Beekeeper's equipment: equipment, tools, bee remover, heat chamber, pollen collector

Content

1 Mandatory list of equipment for beekeeping
- 1.1 Equipment for beginner beekeepers
- 1.2 Apiary equipment used by professionals
2 Beekeeping equipment
3 Beekeeping Tools
4 Electronic equipment for apiary
5 Beekeeper's electrical equipment
6 Inventory and equipment necessary for collecting, processing and storing honey
7 Conclusion

A beekeeper's equipment is a working tool, without which it is impossible to maintain an apiary and care for bees. There is a mandatory list, as well as a list of equipment for novice beekeepers and professionals.

Mandatory list of equipment for beekeeping

Before we begin reviewing the list, we need to understand what is meant by the concept of inventory and equipment. The first group includes homemade and factory-made devices. Equipment includes chisels, scrapers and other tools that help care for frames and hives. The equipment consists of large-sized devices of professional and non-professional types for pumping and packaging honey, heating wax, and performing other tasks.

Important! Beekeepers often use the expression “bee supplies.” The general concept includes any equipment, tools, inventory, hives and all components.

The following is a list that includes accessories that help the beekeeper work in the apiary and get a good amount of honey:

Smoker is a must-have equipment for a beekeeper. The device is used to fumigate bees while inspecting hives.
Bee remover used to clean the honey compartment from bees. The most popular is the Quebec bee eliminator, which operates on the valve principle. The device blocks the path of bees inside the hive. Insects penetrate into its lower part and cannot return to the upper body. They install the bee remover in the evening, and in the morning the honey compartment is already clean of bees and ready for service.
Thermal chamber for bees is made in the form of a box with ventilation and heating. A frame with sick insects is inserted inside. After turning on the heating, the temperature rises to + 48 ^OC. Parasites fall off the bees because they cannot stay between the abdominal rings.
Pollen collector or pollen trap The beekeeper installs it on the entrance. Bees crawl through large holes, and the pollen they collect falls into the lower compartment of the device.
Beekeeping wire is a must-have item. It is pulled over the frame to secure the foundation. Frame wire is sold in large and small spools, but they are all the same thickness of 0.5 mm and are made of low carbon steel.
Beekeeper's chisel is a tool. The beekeeper uses it to move away frames, separate bodies, close entrances and other work. A universal bee chisel is in demand, but you need to have several tools of different sizes available.
Conductor for assembling frames in demand in large apiaries.Essentially, the inventory is a wooden or metal template in the shape of a box without a lid or bottom. Slats are inserted inside the conductor, from which, after fastening, frames of a standard size are obtained.
Universal beekeeper box made of plywood 5 mm thick. The body has ventilation slots, a taphole with a valve, a transport handle, a landing strip, and an opening lid. The equipment is used for carrying frames, cores, relatives for bees.
Apiary scales help weigh bribes. It is optimal to have hive scales designed to weigh loads up to 200 kg.
Bee analyzer helps to timely determine the onset of swarming. An electronic device responds to sound frequencies. Inside a quiet hive, they fluctuate in the range of 100-600 Hz. With the onset of swarming, the frequency ranges from 200 to 280 Hz. The analyzer signals the beekeeper about a problem.
Manipulator in demand in large nomadic apiaries. The equipment is used during loading and unloading of hives. The “Lungwort” apiary manipulator is popular among beekeepers, but there are other models.
Electrical booster helps the beekeeper speed up the process of installing foundation into the frame and improve its quality.
Hive cushions in demand at the end of the season. The equipment is used for insulation before wintering.
Hive clamps help with the transportation of nomadic apiaries. The beekeeper secures the houses with a tape or metal device, preventing separation and shifting of the houses.
Wire tensioner for frames helps the beekeeper to pull the string with equal force. You may not be able to reach the wire manually, which can cause it to sag. If the string is overtightened, it will break.
Canvases act as a ceiling inside the hive. They cover the frames. The material used for the hive canvas is natural cotton fabrics, burlap, linen, products made of polyethylene and polypropylene.
Queen bee insulator It can be mesh, with lattice, or cellular. The equipment is used for temporary isolation of the uterus and transfer to another family. Stainless steel uterine caps are used to isolate the uterus on the honeycomb.
Press for squeezing honey in honeycombs is complex equipment. It consists of a basket, a tray, a pressure screw, and a drain pipe. All elements are located on a frame with support posts. Beekeepers use a press to extract honey from honeycombs or caps using the cold method.
Scraper spatula - the simplest tool. The beekeeper uses it when cleaning hives.
Carrying box also called framenose. A box with a hinged lid and long strap handles usually holds 6-8 frames.
Hive is a house where bees live. Traditionally, beekeepers make it from wood, but there are modern polystyrene foam and polyurethane foam models. The size and design of the hive depends on the number of bee colonies living.
Feeder - mandatory equipment for a beekeeper. It is used to distribute food and medicines to bees.
Drinking bowl - equipment similar to a feeder. Beekeepers often make it themselves from cans and plastic bottles.
Framework are a kind of frame for honeycombs. They consist of slats. Wire is pulled over the frames and foundation is secured.

These are not all the accessories for the apiary, but only the essentials. However, the list of mandatory inventory and equipment is not limited to this.

Equipment for beginner beekeepers

A novice beekeeper should always have on his farm:

mini cage for catching the queen;
a box that helps catch a swarm flying out of the nest;
warming pillows for bees made of straw or reeds to insulate the hive;
clamps in the form of strips or clamps that help the beekeeper secure the hives during transportation;
portable box for tools and small equipment.

A novice beekeeper needs a simple woodworking tool to help make or repair frames and individual parts of the hive.

