The profession of a beekeeper has been popular since time immemorial. But if someone considers it simple, he is deeply mistaken. Already to understand what the beekeeper’s inventory consists of is worth a lot. Especially when it comes to a newbie. Usually, a modern person, not knowing something, begins to look for an answer on the Internet, so in this article we will try to address the most pressing questions on the topic of beekeeping.
Required inventory
It is clear that for a start it would be nice to purchase a beekeeper's inventory and beekeeper equipment. At first glance, the following list may seem trivial. But it is precisely without him that no beekeeper can do.
1. Facial mesh. Experienced beekeepers are not afraid of insect bites. But even they are protected.
2. Smoker - also necessary thing to calm the bees. In addition, it is used to develop the insect instinct of self-preservation during a forest fire. In this case, when they smell smoke, they rush into the hive and fill them with honey.
3. Beekeeping chisel - a thing that really simplifies the work.
4. Pasechnaya fork and knife. Specialists use them usually for pumping honey. But they can also be useful for inspection of bees.
5. Uterine cell Titova.
Frame selection
The beekeeper’s inventory also includes sotoramki. The work of the beekeeper provides for their acquisition. In the spring, before the start of the beekeeper work, you will need 8-10 frames, and with the development and expansion of bee families, you need to purchase more of these tools. It is clear that the moment will come when you need to prepare the framework yourself. Their required number depends on the type of hives in your apiary. First you need to buy a blank frame, or you can order them from the joiner. We also need nails, special wire, wax, patterns and spur, with which the wire is pressed into the wax.
A few words about hives
Of course, the beekeeper’s inventory includes beehives. A professional beekeeper knows that the size of these "houses" should be calculated with a margin (at least 40%) of free space. Do not forget about the spare hives, they certainly will not be superfluous, since in the future they will be needed for cuttings, landing swarms, or at least as a trap. In a pinch, so that they are not empty, you can save drying there.
It is also necessary to prepare ramonos boxes. They should hold an average of 4-5 units and be used to transport the framework around the apiary. These devices are especially valuable when pumping honey at the end of the season. It is better not to make the ramonos too voluminous, anyway, it will be very difficult to carry out more than five complete frames by yourself if not impossible.
Placing hives on your site, you must consider some conditions. First, avoid residential areas. Secondly, this place should be dry, because the bees do not tolerate moisture. In addition, when honey suck up water, its taste changes. The hive needs to be turned south or southeast. Bees can distinguish certain colors, they know exactly white, yellow and blue, so it is in these shades that their houses should be painted so that the insects make it easier to navigate. The hive must stand on a perfectly flat surface so that the bees do not build the honeycomb crookedly. Most often they are placed either in a row, or in a staggered manner with a distance of about a meter. It is important to ensure that the apiary is far from power lines or any other obstacles. It is necessary to prepare for the bees drinkers, which should always be clean water.
Inventory for pumping honey
First you need a knife to print the honeycomb. To him in the kit you must also purchase a fork and a special roller. How can you do without medogonka? This, of course, is an expensive thing, but a must. Otherwise, how to pump out the finished product? Medogonka are chordial and radial. To filter the product, you need a strainer. It is usually double. This equipment is necessary for screening out the wax crumbs that are present in the product. Apply special tanks to pumping honey. As such equipment fit aluminum cans of 20-30 liters. Since honey is not the only product of the bees, it is also necessary to buy a wax refinery. They are steam and sunny. But most often, experts use the first option, and solar devices are purchased in addition.
Bee electric equipment
To facilitate your work in the apiary, you can purchase some electrical equipment. This primarily includes heaters for hives, which are used to maintain the required temperature in the houses during the spring or autumn build-up of families. The electron plower of the beekeeping frame will be quite useful on the farm. It is used to quickly and efficiently attach a sheet of artificial honeycomb to the walls of the bee frame. If you do it manually, you can damage the cells. But the electroshackler insures against such errors. To simplify the process of pumping out the finished product, use the electric drive for the honey extractor with a control unit. It is quite simple to use and significantly speeds up the process. All these devices simplify the work of the beekeeper. Here is what you need to know when choosing an equipment for beekeeping.
