Content
- 1 Homemade products for the apiary
- 2 How to make a frame nose
- 3 Bee remover
- 4 Pollen collector
- 5 Uterus caps
- 6 Bee scales
- 7 Electrical booster
- 8 Conductor for assembling frames
- 9 How to make a bee analyzer
- 10 Device for stretching wire onto frames
- 11 How to make your own uterine insulator
- 12 Hive covers
- 13 What other homemade products can you make for beekeeping with your own hands?
- 14 Conclusion
The easiest way to make a frame beeper with your own hands is from a wide variety of beekeeping accessories. However, a beekeeper will need many other tools, equipment and supplies. Most accessories can be simply purchased, but the most convenient are those made by yourself.
Homemade products for the apiary
The main equipment of an apiary is a beehive. Professional beekeepers make them with their own hands from boards. However, without tools and equipment, the beekeeper will not be able to maintain the hive, care for the bees, pump honey, or melt wax. Beekeeping accessories are available for free sale, but they are often overpriced. Another disadvantage is the inconvenience of working with factory products. Sometimes apiary equipment is ill-conceived and made of poor quality materials.
The beekeeper creates the most convenient beekeeping devices with his own hands. They are completely free, and in terms of quality they can compete with their factory counterparts.
How to make a frame nose
It is difficult and dangerous for the beekeeper to carry the frames with honey to the honey extractor in the presence of bees. It is similarly inconvenient to deliver foundation to the hives. A frame cutter helps simplify the task. The apiary device resembles an ordinary wooden box that can hold from 6 to 10 frames. It is equipped with a handle for carrying. You can make a simple bee frame with your own hands according to the presented drawing.
The DIY assembly process consists of the following steps:
- First, the size of the apiary frame-noser is determined. It must accommodate the frames used in hives. The frame frame consists of two side walls, a front and a back wall, a bottom, and a lid. In total, you need to put together 6 elements of the box with your own hands.
- For the frame, slats with a cross section of 20x45 mm are used. Do-it-yourself cladding is done with fiberboard. The slats are nailed to the outside of the walls so that it is convenient for the apiary frame carrier to grasp the protrusions with your hands. Inside the box, 2 slats are similarly nailed to form a stand for the frames.
- The bottom is nailed last and the lid is secured with hinges. It should lean to the side. A ventilation hole is drilled in the front panel, but it is optional. Many beekeepers refuse ventilation. Staples are attached to the frame frame, and a handle is hooked from the belt.
- If necessary, beekeepers quickly adapt a self-designed apiary frame to catch a swarm.
The video shows an example of a frame plant:
Bee remover
The functionality of the apiary bee remover resembles a check valve. Bees from the honey housing move into the nest through special channels.They cannot return back. Having installed the bee remover in the evening, the beekeeper can safely maintain the insect-free frames the next day.
Among the factory-made apiary devices, bee removers from Krasnov and Quebec are popular among beekeepers. The latter is made in the form of a dividing diaphragm and resembles a labyrinth. The basis of the apiary bee remover is four-layer plywood. At the bottom, two triangles are fixed from slats. Their sides do not meet at the corners, but form a gap of 8-10 mm. A hole is drilled in the center of the triangle. The total area of the triangles is covered with a mesh on top.
Assembling a bee remover with your own hands is no more difficult than an apiary frame carrier. You will need drawings. The dimensions must correspond to the internal parameters of the hive so that the bee eliminator can be installed. Plywood thickness – from 10 to 25 mm. The diameter of the hole in the center of the triangle is up to 50 mm.
Triangle slats are used with a width of 20 mm. The distance between the elements forming the channel is about 18 mm. Additionally, you will need bars for the frame.
The DIY assembly technique is simple. Triangles are formed from slats. The blanks are glued or shot with staples. A hole is drilled in the center of the triangle with a feather drill. The edges of the plywood blank are framed with bars with your own hands. The triangle area is covered with a fine-mesh steel mesh.