Apiary equipment used by professionals

Professional beekeeping tools and equipment simplify the maintenance of hives in a large apiary. The list includes:

electrical equipment for printing honeycombs, drying pollen, pumping and packaging honey, heating wax;
drilling and woodworking machines;
scales;
equipment used by the beekeeper during the treatment of bees;
machines and tables for processing beekeeping products;
tents made of thick tarpaulin, allowing you to pump out honey in the apiary;
transport carts for transporting heavy equipment.

Important! A professional apiary requires a trailer to transport hives.

The listed accessories include a canopy for bees, which differs from the usual structure by the presence of walls. It is the canopy that protects the hives from wind, scorching sun, precipitation, and serves as a wintering place for the apiary.

Beekeeping equipment

The main equipment of a beekeeper is a honey extractor. It can be manual or powered by an electric motor. Honey extractors come in different sizes, designed to hold a certain number of frames, for example, 6 or 12 pieces.

Wax melters help to drown spent honeycombs and cut timber.The equipment is heated by electricity, steam, or the sun.

Advice! A beekeeper can use a wax melter to disinfect frames, small equipment and tools.

The wax press helps to squeeze the merva dry. Lever-screw and hydraulic models are popular among beekeepers.

If the beekeeper collects pollen, he will need a drying chamber. The equipment is equipped with a fan and thermostat. A hole punch will be a good helper. The machine is fixed on the table, holes are pierced in the frame elements.

Advice! The industry is constantly releasing new equipment that makes it easier for beekeepers to do what they love. It’s worth keeping an eye on new products and buying them if necessary.

Beekeeping Tools

Conventionally, beekeeping equipment is divided into categories according to its purpose. This also includes the tool used by the beekeeper when servicing the hives.

When inspecting hives, use the following tools and equipment:

The chisel has a smooth and curved tip. One end of the tool is used to clean the hives, and the other end is used to pry up the frame.
A brush with natural bristles is used for spring cleaning of hives. The soft bristles of the tool sweep away the bees from the frames.
The smoker consists of a container for loading fuel and a spout that releases smoke. They fan the heat with bellows. Electric models have a fan.
A steel spatula or poker is considered a tool for cleaning the bottom of the hive and removing pomors.
A universal type portable box holds up to 10 frames, but is usually made for 6-8 pieces. The box is used to carry equipment, tools, and fertilizer.
A metal grip with wooden handles is used to remove the frames from the hives. The tool works on the principle of forceps.
The hanger is fixed outside the hive. The frames to be inspected are hung on the holder.
A blowtorch or gas torch with a can is considered a disinfectant tool. The walls of wooden hives are burned with fire.
Canvas is a mandatory beekeeping equipment used when covering frames.
Use the following tools and equipment when working with queens:
The cap is used when placing the queen in a hive with polypores. The device consists of a tin rim with a fixed stainless mesh.
A Titov cage with a wooden block is used for catching queens. The sealed queen cell is hung by the existing top hole.
A separating metal grid is used to separate the nests when oviposition is limited or the uterus is removed. The standard size of the device is 448x250 mm.

When servicing frames, the beekeeper requires the following tool:

A pattern is a wooden instrument in the form of a stand. It is used when fixing foundation to wire.
A hole puncher is a machine in the form of an awl. Use a tool to pierce the frames while stretching the wire.
Using a roller with a toothed disk, the foundation is rolled onto the frame block. The tool's spur is used to solder the wire into the honeycomb.
Using round nose pliers, insert the wire into the frame holes made with a hole punch. Further tension of the string is carried out by a tensioner.

When it comes to pumping out honey, the beekeeper will need the following tools and equipment:

A sieve with cells measuring 1-3 mm. Depending on the model, the equipment is suspended from the drain valve of the honey extractor or placed on a can where honey is poured.
An ordinary beekeeper's knife is a classic tool. To print the honeycombs, several knives are heated in hot water, using them alternately.
A steam knife is considered productive. The blade is heated by steam from a steam generator. There are electric models where the blade heats up when connected to an electrical outlet or current converter.

There are many other tools for printing honeycombs: forks, piercing and cutting rollers.

Electronic equipment for apiary

Professional beekeepers in large apiaries use electronic equipment. To determine the flight activity of bees, an automatic motion counter was created, equipped with an infrared receiver and emitter. The device for small cores is soldered independently according to the diagram shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 shows a diagram of another electronic device - a radio microphone. It helps control the condition of the bee colony all year round. Listening to acoustic signals is carried out at a frequency of 66-74 MHz. Adjustment is carried out using a tuning capacitor.

Beekeeper's electrical equipment

Electrically powered equipment speeds up the process of processing bee products. This category includes a honey extractor, an electric beekeeper's knife, a pollen dryer, and a therapeutic thermal chamber. Electric tables for printing honeycombs have been created. An electric waxer helps the owner of a large apiary to speed up the waxing of foundation.

Inventory and equipment necessary for collecting, processing and storing honey

To obtain the honey brought by bees and process the products, a standard set of beekeeper tools and equipment is used. The fence is cut with a bee knife. The choice of a classic, steam or electric tool depends on the preferences of the beekeeper. It is more convenient to do the work on the printing table.

Honey is pumped out from the frames using a honey extractor.Filtration is carried out with a strainer. Store the product in cans or other containers. Wax from strands and broken honeycombs are melted with a wax melter.

Conclusion

The beekeeper's equipment is being improved every year. New tools and devices appear. Many inventions are created by beekeepers themselves. The beekeeper chooses each apiary accessory himself, guided by the complexity and specifics of the work.