Opinion of experts
It is generally accepted that the beekeeper’s work ennobles a person. Those people who are just starting to do this, you need to check for the possibility of an allergic reaction after an insect bite. Buy a beekeeper's inventory is, of course, good. But, first of all, it is necessary to study the technique of growing bee colonies, the selection of honey plants. Experts recommend re-read the necessary literature and find out which part of the finished product can be pumped out, and which parts should be left to keep insects alive.
Beekeeping equipment in Dnepropetrovsk can be bought in several stores. Its use will increase the amount of pumped honey. This inventory is highly popular among beekeepers with considerable experience and a large number of hives. The region of the Dnipropetrovsk region for quite a long period is considered one of the honey-bearing regions in Ukraine. Here you can talk about the revival of the bead work This is facilitated by the development of new technologies.
When purchasing beekeeping equipment, prices, reviews and recommendations of specialists should also be taken into account. Most beekeepers say that companies for the production of various devices for beekeeping promptly carry out orders and take into account the wishes of customers. By and large, they should focus on the consumer, since the market of bee products has its own characteristics.
We set up a hive
The rented or own plot for the apiary is an open glade, where shrubs and grass are removed. And the main beekeeping equipment is a beehive, a home for a bee family. Many hives are attributed to horizontal and vertical structures. They vary in size, type of frame add-on, nest equipment. But a hive without internal filling represents a box, of a peculiar format. Home for the bees makes it arrangement. The first equipment for beekeeping, created by yourself, is a stand under the hive. The beehive is never put on the ground, for it you need to make a stand made of wood, metal, plastic, raising the house 30 cm from the ground.
Arrangement of the hive will require stock up on the framework in which the bees will store honey. For each type of hive its own size and number of frames. Usually 12 frames are placed in the hive. For young families and beginners lovers use small houses with 8 frames. In a specialized shop where they sell products for beekeeping, you can buy beehives and frames for them. Frames can be wooden or plastic. Wooden frames are easy to make by yourself, but the tree cracks in the summer, gets wet and swells in the winter, it is easy to rodent teeth.
The advantages of plastic frames:
- durable, during transportation the honeycomb is not torn,
- used in honey extractors of any type,
- does not absorb honey, does not become covered with mold,
- lightweight
However, bees do not like working with wax on plastic, the frames are very fragile and cannot be restored. What kind of beekeeping equipment to choose, decide the beekeeper.
The framework is attached to the framework by means of a wire frame. On thin as paper wax plates, bees will build honeycombs for honey.
Each beehive will require slats that separate the honeycombs from the lid. Canvas represents a rag woven from natural textile. It remains to buy a drinker and a feeder for bees in a store selling everything for an apiary and beekeeping, and the hive is ready to move in. The upper frame of the house should be painted with bright oil paint. This is the protection of boards from moisture and a landmark for the bees flying away to the honey collection.
Beekeeper protection
Bees violently protect the hive from penetration, even at the cost of their own lives. A stung bee will certainly die, leaving a proboscis in the skin of the enemy. Therefore, protective clothing when working with bees is necessary. It should be light. The kit includes:
- a hat with a brim and an attached net of tulle, with a drawstring for a snug fit,
- jumpsuit or simple clothing that covers the body,
- gloves, you can use ordinary, household, knitted,
- closed shoes.
Bites of bees are painful, but there is a way to treat rheumatism with bites, since bee venom acts as a medicine.
The best protection against bees is the behavior of the beekeeper. Clean, sweat-free clothes, lack of perfume, and tobacco aroma will set up insects in a peaceful way. Movement should be smooth, it calm.
Equipment for work in the beehive
To pacify the bees that protect their nest, you need a smoker. A smoker represents a device inside which there is a chamber with a grating bottom, with glowing coals and branches. With the help of furs, air is injected into the grille, a directed stream of smoke comes out of the nozzle. The smoke for the bees is a fire signal and they, having collected honey in the goiter, fly away. At this time, the beekeeper serves the open hive.
When working, you will need a special apiary chisel, with which the beekeeper pushes the frame, cleans the gaps, collects propolis. You will need a white brush made from natural horsehair, it will sweep the bees from the frame into the pan.
For a beginner beekeeper, it is necessary to make or buy a box for carrying frames, the bee-knife all this is considered to be an indispensable equipment for beekeeping.
