More Sunday "Shop" Days in the Snow!

Winter has not loosened its grip in Stevens County.  We still have about 2 feet on the ground, more in some places.  The birds, along with a Palliated Woodpecker were 'screaming' quite a bit yesterday.  I think he had 'something' on his mind, as most creatures do in the springtime! :-)

The box machine is running optimally now with near perfect cuts every batch.  The pine also planes up nicely for the exterior side of the box.  The inside is left rough - simulating a tree hollow.  I've seen them 'propolize' it to make it clean and sanitary this way. 

With the weather keeping me home during the week, I'm using the time - the best I can - by making frames.  It is a tedious task but we are selling quite a few and this helps.  They go together well with glue and staples.  The pressure on the gun must be perfect.  Too much pressure - and they blow through the wood.  Too little pressure - the staple doesn't penetrate enough.  Nothing is as easy as it seems!

The pine I'm using came from several neighbors who had their Ponderosa pine trees die.  We have experienced quite a drought over the years, so this stress takes it toll on the forest.  Fortunately, we were able to drop these, buck them up, and haul them to the mill.  Our guy at the mill makes perfect boards everytime!  We are quite fortunately to have such wonderful neighbors and friends.  Every box that a customer buys from me - goes to help our Apiary, but it also goes to help folks right here in Stevens County.   We are more than  happy to share our blessings!  The bees seem to 'pollinate' more than just flowers. LOL! 

I hope to get up again next week - to make more boxes in preparation for our Spring.  It will eventually come!

Bear "Proof" table safe and snug

The shop is warm with a fire in the stove

The ongoing construction of new frames

A customer's kit - just finished

The box joint machine is well tuned now

These logs were 'rescued' and taken to the mill to make our boxes

Making Foundation-less Frames

I like using "foundationless" frames in my brood chambers.  However, it does require a bit of planning and time to setup.  Placing one of these 'sandwiched' between two drawn frames is the best way getting these drawn correctly.  Otherwise, the bees will go 'freestyle' on ya and make a big mess.
Each frame has a 1 inch 'starter strip' of wax foundation - to help get them started.

Gently stacked and drying

I mark these with the 'queen' color for 2019

The other advantage is that they work better for queen cell harvesting in a cell builder hive. The plasticell will not work very well for cell cutting.  I've done it over the years with average success.  However, when I'm cutting them from a foundationless frame - it seems to work much better.

The third advantage is that the bees seem to like it and will draw them out pretty darn fast!  I've done experiments with these in the past and they will have one drawn and in 'production' with brood in around 20 days or so.  Pretty amazing!

The forth advantage is that these can be recycled by simply melting the frames with steam and you end up with clean sterilized frames ready for starter strip and reuse in the hives.

I like to paint these frames with two stripes of paint that corresponds to the 'queen mark color' for that year.  So, in this case I have used Green with is the color for years ending in '9' and '4' I believe. This makes it quick for me to identify them in the box during inspection.  My goal is to be able to recycle all of my comb on a 3 year rotation.

March is for MAKING boxes! AND a Cougar Visit too!

The weather has us snowed in here!  We have about 3 foot of it on the ground but that won't stop me from snow shoeing in and getting to work.

'Westerns'

In the Box Machine

More Westerns

10 Frame Boxes

Cougar print outside of the shop!