Pollen collector
Pollen is a useful beekeeping product.To collect it with his own hands, the beekeeper places pollen collectors on the hives. Professional beekeepers do not like store-bought apiary devices. They have many extra holes or their diameter is too small. The most popular are beekeeping homemade products that help the beekeeper collect a lot of pollen.
A special feature of hand-assembled apiary devices is the presence of a shaped hole. A bee crawling through it is guaranteed to leave all the pollen in the collection.
It’s easy to assemble the apiary device with your own hands according to the drawing. First, for the pollen collector, prepare a bar with holes with a diameter of 5 mm with your own hands. A fishing line will help make them curly. The veins are passed into the holes, braiding them in a ring. Overcoming the obstacle, the bees will cling with their paws and push the fishing line apart. Actions will lead to the tearing off of the pollen.
The apiary pollen collector is placed on the front of the hive so that the lower cut of the entrance coincides with the upper edge of the arrival bar. A strip is placed in the slot on the lid of the beekeeper's pollen trap. The landing board is covered with a mesh with 3x3 mm cells. The torn-off pollen will roll into the ditch.
The groove of the apiary pollen collector can be used to install a dividing grid to prevent the queen from flying out.
Collect and install a bottom pollen collector with your own hands in the bee pavilion when the bees bring the maximum amount of pollen. On unfruitful days, the apiary device cannot be used.
The design of the bottom pollen collector consists of a valve. When it is lifted, the bees enter the nest without passing through the grate.When assembling the pollen with your own hands, the valve is lowered.
Uterus caps
Special caps are used for placing queens. Beekeepers can improve factory models with their own hands by making a hole and equipping a lid. The device is pressed into the area of the honeycomb where there is honey, empty cells and young growth.
You can quickly create caps for queen bees in the field with your own hands from PET bottles. First, cut off the bottom with scissors. An awl is used to pierce up to 20 holes with a diameter of 2 mm. Three days after installing the cap, the exit is covered with wax, drilling a hole for the queen. If the queen does not come out on her own, she is released by lifting one edge of the cap.
Bee scales
Apiary weighing equipment is expensive, and you can’t do without it. It takes a beekeeper's ingenuity to build a bee scale with his own hands. The design is made according to the principle of a suspension system. You will need to hang a set of blocks from a solid ceiling, pull a cable through them and attach scales.
You can get more convenient scales for hives yourself by converting a factory device with a strain gauge. The scales are being dismantled. The removed electronics are taken outside and secured in a convenient place.
The movable scale platform is mounted on levers connected to the frame by springs. To re-equip, you need to weld a frame from a corner with your own hands and equip it with four bearings. The homemade frame is attached to the main frame with four screws.
To lift the scales, a nut is welded onto the frame and a handle is screwed in. For weighing, 55 mm thick bars are placed under the bottom of the hive. Roll the scales into the gap and press the power button. When zeros appear on the display, turn the handle to raise the movable platform by 20 mm.After weighing the hives, the beekeeper turns the handle in the opposite direction.
The bearings of the bee scales are rolled synchronously. To raise or lower the platform, turn the handle about 20 times.
Electrical booster
To simplify the work with wax, beekeepers created an apiary waxer with their own hands. Its peculiarity is that it runs on electricity. To assemble an electric generator with your own hands, you will need an old working battery and 2 wires with clamp terminals.
The essence of the apiary device is that the terminals are connected to the wire on the frame. When the circuit closes, it begins to heat up. The foundation is placed on a hot wire and pressed with glass. Through the transparent sheet you can see how the strings are soldered into the wax.
Conductor for assembling frames
It’s easy to assemble a small number of frames with your own hands. For a large apiary, mass production is being established. Special templates - conductors - help speed up the process. Apiary devices can be made of wood or metal. The easiest way is to construct a jig for assembling hive frames with your own hands from wood.