Devices for pumping honey
Of course, bees store honey to meet the needs of the family. But store it more than 2 times than they can eat. In the summer, the whole bee family is working on honey collection. To pick up filled honeycombs with honey is the goal of the beekeeper. Therefore, 2-3 times a summer honey honeycombs are taken from the hives for pumping honey. To do this, use the machine-honey extractor. The device is a tank with a rotating frame installed inside. Constructions are chordial and radial. If the 4 frames represent a parallelepiped installed inside the cavity, these are chordial honey extractors. If the cells are installed from the central shaft to the periphery, the tool is radial.
Additionally, you need a strainer, filtering honey when pumping. For cutting logs need a special knife. The table on which the honeycomb is printed is a special device with separate drawers for storing inventory. Honey is poured into a container with a selection tap located at the bottom. All these devices can be purchased at the store where they sell products for beekeeping.
What can be done with your own hands in the apiary
First of all, you need to organize a drinker for bees near the hive. Insects drink water heated in the sun. From the ice well, they can numb. Therefore, the best waterer will be an old wooden plank with notches, which is located obliquely and water falls on top of it drop by drop. A thin stream attracts insects. Above the trough constantly wanting to drink. In-throat watering is organized only in winter.
Omshanik in each locality is built taking into account the many nuances. Better use the advice of experienced beekeepers.
It is necessary to master the techniques of fastening the plate on the frame with a stretched wire or fishing line. Learn to build a frame during the honey collection period. But the most crucial period is wintering, for which you need to make, equip your own omshanik.
What kind of beekeeping equipment will a newbie need at the apiary?
- Hives
- Pasechnaya chisel.
- Grid to protect the face from bees.
- Bathrobe, mittens and boots, to comfortably perform daily work in the apiary.
- Smoker.
- Brush to sweep the bees from the frame.
- Roevna for carrying families from hive to hive.
- Uterine cells, caps and nuclei.
- Special wooden spoon.
- Several feeders and drinkers.
- Dividing grid in the hive.
- Fence notch against mice.
- Trutnelovka.
- The device remover bees from store extensions.
- The film tent, which covers the hive during the inspection of families, it protects insects from the attack of other bees.
- Block for making frames.
- Metal template, which make the markup on the wooden framework of the holes for tensioning the wire.
- Spur for soldering wire into artificial waxing.
- Puncher or drill, which drill holes for the wire.
- Tinned wire.
- Knife for cutting cell caps. In stores where equipment and implements for an apiary are sold, steam and electric knives can be purchased.
- Medogonka.
- A table and a box on which honeycombs are printed.
- Special capacity, where you can defend and ripen honey.
- Wax refinery.
- Wax press for squeezing honey.
- Enamelled food pots.
- Scales for weighing hives, they can be used to determine the intensity of collecting honey.
- Beekeeping also requires some consumables, the most common is the mound.
In what cases is it better to do bee-inventory with your own hands?
It is clear that not all of the above-mentioned beekeeping equipment should be done independently, because it is difficult to imagine a home-made enameled basin. But with certain skills and accumulated experience, some things turn out much better than factory ones.
All the necessary equipment can be bought in a specialized store.
It is primarily about the hives, feeders and frameworks. Many beekeepers come up with extremely practical beekeeping devices that are not on the essential lists, but nevertheless they greatly facilitate the work of the owners. After several jobs with the hive, you will begin to hold the inventory in your hands so that the bees will barely worry at work.
It should be remembered that this option is only suitable for those who are not too limited in their means. In any case, completely avoiding the production of frames will not work, as this is the professional duty of every beekeeper. There is another nuance. If the apiary is in a place where there are not so many flowering fields and gardens around, then you will definitely have to buy trailers or small vans to transport hives to flowering places.
How to make a frame?
Honey production is carried out in cells of honeycombs, and bees spend a lot of energy on their construction. It has long been observed that if bees are given additional ready-made honeycombs, then all bee enthusiasm goes only to extract nectar. Honey is obtained more in proportion to the number of melliferous plants and free cells in the comb.
Therefore, an extremely practical thing was developed - an artificial piece. But the beekeeper has to stretch it on the frames by himself. Before you master this business, you need to watch thematic videos or at least a photo. All beekeeping equipment necessary for making frames was listed above. Below are the steps to manufacture a frame with honeycomb cells.
