Nucleus Hive arrives

Very excitied to find a note in the letterbox that I have a parcel at the post office to pick up.

Marked 'Beekeeping Equipment' I took the package home and unpacked
1 x Nucleus Hive
4 x new frames
4 x foundations (the wax that goes in the frames for the bees to start working on)
1 x smoker - went for the good stainless steel one
and 1 x belt so now the hand-driven extractor we scored at the dump works properly!

Next steps - undercoat and paint the box - in a light colour to help keep the bees cool, put the box together using strong wood glue, galv or stainless steel nails, find the perfect spot for it in our garden and get some bees.

Cheers,
Sonya

Bargain find at the Tip Shop

We were lucky enough to hear about a great beekeeping find at the local tip shop. Like a lot of rubbish tips nowdays, there is a resource recovery shop attached, where saleable items are resold back into the community - this is where we found our treasure.

We called up to make sure it was still there and got them to put it on hold for us.

So - here's the bounty...
1 x hand driven two frame honey extractor (needs a good clean and a new drive belt)
2 x pairs of leather gloves (need new elastic in the sleeves)
1 x heavy duty hive tool
1 x normal hive tool
3 x veils to fit over hats
1 x capping bag to fit the extractor
1 x bee brush

All that for only $50!

To buy all this new, it would be over $800.

What a bargain, we're very happy with ourselves indeed.

And, we visited the local DPI beekeeping section and got hold of this book.

Next steps, a nucleus hive, a full beekeepers suit and a smoker.

And some bees of course!

Cheers,

Sonya