Not directly beekeeping, but I never go to the beeyard without this. It's my "mini-surge". For those of you who know the Leatherman tools, I wanted all the functionality of a Surge but the weight of a Wave. The Surge is too big and clumsy for me. So I started with a Wave. I cut the side to fit the surge saw/file holder http://bushfarms.com/images/MiniSurge2.jpg The scissor is the same size as the Surge. I took pieces off of a number of tools, mostly Leatherman tools:
Rebar: Pliers with removable cutters, ground down and tweaked to open one handed
Surge: Removable saw blade (cut down)
Removable file (cut down)
Removable blade holder
Bolsters
Wingman: Scissors (drilled out)
Signal: package opener, ground down
Wave: Frame
Glasses screwdriver
Removable screwdriver bits
Large screwdriver
Can opener
Tx tool crafters: S35vn blade
Damascas blade
Swiss army knife: Tweezers
toothpick
I saw this frenzy going on and turned the cover over to block the entrance. They were doing this same thing before I blocked it. They would pile up until they would fall in clumps. I slowed it down to try to see it better.
I consider propolizing a good trait for bees (maybe not for the beekeeper). Here is a mating nuc I found this year. The drilled hole is about 5/8". The reduced hole is about 5/16".
It wasn't working right and then it would and then it wouldn't. This is what I found. It couldn't get out, so I left it and used another smoker. It was finally out after two days.
We needed to feed because of a dearth and we still needed to finish building up the 8 frame nucs for winter. We bought 50 six gallon buckets and bought 3,450 pounds of sugar in 25 lb bags. We worked out the maximum strength we could do with hot water from my tap (140 F) and not have it crystallize out. We put one 25 pound bag in each bucket with a heaping tablespoon of ascorbic acid, then 18 pints of water and stir it with a five gallon paint stirrer. After 10 to 30 minutes we stir it again.
