,
Those plastic? jars with the yellow lids, how much are they, do you have to purchase a large quantity of them? I give my honey away in washed glass jars, but I am having trouble getting access to them as my wife keeps them for jams etc., so there is never enough of them around. So I'm thinking of buying some cheap glass or plastic jars. I have seen the tubs at the bee places but smaller 500g jars would be my preference. I guess they would hold 375ml approx, maybe my wife would use them too. Do you know if they can be washed in a dishwasher, some of those plastic ones don't like the heat.
 
#82 ·
Thanks for the info Robbo, but with only one producing hive I certainly don't need 312 of them! They have some nice looking gear though. Also thanks for the offer of some of your honey, please save your postage, besides, if I try your fine honey I mightn't want to go back to my cloudy, crush and strain variety!
 
#83 ·
Been way too long for an update. Will just throw a bit of text up and a few piccies of whats been happening on the farm.

Got a new shelving unit which is pretty cool. The 2 bottom shelves are for 800 kg, and the rest are 300 kg



Have had a few of the wax catchers center fall out of the pans. Managed to get some new 316 stainless pieces to reinstall with rivets at the next break



Got hold of a all stainless fruit press - this is great!! Turns several days of gravity straining into about 20 minutes. Item will pay for itself in a year I reckon - Really happy with how fast it is

 
#85 ·
. I only found out about the cool suit, and the bee-z smoker thanks to this site. Imported them to Australia, and very happy with both

Hi Rob just had a look at the cool suit also the beez smoker, are they as good as they make out them to be? I am interested in both, but most in the cool suit, also roughly do you remember postage on them, thanks I awat your reply Len
 
#86 ·
Wow! Excellent pictures. I do have to wonder though... I have read that beekeepers should not paint the inside of the boxes (Brood/Supers). In your pictures, it appears that you have painted the inside. Any advantages/disadvantages of doing so? Do you use a special paint?
Again, thanks for sharing this with us. Fascinating!
 
#89 ·
Hey G'day Len. My wife is an Exeter girl (sallys corner road). Have had a few great weekends away at Brigadoon @ Bundanoon. Yea cool suit - still going strong - love it. Beez smoker, still going strong. Can highly recommend both items. Postage was reasonable and I must admit by now is long forgotten. You get what you pay for with long term quality items. I am surprised no one in Australia has picked up being an agent for this stuff - Still, no worries importing like I did.

Havent worried too much about the inside painting of the boxes to be honest. Always seen it done that way. Best part about bee keeping is everyone does it differnt. Water based paint for the final coats - over the original oil based sealer coat - I would like to give the wax dipping a go next time round.

In fact I am not buying any more of these modern boxes. I buy second hand now - preferably +20 years old at least - the prices havent changed for the past 10 years, but the quality is JUNK. I dotn mind paying for good gear, but the modern pine stuff is garbage. What used to be budget with knots and bad fitment, is now what you get for premium in the shops.

Yea workshop press driving the fruit press in stead of the screw is the go - nearly went that way - am happy with the manual version for this year tho - haha - cheers for the interest fella's :)
 
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