- Knock the frame with ordinary carpentry tools.
- Mark up space for holes.
- Drill the holes with a drill.
- In the holes to skip the tinned wire and firmly pull the strings parallel to each other.
- Using the spur, gently press the wire into the waxing.
- Put the frame in the hive.
Frames and honeycombs, as the basic attributes of a beekeeper
Without a cellular framework, as well as without hives, it is difficult to imagine the work of a beekeeper (unless, of course, we are not talking about wild bee breeds).
The exact number of frames that you need can be calculated only taking into account the volume of the beekeeping farm, the number of families, and the type of hives (different types of hives place a different number of frames).
Before the beginning of the honey collection, that is, in the spring, at least 7-10 frames are acquired. Subsequently, depending on the rate of honey collection and the growth of bee colonies, additional ones will be purchased.
Удобнее всего изготавливать сотовые рамки своими руками. Для этого потребуется приобрести:
- заготовки для рамок,
- ровная и гладкая доска-лекало, чтобы наващивать рамки,
- наващиватель (к примеру, каток),
- проволока для крепления вощины (протягивается на боковых планках рамок),
- шпора, для вдавливания проволоки в вощину,
- шило, чтобы делать отверстия в боковых планках.
An experienced beekeeper always has a supply of hives: for landing swarms, cuttings, temporary bee transplants. If the bees can be smoked into the new building with the help of a dimmer, or swept them away with a brush, then to move the frames with brood and honey you will need special boxes - ramonos. They are most significant at the end of the honey season, when pumping.
Ramon boxes must be purchased or made by hand with an adequate supply. The main rule in homemade ramonos production is to properly adjust the dimensions of the box to the type of framework used (given, root, etc.). In addition, such equipment should not be made too large, it will be rather difficult to carry more than five frames.
Hive manipulation devices
First of all, the beekeeper needs a special suit and a front protective mesh. If the bees are peaceful (for example, Bakfast breed), then there is no need for a suit, a rather closed outfit of dense and non-fleecy fabric. The front mesh is necessary in any case.
In order for the bees to feel comfortable and, accordingly, to work effectively in the honey industry, the beekeeper will need to supply them with the following:
- Bee feeders (side or ceiling, attached to the upper housing cover). You can purchase a finished factory feeder, or make it yourself.
- Drinkers for bees. This point is especially important if there is no reservoir near the apiary.
Ceiling bee feeder
For other manipulations with the hive, as well as with individual bee individuals, you may need:
- dwarf for fumigating bees with the purpose of their pacification. When insects feel smoke, they instinctively perceive it as a sign of danger, and therefore fill the gobies with honey for a long flight to a safe place. At a time when they are full of honey, they are not able to sting, because the belly can not bend and release the tip,
- Beekeeper's chisel (preferably a universal model that combines a chisel, a knife and a nail puller). It is necessary for all actions with the hive, whether it be the separation of the framework, the detachment of the hive bottom, the scrubbing of propolis and wax,
- a cave-house for trapping one's own separated and flown-away swarm, or someone else’s accidentally flown to the site,
- caps and special cells to trap the uterus, with a view to its further transportation or transplantation,
- hive dividers. Used primarily to ensure that the uterus does not go from department to department,
- letkovy zagraditeli (close the entrance to the hive),
- brush. It is used for sweeping bees when transplanting into another building, as well as for hive cleaning.
Honey Pumping Tools
When pumping honey, first of all, the beekeeper will need a knife, a special roller and a fork. With the help of these tools is made cutting zabrus and printing honeycombs.
The most expensive, and at the same time necessary, equipment for beekeeping is honey extractor. If that is not available, you will have to borrow it from a friend or rent it. In the future, the honey extractor in any case will have to buy or do it yourself, so it is better to think about it in advance.
To pour the honey from the honey extractor into special tanks, it is filtered through a double strainer that filters extraneous suspensions from the finished product: wax crumbs, pieces of zabrus and so on.
The tanks in which the honey is placed are also a necessary acquisition. You can use containers, flasks, barrels and so on. capacity. The best fit conventional aluminum cans of 30 liters.
Given the fact that in addition to honey, the beekeeper is counting on collateral bee products (zabrus, propolis, bee venom and, first of all, wax), he will have to buy a wax refinery. A newcomer may neglect this part of the beekeeper’s inventory, distributing funds for equipment of paramount importance, but in the future this tool will definitely be needed.
