River Wey & Navigations - Phototour with an Apiarist

A typical 'National' beehive. The boxes separately house the bees and their honey, with the Brood Box at the base. Supporting the structure is a set of coalyard scales, although not all apiarists utilise scales on-site like this.

Fully protected with veil and gloves, and having removed the top of the hive, Don gingerly lifts the protective top wood capping the uppermost Super Box. This board has air vents that can be used to adjust air flow within the hive and covers a grill or Quilt Board to contain the bees.

A Superbox
The uppermost Super Box is exposed. The Super Boxes contain frames of honeycomb slotted in vertically side-by-side.The frames are separated by spacers (the variously coloured metal strips seen here) allowing a gap of at least a quarter of an inch for the bees to be able to move around, and also to allow good ventilation within the box. This box contains space for ten frames.

Examining the condition of the honeycomb

Here Don starts to work through the box frame by frame to check on the condition of the honeycomb. The apiarist will check to see if all of the comb cells have been capped which will indicate that the honey is ready for harvesting. He will also check for infestation by other insects.

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	Meet Don Burgess, apiarist of some repute. He is wearing his distinctive bright orange bee suit with its protective veil removed. Don holds a Smoker he'll use to subdue the bees.		A typical 'National' beehive. The boxes separately house the bees and their honey, with the Brood Box at the base. Supporting the structure is a set of coalyard scales, although not all apiarists utilise scales on-site like this.
	Fully protected with veil and gloves, and having removed the top of the hive, Don gingerly lifts the protective top wood capping the uppermost Super Box. This board has air vents that can be used to adjust air flow within the hive and covers a grill or Quilt Board to contain the bees.		The uppermost Super Box is exposed. The Super Boxes contain frames of honeycomb slotted in vertically side-by-side.The frames are separated by spacers (the variously coloured metal strips seen here) allowing a gap of at least a quarter of an inch for the bees to be able to move around, and also to allow good ventilation within the box. This box contains space for ten frames.
	Bees are provided with frames pre-prepared with a wired natural honeycomb, or Wax Foundation, providing them with a ready-made starting point. This also ensures that the bees build a more even structure of comb.		Here Don starts to work through the box frame by frame to check on the condition of the honeycomb. The apiarist will check to see if all of the comb cells have been capped which will indicate that the honey is ready for harvesting. He will also check for infestation by other insects.
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