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Author Topic: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary  (Read 6447 times)

Offline prestonpaul

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Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« on: February 07, 2013, 11:26:24 pm »
MARK IN YOUR DIARIES

 BENDIGO BRANCH VICTORIAN APIARISTS’ ASSOCIATION INC.
 PLEASE MARK YOUR DIARY
 Annual Pack-Down Day
 with the addition of a Winter Working Bee with instruction in Bee Gear Assembly
 As with last year the day is intended to be for newer beekeepers wishing to learn the skills of assembling and maintaining their bee gear to have some hands-on assistance.
 Come along and be part of ...a group of like-minded people, enjoy the fellowship as well as satisfaction in mastering another skill.
 A great opportunity to have those questions answered.

 WHEN: Sunday28th April 2013.

 WHERE: R & E. McDonald’s, 15 Sawmill Road, McKenzies Hill, Castlemaine.
 Highway B180. (Please note - there are two Sawmill Roads in Castlemaine.)
 VicRoads Directory Map 59, D3.

 TIME: 10am to 4pm.

 LUNCH: A barbecue lunch will be provided at $10. per person.
 Tea, coffee and drinks available.

 ** Boxes will be wax-dipped (@ $5. per box ready for you to paint immediately – paint dries quickly due to the heat of the waxed box.
 ** Instruction on wiring frames, embedding wax foundation, wax coating plastic foundation.
 ** Fully assembled equipment will be available for sale.
 **How to build a small solar bees wax melter.

 HIGHLIGHT THIS YEAR –
 American Foul Brood (AFB) detection - Beekeepers Teaching Beekeepers
 • How to use AFB Test Kits
 • How to take slides samples
 • How to prepare Spore Test Honey Samples.
 • Details of how to claim compensation
 THINGS TO BRING:
 ** If you have a novice beekeeper friend who would like to share in the day, bring her/him along.
 *** There will be hives nearby for the usual open hive demonstrations, so bring your protective gear – hat, veil, gloves, bee suit etc.

 ALL WELCOME

 RSVP: by 12th April for catering purposes.
 Bill Shay, Mob. 0419 337 276 Email shaybill@hotmail.com
 Don McArthur 03 5449 3294. Email donaldmmac@iinet.net.au

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2013, 06:39:38 pm »
Bump! Next weekend!

Offline squidink

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2013, 06:54:06 am »
Has anyone here been to a previous year Pack Down Day?

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2013, 11:58:54 pm »
I havn't been before, but there is a series of videos on youtube from 2011
http://youtu.be/Wah3zfgvmq0

Offline squidink

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2013, 08:08:59 am »
Thanks for the link mate! It looks good, I have managed to get the Sunday off work so I'm going to go check it out!


Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2013, 09:30:21 pm »
It was a great day.
 It was interesting to hear 2 different perspectives as to packing down, one saying go single or double depending on hive strength, the other saying put them all in to one box so they are packed in nice and tight to maintain heat.  I am now almost convinced I need to pack all my hives down to singles for winter.
It was good to see the wax dipping in action and I was impressed with the Blue Bees bottom board screen. I think I will build a couple of bottom boards using this screen over winter.  I don't have SHB problems but do have lots of condensation over winter so I'm keen to try it out.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2013, 09:41:23 pm by prestonpaul »

Offline Michael86

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2013, 06:18:04 am »
Very interesting Paul,
perhaps you can show me this, if i visit you  :)

Greatings
Michael

Offline squidink

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2013, 08:50:35 am »
The wax dipper was excellent! A box dipped and 2 coats of paint in under 15 minutes!
Something worth investing in the future.

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2013, 10:15:29 pm »
Very interesting Paul,
perhaps you can show me this, if i visit you  :)

Greatings
Michael
You are still coming to stay aren't you?
I presume you are talking about the bottom boards. They are a very nice design and very well made. The inventor had me jumping up and down on one and it didn't make a mark on it.
Hopefully I will have a few in use by the time you get here.

Offline Michael86

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2013, 05:22:59 am »
Of course i coming to stay with you.
And yes i was talking about the bottom boards, that would be very great to see.

Greatings Michael

Offline CJ

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2014, 07:16:51 pm »
It was a great day.
 It was interesting to hear 2 different perspectives as to packing down, one saying go single or double depending on hive strength, the other saying put them all in to one box so they are packed in nice and tight to maintain heat.  I am now almost convinced I need to pack all my hives down to singles for winter.
It was good to see the wax dipping in action and I was impressed with the Blue Bees bottom board screen. I think I will build a couple of bottom boards using this screen over winter.  I don't have SHB problems but do have lots of condensation over winter so I'm keen to try it out.

Hey Paul - with regards to frames of stores, what was the configuration to pack down to single boxes for the winter? We are keen to do the same this year.

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2014, 08:32:36 am »
If I recall correctly they were saying a minimum 6 frames of honey and 2 brood frames per hive (in an 8 frame configuration).
Bare in mind this was for central Victoria so what works for them may not work for you.

Offline CJ

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2014, 05:53:11 am »
Although I am about 6 hours North-East, I think its similarly cold and dry here through winter so I would be pretty comfortable trying the same configuration.

So did they explain much about how to pack them down? For example, the hives I am keen to try this on are all 2 boxes (8 frame deeps); top box is about 4-5 frames of stores/3-4 frames of drawn comb, brood box is about 5-6 frames of brood and 2 of mixed stores. So I know I can either harvest the extra honey frames, or store them to use later, but I'm wondering what they do with the extra brood frames? Do they just shake the bees off into the hive and ditch the brood/frames?

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2014, 06:16:49 pm »
They said they harvest the additional honey frames and I suspect they put the brood frames above the queen excluder until they have been cleared and then remove the whole super.
The day was run at a commercial bee keepers and it was interesting, as he said he prefers to winter in 2 deeps (one brood one honey) whereas the beekeeper that spoke after him, also a commercial  beekeeper but on a smaller scale prefers to winter in one deep super so I think either way is acceptable for their area, as long as there is a minimum of 6 frames of honey (or syrup) 

Offline CJ

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Re: Bendigo Annual pack down day, one for the diary
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2014, 08:40:34 am »
Awesome - I will give it a go and hopefully will be able to share a 'positive' experience next season  :)
Thanks Paul.

 

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