[Michael Palmer]

A recent thread entitled "Hive Feeding System" got me thinking...and remembering.

What hive hardware or furniture can you remember that was around for awhile and now gone? What management techniques were popular and now no longer practiced?

I remember one piece of beekeeping hardware that was advertised back in the 70's, that supposedly stopped swarming. The "No Swarm Cluster Frames" were advertised for years in every bee magazine. They were similar in shape to a follower board, but had slots to allow bees to pass through. They looked a bit like a plastic queen excluder, but hung vertically, one between each comb in the broodnest.

I inherited a box of them from somebody long forgotten. I don't know anyone who ever used them, and I've never used them...they're in my museum.

 

[Fusion_power]

I remember the no swarm cluster frames which I once asked an experienced beekeeper about. He said they were junk that caused brood to freeze in early spring. Quite a few people must have bought them, they were advertised for about 20 years.

I would put the jumbo hive in the category along with most hive modifications such as the Stewarton hive that have been tried over the years. Someone comes along every few years and decides to build a jumbo thinking it is somehow new or improved over current designs. I can point out several advantages jumbos have over Langstroth size boxes, but those advantages are countered by the weight of a full jumbo which can top 150 pounds.

There was also the solar cooled hive which had a solar electric panel tied to one or more muffin fans in a deep brood chamber on top of the colony. The intent was to suck cool air in at the bottom of the hive and vent it at the top.

I would probably put follower boards in this category, not because they are unused today, but because they are no longer used the way they were described in the early literature. At the time, they were intended to constrict the broodnest which was claimed to reduce swarming and improve wintering success.

Do you remember the "Bee Master Super Queens" from the same time frame?

 

[Michael Palmer]

There was also the solar cooled hive which had a solar electric panel tied to one or more muffin fans in a deep brood chamber on top of the colony. The intent was to suck cool air in at the bottom of the hive and vent it at the top.

I remember that one. It was made here in Vermont...I knew the advertising exec who promoted it.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Do you remember the "Bee Master Super Queens" from the same time frame?

I don't.

 

[Pete O]

Actually I built some solar muffin fan cooling stages but it hasn't reached temps where they were needed. The hives seemed to cool off sufficiently with simply a stage of screened 2" vent holes located below the top cover. Perhaps this summer will be hot enough to justify connecting the two 2" fans to a solar panel; more likely I'll never connect them to a solar panel.

 

[Vance G]

When I worked for an old commercial beek in the early seventies, his equipment was fascinating to me. Every style of frame imaginable. I always wanted to 'collect' things like frames of all aluminum comb that were mixed in, and other oddities. I was afraid to ask and not a thief so I missed that opportunity.

 

[sqkcrk]

Menthol Crystal Baggies? Are those still sold by equipment suppliers?

 

[Vance G]

Yes, I just saw some yesterday in new Blues sky or brushymountain catalogs.

 

[wildbranch2007]

the precursor to the small cell frames for varroa , the original plastic frames that were tried for varroa were extra large cell, they came from germany I believe and were larger cells than normal, the thinking was the extra food would decrease the time to hatch and you would end up with less mites. I got a few deeps of these when a friend gave up bees, never used them and they went on the scrap heap, should have saved them I'm sure over time they will come around again. expensive too.

 

[RayMarler]

I remember Steve Taber's Ultra Yellow bees. They were too, very light golden yellow, much more striking than today's Cordovan bees.

I also remember and used the Hogg Half Comb Cassette system of comb honey, I have not been able to find them available any more.

I would also put the Drone trap, some call it the Queen and Drone trap, for the front of the hives. I don't see them for sale in any of the supply houses I frequent. The only time I've seen them in use was in Sue Cobey's bee yard at UCD here in Davis, California. She used them as drone traps for use in her instrumental insemination of honey bee queens there in Davis, CA.

I have a tool for helping newbees to mark queens, it is a 1/8" mesh wire, round, about the size of a quarter, maybe larger, that has a rim around it with a short 2 inch handle. The wire was coned up on one side sightly. It was used to pin the queen on the comb and then you can mark her through the 1/8" mesh wire. I've not seen that one for sale in a few years either. I suspect that some queens may have been damaged from pushing down on her too hard, but this is just a supposition on my part.

 

[snl]

I also remember and used the Hogg Half Comb Cassette system of comb honey, I have not been able to find them available any more.

Search BS ....in the last couple of days there are posts about where you can still get them. Herman ??? bought the rights and is selling them now.

 

[RayMarler]

Yes SNL, I saw that thread, but the web page link shows only honey comb products for sale, not the actual supers or refill kits. No matter, as I do cut comb honey instead now, but the Hogg system was pretty nice and made a very good looking and marketable product.

 

[snl]

Call Herman......he has it all....supers, refills, ribbons everything. Tell him that his website is misleading...

 

[TWall]

Ray,

It seems to me I have seen that Betterbee has the Hogg system now.

Tom

 

[TWall]

I am not sure if this is the same solar ventilation unit or not. But, Simpson's list one in their catalog. Here is a link to a pdf, scroll down to page 4. No pictures.

http://www.simpsonsbeesupply.com/BEECAT_2014.pdf

Tom

 

[Michael Palmer]

Yes, Bee Cool was the one.

 

[Michael B]

I also remember and used the Hogg Half Comb Cassette system of comb honey, I have not been able to find them available any more.

I just received a Facebook post from Betterbee and that they are retuning and they will be carrying them.

 

[loggermike]

"Do you remember the "Bee Master Super Queens" from the same time frame?"

I do. They ran full page adds with a picture of a hive stacked way up with supers next to one with just a few, proudly proclaiming this was the difference between their(overpriced) queens and the other guys queens. Yeah right.There are still hucksters in this business!

How about durajunk? Is Dadant still selling this? I have a wedge insertor tool somewhere collecting black widow nests.

 

[beeware10]

back in the 70's kelly came out with a big plastic bag that held one deep frame. a big rubber band went around it you put it in the hive and filled it with syrup. was not a bad idea but any sharp corner or nail caused them to leak. we used them one year in sc and gave up on them. the bag expanded when filled killing bees and brood on the frames next to it. as to the future my guess would be top bar beekeeping and small cell. lol

 

[Vance G]

Loggermike I remember UPGRADING to duragilt from wired medium brood. Duragilt is fine once you get it drawn. I just remember how tedious embedding wire was and the duragilt was just so darn much faster to put in. I have about 30 pounds of it so I guess I will be using it for a while in my now hobbyist world.

"Do you remember the "Bee Master Super Queens" from the same time frame?"

I do. They ran full page adds with a picture of a hive stacked way up with supers next to one with just a few, proudly proclaiming this was the difference between their(overpriced) queens and the other guys queens. Yeah right.There are still hucksters in this business!

How about durajunk? Is Dadant still selling this? I have a wedge insertor tool somewhere collecting black widow nests.