Beekeeping equipment
Face protection net from bee stings, or the facial mesh (Figure 51). It is made of thin cotton fabric and tulle in the form of a cylinder, which is worn on a wide-brimmed straw hat. It can be made in the form of a finished grid-cap.
So that the net does not fit the face, wire hoops are sewn into it from above and below. The lower edge of the mesh is tightened with a cord so that its edges are snug against the neck and the bees do not crawl inside the mesh. The nets are made from black tulle. In addition to tulle, for sale are metal mesh. Smoker serves to smoke smoke and pacify bees when dismantling the nest. The chimney body consists of a tin cylinder and a fur attached to it. A second (iron) cylinder with a lattice bottom is placed inside the case, there is a gap between its bottom and the bottom of the case, and a hole is cut at the bottom of the outer cylinder into which a jet of air rushes during compression of the fur. The smoker is closed with a hinged lid, into which a grate with round holes is inserted. The lid of the chimney has the shape of a cone with a hole at the end to exit the stream of smoke.
Apiary chisel - an indispensable and indispensable tool for the work of a beekeeper. Chisel pushing the frame in the hive. brush off wax and propolis. scrape walls, bottom, beehive folds, etc. Using the chisel as a lever, the beekeeper separates the upper case or the store from the lower one.
Brush for sweeping away bees from frames It is made of light horsehair or stubble, as the dark color irritates the bees. Hair or bristles should be densely planted, otherwise during work the bees will fall into the gaps and get irritated.
Queen cells they are used to isolate (separate) the uterus or queen cell from bees; they are used in the removal and replanting of queen bees. The most common cell Titov. In this cell, all four walls are made of wire mesh with a point of no more than 3 mm, so that the bees could not push into the holes of the head. On top of the cell is covered with a tin plate with a round hole to place the mother liquor, it is closed with a metal gate. At the bottom there is a flap wooden valve, which, when seated, closes the entire lower opening of the cell. The valve has a through circular opening, sufficient for the passage of bees and the uterus. From the bottom, it closes with a small metal gate. This hole when planting the uterus is filled with food: sugar fudge or honeycomb honey.
Caps for covering uterus on a honeycomb they have a rounded shape, sometimes they are made of a metal mesh with a flat top.
Dividing, or barrier, grille it is used in cases when it is necessary to block access of the uterus to one or another part of the hive. It is made of sheet metal in the form of sheets of size 448x250 mm with openings in a width of 4.4 mm and a length of 28 mm. Without any difficulty, working bees pass through these openings; womb and drones cannot penetrate the separation grid.
Roevna needed for collecting and temporary accommodation swarms. The skeleton is usually made of obichayka, giving a rounded shape. In the cylindrical roevyni both the bottom (deaf and detachable) grill with a grid for the best flow of fresh air. A hook is attached to the roevna so that it can be hung while assembling the swarm and when it is kept indoors (before landing in the hive).
Work box do in the form of a stool. When working at the apiary and moving from one hive to another, the beekeeper should have on hand a variety of small beekeeping inventory and materials, such as a smoker, a chisel, a brush, uterine cells, a hammer, nails, rotten smokers, as well as a notebook. All this is convenient to keep and carry with you in a special box, which is depicted in Figure 60. One of the compartments of such a box is taken away for folding wax pieces, broken queen cells, etc., which are constantly removed from the hives, which are placed in a solar wax refinery. To carry the box in the upper part, make two cutouts for the fingers. Having such a box, you can inspect the nests of bees sitting.
Frame carrying box make 6-8 frames. It should be easy, convenient for carrying and temporary storage of the framework. You need to make it out of plywood with a folding, but tight-fitting lid. At the upper edges of the trim of the side walls of the box, choose the folds or attach the slats for hanging frames. For carrying to the walls of the box attached to the outside handle.
Bee trolley It is necessary at a large apiary for delivering frames or shops with honey to the apiary workshop, as well as for transporting hives and equipment. Usually in apiaries using a wheelbarrow or a special cart. The idea of such a cart gives figure 62.