The template is assembled in the shape of a box without a bottom or lid. The internal size corresponds to the dimensions of the frame. Holes are cut out in the side walls of the template, slats are inserted so that a gap is formed between them and the elements of the conductor, equal to the thickness of the blank for the frame.
Planks with eyelets, which are the side elements of the frame, are inserted into the gaps. The side jumpers are inserted into the grooves of the planks, first from above and then from below. The elements are nailed down. The finished frames are removed from the conductor. Usually a beekeeper can make up to 10 pieces at a time with his own hands.
How to make a bee analyzer
The beekeeper's complex apiary homemade products are based on electronics. An experienced radio amateur can solder them with his own hands. The most common apiary electronic device is the bee analyzer. The device helps monitor the activity of bees. The apiary analyzer reacts to noise. The frequency spectrum in a normal hive ranges from 260 to 320 Hz. In the event of swarming, disease, or loss of the queen, the activity of the bees decreases. The spectrum of noise frequencies is in the range of 210-250 Hz, which serves as a signal to the beekeeper.
A self-assembled apiary analyzer reacts to the frequency of noise in the hive. LEDs serve as signal indicators. One light bulb signals “Yes” and the other “No”.
In Fig. 1 diagram of the apiary analyzer, and in Fig. 2 – power supply. The numbering of radio components in the second diagram is a continuation of the numbering of the first diagram.
Device for stretching wire onto frames
Manually stretching the wire onto the frame with your own hands does not always end successfully for the beekeeper. The string breaks or sags. A special apiary device helps to carry out quick tensioning with your own hands under the required force.
To make your own bee tensioner, you will need an old tabletop or a piece of chipboard. The size of the workpiece should be larger than the frame. On the tabletop, stops are made from 5 blocks to stop the frame. The tensioning mechanism is a lever rotating on a pin with an eccentric. When turning down, the eccentric presses the side rail of the frame. After releasing, the installed string is tensioned.
How to make your own uterine insulator
To isolate the queen in the nest, beekeepers use a special apiary device - an insulator.The simplest cell is made with your own hands in the field from two necks of plastic bottles. First, they are sawed off with your own hands using a hacksaw. The blanks are connected with tape so that the threaded necks point in opposite directions.
A piece of plastic cut from the side of the bottle is inserted into one of the corks. Ventilation holes are cut in all necks and the inserted piece. Kandy food is pushed into one stopper, covered with a napkin with a small hole, and screwed onto the neck. The second plug is made with a hole so that the isolated queen does not suffocate. When replanting the uterus, it is unscrewed and the neck is covered with wax, lightly greased with honey.
The cage is hung inside the hive with the plug down. The bees gradually gnaw through the foundation and free the queen from the insulator.
Hive covers
Inside the hive, beekeepers cover the frames with honeycombs with special canvases. It won’t be difficult to make them with your own hands, cutting them to size from natural fabric. Linen or cotton material is ideal. The fabric retains heat well, allows air to pass through, and removes steam from the hive.
Beekeepers cut polyethylene canvases with their own hands. Artificial material retains heat well, but does not allow air to pass through. For the winter, it is better to lay canvases made of breathable material.
What other homemade products can you make for beekeeping with your own hands?
There are many other apiary devices for a beekeeper, and you can easily make them yourself.
A convenient apiary attribute for a beekeeper is a box stool. The base is knocked off the bars. The seat is cut out of the board with your own hands, and a hole for the handle is sawn through. The body of the box is knocked off the plywood.It is convenient for the beekeeper to sit on the stool while servicing frames and hives. All the tools are always at hand in the box.
Beekeepers assemble intra-hive feeders with their own hands from frames. First, the honeycomb and wire are removed. The frame is covered with plywood, the joints are sealed with wax.
In the form of boxes, beekeepers make over-frame ceiling feeders. They are made with their own hands, wooden or plastic.
Conclusion
It’s easy to make your own frame beeper and other beekeeping accessories in 1-2 hours. Schemes and tips can always be found on thematic forums where beekeepers share their achievements.
