Beekeeping equipment

The inventory of the beekeeper is a working tool, without which it is impossible to serve the apiary, take care of the bees. There is a mandatory list, as well as a list of equipment for beginner beekeepers and professionals.

Mandatory list of beekeeping equipment

Before proceeding with the review of the list, it is necessary to understand what is meant by the concept of inventory and equipment. The first group includes homemade and factory fixtures. The inventory includes chisels, scrapers and other tools that help take care of the frames and beehives. The equipment is a professional and non-professional type of overall equipment for pumping and packing honey, melting honeycombs, and performing other tasks.

The following is a list that includes accessories that help the beekeeper work in the apiary, get a good honey flow:

• Smoker is a must have for beekeepers. The device fumigates bees during the inspection of the hives.
• bee remover used to clean the honey compartment from bees. The most popular is the Quebec bee remover, which works on the principle of a valve. The device blocks the way for the bees inside the hive. Insects penetrate into its lower part and cannot return to the upper body. They put the bee remover in the evening, and in the morning the honey compartment is already clean of bees and ready for service.
• Thermal camera 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 ^оC. Parasites fall off the bees because they cannot stay between the abdominal rings.
• pollen collector or pollen trap the beekeeper sets on the notch. Bees crawl through large holes, and the pollen they collect falls into the lower compartment of the device.
• Beekeeping wire is a required item. It is pulled over frames to secure the honeycomb. Frame wire is sold in large and small spools, but all of it is the same thickness of 0,5 mm and is made of mild steel.
• beekeeper’s chisel is a tool. The beekeeper uses it to move the frames, separate the hulls, close the entrances and other work. A universal bee chisel is in demand, but several tools of different sizes must be available.
• Jig for assembling frames in demand in a large apiary. In fact, the inventory is a wooden or metal template in the form of a box without a lid or bottom. Rails are inserted inside the conductor, from which, after fastening, frames of a standard size are obtained.
• Universal beekeeper’s box Made from 5mm plywood. On the body there are ventilation slots, a notch with a valve, a transport handle, a landing strip, an opening lid. The inventory serves for carrying frames, a nucleus, a swarm for bees.
• Scales for apiary help weigh the bribes. It is optimal to have a scale for the hive, designed to weigh a load of up to 200 kg.
• Bee Analyzer helps to determine the beginning of swarming in a timely manner. The electronic device responds to sound frequencies. Inside a calm 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 to the beekeeper about the problem.
• Manipulator in demand in a large nomadic apiary. The equipment is used during loading and unloading of beehives. Apiary manipulator “Medunitsa” is popular with beekeepers, but there are other models.
• Electric winder helps the beekeeper to speed up the process of installing foundation into the frame, improve its quality.
• Hive cushions in demand at the end of the season. Inventory is used for warming before wintering.
• Hive staples help with the transportation of the nomadic apiary. The beekeeper fixes the houses with a tape or metal device, preventing separation, shifting of the cases.
• Wire tensioner for frames helps the beekeeper to pull the string with the same force. You can not reach the wire manually, which threatens to sag. If you pull the string, it will break.
• Canvas play the role of a ceiling inside the hive. They cover the frames. The material for the beehive is natural cotton fabrics, burlap, linen, products made of polyethylene and polypropylene.
• Queen bee isolator it can be mesh, with a lattice, cellular. The inventory is used for temporary isolation of the uterus, replanting in another family. Uterine caps made of stainless steel isolate the uterus on honeycombs.
• Honeycomb Press is complex equipment. It consists of a basket, a pallet, a clamping screw, a drain pipe. All elements are located on a frame with support posts. Beekeepers use a press to press honey from combs or caps using the cold method.
• scraper paddle is the simplest tool. The beekeeper uses it when cleaning hives.
• portable box also called ramkonos. 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 and polyurethane foam models. The size and design of the hive depends on the number of living bee colonies.
• Feeding trough – Mandatory inventory of the beekeeper. It is used to distribute food, medicines to bees.
• Drinker – inventory similar to the feeder. Beekeepers often make their own from cans and plastic bottles.
• Framework are a kind of frame for honeycombs. They consist of rails. Wire is pulled over the frames, foundation is fixed.