Gangway for bees may be required when planting swarms, moving families, etc., as well as in winter during a room flight of bees. Gangs are made of plywood 50 cm wide and from 75 cm long to 1 m, with strips stuffed around the edges of the plywood. That edge, which will be attached to the hive hive, is made narrowed and without a side. Even better, instead of solid plywood, make a wooden frame and cover it with canvas. When shaking off the bees will not fall on hard plywood, but on a soft elastic canvas.
Letkovy zagraditel from mice kept on hives only in autumn and winter. Cuts for the passage of bees are made in the metal plate of the barber. It is easy to make the barrier of the tin itself by cutting out one edge of the tin plate in the form of saw teeth. The height and width of the cutouts is 6-7 mm.
Bee tent may be required only in non-transit time. The base of the tent is a light frame, the three walls of which and the ceiling are covered with gauze or upholstered with a metal grid, and the fourth side, used to pass inside the tent, is hung with gauze or some other material.
Inventory for frame
Board-piece for the nazvashchivaniya nested frames (size 435x300 mm) is a smoothly brushed-wooden plank 412 mm long, 265 mm wide and 12 mm thick. From the bottom side of the board across it, flush with two butt ends or some distance from them, nail, and even better screw with screws two strips 320 mm long. The ends of the slats should protrude from both sides of the board. When a frame is placed on this board, it will rest on the top and bottom bars on the strips protruding from under the board. In this case, the frame will lie down so that half of its clearance (in thickness) will protrude over the board. For a frame with the size of 435x230 mm, the piece is shortened in width to 195 mm.
Awl necessary for piercing holes when the wires are tightened into frames. It should be thin (up to 1.3 mm in diameter), since a thicker awl splits the slats.
Multi-hole punch It is produced by the Taganrog plant of beekeeping stock and considerably facilitates and accelerates the process of piercing holes in the slat frames.
Template for marking and puncture holes in the side bars of frames make of a strip of iron or tin 270 mm long and 39 mm wide. The template is applied to the side frame of the frame from the inside, and an awl is inserted into the holes in the template (if the template is overlaid on the outside of the plate, incorrect punctures can be made).
Rink serves for rolling in the artificial wax on the upper bar of the frame. The roller can be replaced with a wooden bar made of hard wood, for example, birch. Its dimensions: length 17-18 cm, width 3 cm and thickness 2 cm. On one edge, sawn along the square, the bar should have a cutout (shoulder) 12 mm in length and about 10 mm in depth. The edges of the working part of the bar, it is better to round out a little.
Spur necessary for attaching the honeycomb to the wire. It is a cog wheel having a groove around the circumference for the direction of movement along the wire. The wheel rotates freely on an axis attached to a metal rod. When used, the spur is heated.
Honey extractor and other equipment used when pumping honey
Medogonka - machine for pumping (extracting) honey from the comb. Honey during the rotation of the honeycombs in the honey extractor is ejected due to centrifugal force from the honeycomb cells to the wall of the honey extractor tank.
There are many designs of honey extractors. The most common is the four-frame honey extractor, through which you can simultaneously extract honey from four nesting or eight store frames. Such a honey extractor consists of a cylindrical tank (tub) with a tap for the descent of honey, soldered from below at the very bottom of the honey extractor. The bottom of the honey extractor has the shape of a cone with the top facing up. In the middle of the tank, there is a rotating vertical axis on which a crosspiece with boxes (cassettes) is fixed to place the frames with honey. The axis below rests on the thrust bearing located on top of the cone of the bottom of the tank. At the top, the axis passes through a hole in a metal crossbar located across (in diameter) the upper circumference of the tank. Here the axis is articulated with a bevel gear consisting of two gear gears - large and small. The axis, and along with it, the crosspiece with the cassettes are rotated by the movement of the drive handle. In medogonka most simple designs cassettes firmly attached to the cross. They are located in such a way that one side of the honeycomb of a suspended or set frame is facing the wall of the tank, and the other to its center. With this arrangement of the frames, when the drum rotates, honey can be splashed out only from one side facing the tank wall. To deflate the honey on the other side of the honeycomb, honey extractor is stopped, the frames are taken out and turned to the side of the tank with the reverse side. To completely free honeycomb from honey, it is necessary to stop honey extractor twice and turn the honeycomb: first, when setting the framework, honey is not fully pumped out, otherwise the cell will break under the weight of the non-pumped honey from the back of the frame. To increase productivity, they now use honey extractors with wrapped cassettes. In such honey extractors, the cassettes are attached to the drum on the hinges in such a way that they can turn on their axes, turning one or the other side to the tank wall. Thus, there is no need to remove the frame from the cassettes for turning. In the honey extractors of some designs, the cassettes are rotated manually, in others - mechanically, by pressing the drive handle in the opposite direction of movement. Even greater productivity give medogonki, driven by an electric motor. Since in the described honey extractors, frames with honeycombs are located along the chords of the circumference of the tank of honey extractors, they are called chordial, unlike other types of honey extractors — radial, in which frames with honeycombs are set along the radii, edge to the wall of the tank. Chordial honey extractors with wrapped cassettes are called a reversible and, and a simpler device, when the frames are removed and rotated by hand, they are called “unbearable”. Revolving honey extractors are more expensive non-negotiable, but they are more productive.
