Toolbox?

[Bumble]

Prompted by this post .. http://beenatural.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/larry-garretts-natural-bees-site/

I'm disorganised!

What sort of beekeeping tool box do you use?

[Neils]

Good question Bumble, in mine, similar to this:
http://www.kellaway.co.uk/images/content/products/8_987stanley-toolbox.jpg

I have:

A spare hive tool
Frame Wire
A mini Blow Torch with some gas refills
A bigger blow torch suitable for scorching hives
A crown of thorns queen cage
some hive straps
plenty of hive and frame nails
A little hammer (as seen in the frame guide)
tweezers for hoiking out things from comb that I want a closer look at.
spare smoker fuel
Duct Tape
Lighters
Matchbox
Queen Cages
spare pair of Nitrile gloves.
spare packet of washing soda.

Not all of that is essential, but I get shouted at if I leave too many bits of beekeeping stuff lying around so it's normally in the back of the car at least when I'm out on my travels.

[Jon]

I keep stuff in the panniers of the bike.
Duct tape, queen cages, a marking pen, plunger cage and snips, cigarette lighter.
Other stuff is in the shed at my allotment where I have most of my bees.
I bought a second smoker to avoid having to carry that about and I don't want to set my bicycle on fire like that guy on beekeeping forum who burned out his car with a smoker.
I have a light veil which fits into the side pocket.
if you stopped me on the street any day of the week you would find a couple of pairs of nitrile gloves in my trouser pockets.

[gavin]

Definitely poster of the week material. If we'd had poster of the week before this recent outpouring of humour and wit, Jon would have been it most weeks. Great to see that he has plenty of competition.

I have a large key - for the association apiary shed - in my rear trouser pocket, always, and a lighter in a front pocket, virtually always. Even in the winter, as I'd lose them if I put them elsewhere. All on the right side for some strange reason. Perhaps because I'm right-handed? And yes, the trousers do get changed.

I did buy a toolbox like Nellie has but am too disorganised to use it. Slightly worried by Nellie's enthusiasm for pyromania.

[Wraith]

I use a bigger version of the one above

http://img.tapatalk.com/6d9ea077-7dee-84d7.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/6d9ea077-7e00-2aaf.jpg

Marking pens, tippex, spare nails for hives and frames, matches, porter escapes, in main box blow torch, hammer, 1kg of fondant, knife, brush, spare smoker fuel, entrance blocks, screw driver, screws,, hive tools x2 ( I have just noticed I have left one up the apairary Doh) queen cage, queen plunger, more matches, drone comb, more matches, hive corner securing brackets, smoker lighting sticks, push pins for marking things, and my iPhone with beetight on it for inspection records etc, and a spare finger so I can use the iPhone whilst wearing gloves, and finally cable ties.

But no duct tape??? Can I ask why duct tape??

[Jon]

If you love correx, you need that tape to hold it together.
Also good for blocking entrances or reducing one which is too wide.

[Neils]

But no duct tape??? Can I ask why duct tape??

It if moves and it's not supposed to, put duct tape on it. If it doesn't move and it's supposed to, put WD40 on it :)

Very handy for moving hives around and temporary repairs

[Wraith]

Not come across it yet, but the law of sod now say's I have to carry some as next visit i'll need it! :D

[Jon]

Wraith, your tool box is so organised it almost brings on an anxiety attack, especially those Posca pens all lined up.
Like the meatloaf song, I work on the principle of two out of three ain't bad and I am often missing a hive tool or a cover cloth or something.
As long as you have a veil you can do most of what you planned to do albeit with a bit less organization.
I set up two cell raisers at the association apiary at teatime and I remembered to take the dog with me but forgot a cover cloth.
I had a veil, smoker, hive tool, lighter, and nitrile gloves.

[gavin]

That's what I was thinking. Do tell us that you took special care to make it all look good for the camera Wraith!

With the exception of my smoker and the Tesco bag full of dry rotten wood, everything goes in the pocket of my white (ish) cotton jacket and veil. Hive tool, bit of spare newspaper, Butler cage, queen paint, sometimes the wee bottle of lemon grass oil. Discarded latex gloves accumulate for a while in the pocket. Lighter in the trouser pocket of course.