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

Equipment for beginner beekeepers

A beginner beekeeper should always have in his household:

• mini-cage for catching the uterus;
• a box to help catch a swarm flying out of the nest;
• warming pillows for bees made of straw or reeds for warming the hive;
• clamps in the form of straps or clamps that help fix the beekeeper’s hives during transportation;
• portable box for tools and small inventory.

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

Apiary equipment used by professionals

Professional stock and equipment for beekeeping 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;
• Libra;
• inventory 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 trolleys for transporting heavy equipment.

To the listed accessories it is necessary to attribute a canopy for bees, which differs from the usual design by the presence of walls. It is the canopy that protects the hives from the wind, the scorching sun, precipitation, and serves as a wintering place for the apiary.

Equipment for beekeeping

The main equipment of the beekeeper is the 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, cut-off zabrus. Equipment is heated by electricity, steam, sun.

Waxpress helps to squeeze the merv to a dry state. Among beekeepers, lever-screw and hydraulic models are popular.

If a 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.

Tools for beekeeping

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

When inspecting hives, the following tools and equipment are used:

1. The chisel has a smooth and curved sting. The hives are cleaned with one end of the tool, the frame is hooked with the other end.
2. A brush with natural bristles is used for spring cleaning of beehives. The soft bristles of the tool sweep the bees off the frames.
3. The smoker consists of a container for loading fuel and a spout that releases smoke. Fan the heat with bellows. Electric models have a fan.
4. A steel shovel, a poker is considered a tool for cleaning the bottom of the hive, extracting Pomor.

   

5. A universal type portable box holds up to 10 frames, but is usually made for 6-8 pieces. The box carries inventory, tools, top dressing.

   

6. With a metal grip with wooden handles, frames are removed from the hives. The tool works on the principle of forceps.
7. The hanger is fixed outside the hive. Inspected frames are hung on the holder.
8. A blowtorch or gas burner with a spray can is considered a disinfectant tool. The walls of wooden beehives are burned with fire.
9. Canvas is a mandatory beekeeping equipment used when covering frames.
10. Use the following tools and equipment when working with queens:
11. The cap is used when planting the uterus in a beehive with tinders. The device consists of a tin rim with a fixed stainless steel mesh.

    

12. Titov’s cage with a wooden block is used when catching queens. The sealed mother liquor is suspended from the existing upper hole.
13. The separating metal grate is used to separate the nests when the oviposition is limited or the queen is hatched. The standard fixture size is 448×250 mm.

During the maintenance of the frames by the beekeeper, the following tool is in demand:

• Pattern – a wooden tool in the form of a stand. Use it when fixing wax on the wire.
• Hole punch – a machine in the form of an awl. Use a tool to pierce the frames while stretching the wire.

  

• A roller with a toothed disk rolls the honeycomb to the bar of the frame. The spur of the tool is used to solder the wire into the honeycomb.
• Use round-nose pliers to insert the wire into the holes in the frame made by the hole punch. Further tension of the string is carried out by a tensioner.

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

• Sieve with cells 1-3 mm in size. Depending on the model, the inventory is suspended from the drain tap of the honey extractor or placed on a can where honey is poured.

  

• The regular beekeeper’s knife is a classic tool. To print honeycombs in hot water, several knives are heated, using them in turn.

  

• 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 the mains 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 movement counter was created, equipped with an infrared receiver and emitter. The device for small cores is soldered independently according to the scheme shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 is a diagram of another electronic device – a radio microphone. It helps to 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 by a tuning capacitor.

Beekeeper electrical equipment

Powered by electricity equipment speeds up the processing of bee products. This category includes a honey extractor, an electric beekeeper’s knife, a pollen dryer, a medical thermal chamber. Created electric tables for printing honeycombs. The owner of a large apiary is helped by an electric waxer to speed up waxing.

Inventory and equipment necessary for the collection, processing and storage of honey

To get honey brought by bees, process products, use a standard set of beekeeper’s tools and equipment. Zabrus is cut with a bee knife. The choice of a classic, steam or electric tool depends on the preferences of the beekeeper. Work is more convenient to do on the table for printing.

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

Conclusion

The inventory of the beekeeper is improved every year. There are new tools and devices. Many inventions are created by beekeepers themselves. The beekeeper chooses each bee accessory himself, guided by the complexity and specifics of the work.