Revolving four-frame honey extractors stamps "Kolkhoznitsa", in which the cassettes are rotated manually, are produced by the Taganrog plant of beekeeping equipment.
Radial honey extractors are 20-40 frames and more. They did not receive mass distribution due to their bulkiness and high cost. Honey pumped out on honey extractor is called centrifugal, unlike honeycomb stored in honeycombs. When pumping honey, in addition to the honey extractor, the following auxiliary equipment is also needed.
Strainer for honey straining made of tinplate and tinned mesh. When pumping honey it is hung on the tap of the honey extractor. It is better to have two strainers, as the mesh holes quickly become clogged while cleaning and washing one, use the second.
Knives are required in the apiary for cutting from the honeycomb seal - zabrusa. At the apiary should have two knives for each printing press. Only sharp, well-sharpened and heated in hot water knives are suitable for cutting zabrus. Figure 73 shows the usual beekeeping knife, steam and electric knives are also used.
Steam knife differs from the usual one in that there is a cavity inside it into which steam enters through a rubber tube that forms in a small boiler-steam generator. To exit the steam on the blade of the knife has a small hole. The steam generator, filled with water, is heated on a primus stove, kerosene stove or hotplate.
Electric knife much more convenient than steam. It is heated from the electrical network, which is connected through a rheostat.
Table for printing combs It is a wooden box with a hinged-back lid that rests on the back stops on the rear. Below this box is the second (pull-out) drawer.
Along the front and rear walls on top, select the grooves for hanging printed frames prepared for pumping. 20-25 frames are placed inside such a table. A frame consisting of a metal or wooden strapping, a tinned bottom upholstered with a mesh used for ventilation of hives (No. 16-18) is placed on the bottom of the top drawer. In order for the net to not bend under the weight of wax scraps, under it make a binding of thick wire with a section of 3-4 mm with a point of 15x15 cm. To make the frame more convenient to remove from the table, handles are attached to it. A towel, knives and kerosene with a pan to warm the knives are placed on the lid of the table at the time of work. Here you can also put a shop with frames, since the table is very stable. Во время работы поперек столика кладут деревянную лесенку" на которую опираются рамки при срезании забруса. Срезанная восковая печатка падает на сетку, мед с нее стекает вниз и может быть выведен наружу через кран, находящийся с правой стороны столика. По мере накопления осушенные обрезки убирают, а затем перерабатывают на солнечной воскотопке. Столик рассчитан на одновременную работу двух человек и может быть использован также для наващивания рамок и натягивания проволоки.In the drawer, you can store whole, small pasechnye inventory, etc. For small apiaries, you can recommend a more simple table design Volkovenko.
The sump tanks, or the honey holders, are made from aluminum sheet or tinned sheet steel for 400 and 800 kg of honey (capacity 285 and 570 l). At a height of 50 mm from the bottom, a drain valve (trimmed) is mounted, through which honey is poured into the appropriate container.
Drinkers and feeders
Drinker for bees It consists of a wooden barrel or a metal tank with a tap and a long board obliquely attached to the tap. Cross planks are stuffed on the board or a zigzag groove is hollowed into it.
Crane tank set so that the water flowed on the board in a thin stream. Slowly flowing down the groove, the water is heated by the rays of the sun, and the bees take it willingly. In addition to the general drinkers should be used individual drinkers for dispensing water directly into hives (for example, bottles with wicks). How to use them, described in the third section of the book "Breeding, maintenance and use of bees."