There might be a plastic box with drone fork, drawing pins, linseed oil, spare ratchet strap, and thymol tub and spare jam jar lid in the car just in case.

[Wraith]

Nope that was just opened up after visiting the hives. If I moved the pens somewhere safe, and only kept this years in the box I'd lose all the others in the safe place that can never be found again. My hives aren't in my garden and have to drive to them so need to be prepared, else face having to drive back and forwards or trips on days afterwards, the car normally has spare floors, QE, crownboards and framed supers, and a nuc just in case at this time of year.

[Jon]

I like to have wee plastic containers as well if the urge comes upon me to take a sample of a few bees for wing checking. Drone ranger, hold your tongue.
I use the containers my home brew stuff comes in, campden tablets, potassium sorbate, yeast nutrient, that sort of thing.
Recycle. You know it makes sense.

[gavin]

Ahh, that safe place that can never be found again. I have a few of these round here. I wonder how many beekeepers are like us, carting around spare kit in the back of the car most of the time. I even had some in the passengers seat today and had to do some serious rearranging to give Ankush a lift home. Jon doesn't have that problem, wise and planet-friendly fellow that he is.

Yes, Jon, I have had various containers kicking about in that plastic box. Some made it to the freezer and I'm not sure if they made it out again.

[Jon]

yes there is a Sargasso sea element to some freezers where beewings and nosema samples collect as if becalmed.

[Wraith]

I'm not into that part yet, but with help from Rosie, I have the software, I have a bit of knowledge on how to do it, just awaiting the hardware, then i'll get into collecting samples from my hives. Then now I can find a use for all my spare homebrewing pots I have saved for some reason yet to be found. :D

[GRIZZLY]

The box shown in the email address is actually designed to take the parafinalia used by aeromoddelers for starting and running model aircraft.Carries spare fuel,starters,spare propellors etc.

[Bumble]

I remembered to take the dog with me but forgot a cover cloth
I'm amazed that your dog is so well trained that it will lie on top of the frames whilst you inspect.

Wraith, you box is scarily tidy, but I'm reassured to know that you also have a 'safe place' that's so safe that things get permanently lost.

[Jon]

LOL. She is terrified of bees. I leave the bicycle at a gate 100 yards from the apiary and tie her to it.
She got stung at my allotment once and the next time I brought her there she sneaked out and a woman found her walking home a mile down the road. Luckily my phone number was on her tag.

[Rosie]

A friend of mine is an ex-inspector and he says that he once visited an apiary and found a dead dog tethered to the gate. It had been stung to death due to being unable to run off.

Rosie

[Jon]

Mine is tethered to the bicycle rather than the gate and it is well out of range of any bees. Worst case scenario she could cycle off.

[gavin]

LOL! Poster of the week! (For the day ... Ok, equal with Alex)

[Neils]

I'm sticking with this.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7088/7211103816_c35f655850_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/33552301@N05/7211103816/)

[Ruary]

Surely It quality not quantity that counts!

:-)

[lindsay s]

Here’s what I carry in my toolbox. I’m too ashamed to include the box after seeing Wraith’s pristine example.The two bits of kit I couldn’t do without are the frame gripper and the frame rest. They make working with short lugged 14x12 frames a whole lot easier. It’s a pity that most beginner’s kits just have a hive tool and smoker.

[Jon]

I prefer duct tape to parcel tape.
Now I know who has stolen all the hive tools I have lost.

[Bumble]

The two bits of kit I couldn’t do without are the frame gripper and the frame rest. They make working with short lugged 14x12 frames a whole lot easier. It’s a pity that most beginner’s kits just have a hive tool and smoker.
I use a frame grip too, and I wish somebody would make a frame rest that fits poly hives, I don't have the DIY skills to make one myself.

Am I the only one that carries a small box of fondant, just in case?

[Wraith]

I use a frame grip if doing anything with a frame for long periods, usually the wife is with me so thats the second pair of hands ;) If you look back at my post I have 2x 500grm bags of fondant in my box just incase, Incase I get hungry or they do :D

[Bumble]

If you look back at my post I have 2x 500grm bags of fondant in my box just incase, Incase I get hungry or they do :D

I admit I missed that. Sorry.