Author Topic: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?  (Read 26780 times)

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Offline Perry

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #20 on: March 02, 2014, 07:24:20 am »
Wow! These are all great ideas! I've got a lot of that stuff, but I just keep forgetting where I put it.  :-[

 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Offline lazy shooter

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #21 on: March 02, 2014, 08:23:08 am »
I don't carry that much equipment, but I like the idea of having a box to sit on while looking at frames.  It still takes a lot of time and concentration for me find the queen.  I have been thinking about dipping my queens in marker paint.  :)

Offline tbonekel

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #22 on: March 02, 2014, 08:32:35 am »
tecumseh...
in Texas we at least think larger than in other places.  Mine IS the back of my pickup truck.... and this sometimes spills over into the passenger side of the cab.

Yehaw! Me too on that one. But there in one reason that I don't have a bed cover on mine. If I did, no telling how much junk I would have back there! Without one, it forces me to keep the clutter down a little.

Offline lazy shooter

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #23 on: March 02, 2014, 09:03:44 am »
Tbone you are dead on correct.  All the pickup with covers over the beds that I have seen are full of stuff, junk if you will.  It doesn't matter how much storage space one has, it eventually become filled to the brim.  I have a large relatively uncluttered barn on my ranch, it is that way because I do not allow the kids or my wife to store anything in it.  If I did, I wouldn't be able to walk through it.

My tool box is currently a five gallon bucket, but I do like the first box shown in this thread, and it appears to be available.

Offline Slowmodem

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #24 on: March 02, 2014, 09:49:29 am »
I keep a box of toothpicks. They work good for pulling brood out of cell and if you run into something questionable drop it in your smoker and burn it up.

Great idea! 
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN
Beekeeping at 26.4 kbs

Offline riverbee

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #25 on: March 02, 2014, 10:38:15 am »
i use a 5 gallon pail with a canvas insert, has pockets on the inside and outside, like for garden tools, or for tools. mine is a garden tool thingy.
also bought a 'seat'/lid for it, so i can sit on it, or if need be, stand on it. i keep my smoker in a galvanized pail. 
i keep wild things in a box..........™
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Offline Perry

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #26 on: March 02, 2014, 11:17:21 am »
Pretty much sums it up for me. This is why I hate the truck and canopy thing. Everything I always seem to need is at the front of the box, and requires me to crawl on my hands and knees to fish it out. I don't normally use the boots, runners are my choice, but, if things get nasty it's nice to have them handy. I've had swollen ankles more than my share.
Brood boxes, honey supers (at the front) bag of pine needles (at the front) nuc boxes (at the front).
 :laugh:

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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #27 on: March 02, 2014, 12:10:50 pm »
Lazy shooter ""I don't carry that much equipment, but I like the idea of having a box to sit on while looking at frames.  It still takes a lot of time and concentration for me find the queen.""

Me too, and if I can't sit down, then I would like to be able to put my foot Up on a crate of sorts and lean my elbow down onto my knee which takes the strain off of my back
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #28 on: March 02, 2014, 03:00:28 pm »
Hey Perry, don't you wish you could have taken that picture today? That weather looks nice!

Offline Perry

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #29 on: March 02, 2014, 03:13:39 pm »
It'll look like that again, in about3 to 4 months.  :sad:
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
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Offline Edward

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #30 on: March 02, 2014, 03:23:03 pm »
It still takes a lot of time and concentration for me find the queen

Where are you looking for her?

Its easiest to find her on brood frames in the middle, look where the most bees are and start there.

Honey frames and pollens frames are not likely places to find her.

mvh Edward  :P
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best-" and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were.

Offline riverbee

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #31 on: March 02, 2014, 08:59:26 pm »
jen~
It still takes a lot of time and concentration for me find the queen

edward~
Where are you looking for her?
Its easiest to find her on brood frames in the middle, look where the most bees are and start there.
Honey frames and pollens frames are not likely places to find her.


off topic, but just to add to this, start there? especially in the spring, when you pull your inner cover off, look at the underneath side of that before setting it aside, sometimes she is there....

sorry for the side track, now back to bee tool boxes!
i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #32 on: March 02, 2014, 09:12:27 pm »
Thanks Riv! As soon as I get another 65 day, I'm back in the top super to trim up the wierd comb. Will be looking for eggs and her majesty.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #33 on: March 02, 2014, 09:33:05 pm »
Jen, that should be eggs OR queen. There is NO reason to look for both, other than to keep from mashing her.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #34 on: March 02, 2014, 09:50:14 pm »
Thank you kind sir  ;) 8)
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #35 on: March 03, 2014, 03:32:45 am »
I kind or employ the MacGyver style of beekeeping. I have never had or used a bee tool box. I have shown up at bee hives with no hive tool. Using a screw drivers, paint scrapers, table knives, teaspoons, needle nose pliers, I have even used pieces of sticks to pry and break the propolis to remove frames. smoker fuel is whatever i have with me of is laying on the ground in the vicinity of the hive, pine combs, pine needles, grass, hay, sticks and twigs, bark, wood chips, cardboard, horse nuggets, rotten wood, what ever will burn. and I have used propane, oxyacetylene, torches to car cigaret lighters to light my smokers. I have used cardboard rolled up to smoke the bees when I have been with out a smoker with me.
I have never used are or had the urge to use frame rests have away rested frames against the hive. I have only ever wore gloves about 3 times in my life while working bees and had discarded them before the inspection was completed.  Never used a frame grip as working bees with out gloves it is easier to grab and lift the frames. I have never used a queen clip or even own any, I do have some queen cages that I have gotten queen in and will use them to put a queen in if necessary. Bee brush can be anything from brushing the bees off with the back of my hand, to grass, thin cardboard, paint brushes, blowing, smoking, shaking, or bouncing the bees off frames and out of supers. Bee suit and veils are a non issue as I have not worn one in the past 8 years and it was 6 years before then.
Being prepared is the best approach when working your bees, but  just because you don't have every thing on hand doesn't mean you can't work the hive and bees. You can always improvise and use what is available to you. I have brought a few swarms home in a cardboard box with the lid just folded down and a few bees escaping and flying to the windows of the SUV.
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Offline tefer2

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #36 on: March 03, 2014, 09:28:55 am »
Resourceful, is what I would call your methods apis.
I once brought a swarm home in a paper grocery sack!  :o

Offline Papakeith

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #37 on: March 03, 2014, 09:57:30 am »
I keep my tools in a nuc box.  if the need ever arises I have a box ready for use.
inside in no particular order:
a couple of hive tools
cotton balls,
lemon grass oil
lighters
razor knife
electrical tape
duct tape
few pairs of gloves
burlap
frame grips
queen marking tube and pens
queen clips
smoker (hung on the outside of the box)
sample jar with screened top for varroa  testing
There is probably a bit more in there but that's what I can think of off the top of my head

I'm starting to think that the bees are keeping me...

Offline Papakeith

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #38 on: March 03, 2014, 10:01:38 am »
Pretty much sums it up for me. This is why I hate the truck and canopy thing. Everything I always seem to need is at the front of the box, and requires me to crawl on my hands and knees to fish it out. [/URL]
I have a tonneau cover for my truck that folds back in three sections.  I carry a step stool so I can get anything out of the bed without having to crawl :D
I'm starting to think that the bees are keeping me...

Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Tool Box - Anyone?
« Reply #39 on: March 03, 2014, 01:59:17 pm »
These two tools are pretty much all I have with me right at the hive. My bees are propolis monsters, and my wise hands need a little help these days.




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