Bee feeders There are various designs. Regardless of the device, the feeder should: 1) be placed in the warmest place of the hive (above the frames or at the edge of the nest), 2) be spacious enough so that at one time you can give a large portion of food - up to 4 kg, 3) be comfortable for use. When using uncomfortable feeders, the nests are cooled, and when distributing food, they worry and even crush the bees, not to mention the fact that the bees themselves can drown in syrup in masses. On apiaries often use feeders boxes, mounted on the frame above the nest, but more convenient trough-frame, which is placed in the hive on the side next to the last frame or behind the diaphragm.
Feeding box It is a wooden box that is tightly knit and connected in a fold; in the bottom of the box from the front to the back wall there is a narrow slot (8-10 mm) for the passage of bees. Two partitions. not reaching 15-20 mm to the upper edge of the feeder, divide it into two separate, not interconnected sections. “Parallel to these partitions, partitions are arranged inside the box for the passage of bees to the stern. Bees, penetrating through the gap, located in the bottom of the feeder, through narrow corridors (8-10 mm wide) get to the feed, which is poured into both compartments of the feeder. The feeder is placed in a beehive so that the gap falls across the framework and the bees have access to the bees from several neighboring streets. Such feeders make a capacity of 3-4 liters of syrup.
Feeder frame It is made from the usual nested frame, which is sheathed with plywood so as to make a narrow and deep box. To prevent feed leakage, the feeders' seams are filled with wax from the inside. In a feeding trough, after filling with a syrup, a wooden raft is lowered. When the feeder is in the hive, you can add food without removing the raft. To pour the feed (through the funnel) in the upper bar of the frame a through hole is drilled.
Trough-banks. In the absence of special feeders, you can use glass or cans from under the jam, canned food, etc. In such (pre-washed) cans, sugar syrup is poured or honey is diluted with water, covered with gauze folded in two rows or wetted with a piece of rare cloth and tightly tied with twine. Filled with food banks, one by one or several pieces, put in an inverted view from the top of the frames above the nest.
Special beekeeper inventory
Libra for weighing the control hive must be on each collective and state farm apiary. It is necessary to use decimal or centenary weights that allow weighing with an accuracy of 0.1 kg. To protect against rain, the scales with the control hive are placed under a plank roof, which is constructed in the center of the apiary.
Machine for making mats They are made from hardwood, for example from maple or birch. The machine consists of a stand - a thick board into which two rows of racks are hammered, four pieces in a row.
The distance between the outer corners of the outermost posts should correspond to the size of the hive, the width of the gap between the rows of uprights should be the thickness of the mat. When making a mat, a wooden block is placed on the board between the posts (see Fig. 80), on which stretches of twine are stretched across in three places: two segments closer to the edges, the third in the middle. Bundles of straw, reed, cattail, etc. are placed on a string between stanchions, alternating the location of the tops and butt cuts. The laid material is gradually compressed (pressed) with a special clamp. When the straw is pressed to the size of the mat length, between it and the collar, iron holes, which keep the material in the compressed form, are placed in the holes made in each pair of racks. After that, the clamp is removed, and the mat, without removing it from the machine, is tied up with pieces of the twine that was laid from below. Then the mat is stitched with a string using a bag needle. To do this, starting from the bottom, the needle is passed from one side of the mat, leading to the opposite side, grabbing the twine harness and pulling the needle back through the straw. Here the end of the twine is firmly fastened and secured to the twine harness. Thus, the mat is stitched (in three parallel directions) to the very top, where the end of the twine is tightly tied to the end of the strapping. Stitched with twine mat, while it is not yet removed from the machine, cut obliquely flush with extreme racks. So that the spit does not spoil the pillars, the outer sides of the four extreme pillars are upholstered with tin or strip iron.
Solar wax refinery - a device for the reflow of light honeycombs and other wax raw materials with the help of sunlight.
Voskressress serves to extract wax from old comb. There are different types of wax presses - factory made and homemade.
Recommended inventory Some beekeepers have a tendency to acquire unnecessary or outdated equipment. Therefore, the table provides a list of inventory recommended for collective and state farm apiaries. The inventory that can be made yourself is marked with asterisks.
