# What is the most useless piece of equipment you have bought for beekeeping?



## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

The only thing that I can think of that I have bought and very rarely use is a frame rest. It has its place, but I just rarely use it.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Gloves, they are required working for the state. We just do not have to wear them fortunately.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Never bought one, but there was always one included when I bought an apiary from the widow. 

Frame grip


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Yeah the frame rest, it looked like a wonderful idea so I went ahead and made one, then found out that if the hives are placed side by side which mine are it is useless........Bill


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## Fishman43 (Sep 26, 2011)

I bought a frame rest, used it maybe three times and kept leaving it on the bottom box when I put the stack back on. That and it doesn't work at all on the middle of my three hive line ups.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

frame rest has it place sometimes, but yeah not a necessity...frame grip...best use I have found for that it torchering the lawn mower and then there is the bee brush...good for dusting the dust off hives, maybe


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## Sharpbees (Jun 26, 2012)

frame spacer my fingers do the same thing and I never drop them.


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## djdup (Jul 5, 2012)

For me it would have to be the Frame Grip. Used it once and didn't like it. Never picked it up again. As far as the frame rest I use it quit often. Everty time I do an inspection.


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

Frame grip and the Burgess fogger that's never been out of the box...


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## MichaelShantz (May 9, 2010)

Queen excluder. I never use it.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

10 frame boxes when my hive is 8 frame.....


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## sweetas (Apr 16, 2012)

I find the frame grip indispensable. I have two types, one is useless or almost useless, the other really great.
The good one makes working the hives so easy.


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## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

Queen excluder and veil. I've used each exactly once and found them both more trouble than they are worth.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Come tell us about that useless veil a few years and or face/eye/nostril stings from now.


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

I must confess that I do use the frame puller to get the first outer frame out of the hive, I find it helps but after the first frame is pulled I use my hive tool and fingers on the rest of them which gives me far better control, I suppose if I had a j-hook hive tool then the puller would become obsolete......Bill


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Nah, I have a J-hook and regular, find it easier to lossen then pull out with my hands still.


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## Keefis (May 4, 2012)

Nothing, since I have made everything myself, from my hives to my smoker. It is very liberating to build it yourself. Not only will you save money but you will understand processes and parameters of the items you make. Whether it is through trial and error or just dumb luck.
I built two 5 ft TBH from one sheet of 30 dollar ply.
My smoker is a soup can with a bellows made of hardboard and duct tape.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

The last thing I heard this guy say was "I don't need a veil...."


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

I have a frame grip. Never use it. My sons like trying to pinch each other with it though!


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

If it wasn't for my frame grip, my arthritic hands could hold the frames. Most useless thing... let's see... frame spacers to space 7 frames in an 8 frame box. My hair clip queen catcher is pretty useless to me. Can't hardly hold it to use it.


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## Riskybizz (Mar 12, 2010)

Paul I was always under the impression that old time beekeepers never suffered from arthitis. Are you getting enough bee venom in the right places? maybe a few more stings to the hands would actually help. I have a couple bee yards that might be able to help you out..


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Aerindel said:


> Queen excluder and veil. I've used each exactly once and found them both more trouble than they are worth.


I hope you at least wear safety glasses or something. It only takes one bee for you to enjoy the rest of your life seeing the world in tunnel vision. It is kinda like my view on shb...I'm down here in ground zero in south Alabama...I have a very low beetle population but I have 2-3 beetle traps in each hive...I know that one day my time will come and I want to be prepared.

===============================

As for what I haven't used:

Gloves...nice pair of goatskin gloves still stapled together.

Sting relief stuff I got at bee meeting....still in medicine cabinet.

Frame holder...had one given to me in some old stuff from a beek's widow...never used it.

Frame wire crimper...just never worked well and have had not noticed any problem doing without it....maybe later?

Ed


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

Riskybizz - unfortunately my arthritis is in my spine. The pain is in my hands. I get stung quite a bit, but it doesn't help much. If you want to get stung, I can show you a few of my feral hives...


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## garyk1398 (Jan 25, 2011)

I second the wire crimper from Intheswamp. I can put the death grip on it and still not be effectively crimping the wire.:scratch:


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

First least useful: Gloves - obstructions to quick and gentle hive manipulation.

Second least useful: Bee Suit - just asking for heat stroke.

Third least useful: Veil - almost totally prevents me from completing an inspection, especially makes it nearly impossible to see eggs or young brood. Sweat runs down face, into eyes and eyeglasses, making it hard to see anything.


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## sammyjay (May 2, 2011)

I would say queen excluders. I have never used them, although I might try them and find that they are useful one day.


Nathan


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

I have found uses for most of the tools that I have bought over the years. My bee jacket keeps me warm while beekeeping (obviously we have different weather than Tucson). My excluder saves me a ton of work sorting frames, sawing through cocoons. My bee brush is great for removing bees from queen cell bars. My veil has saved me several times over the years from serious injury. My frame hanger is great to keep me from kicking frames balanced up against a hive body, but I admit that I leave it in odd places like between two boxes that I just went had open.

Things that I don't use anymore are a frame grip (never worked will with plastic frames) and my clam shell queen catcher (queens are safer if I just pick them up).


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Joseph Clemens said:


> Sweat runs down face, into eyes and eyeglasses, making it hard to see anything.


Try using a sweat band even if you don't wear the veil...........they're great.........


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I use a screened bottom board with a QE on top of it to put my boxes on as I go through the hive. Keeps most of the bees inside but yet gives them nice ventilation as I usually put the top back on it.


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## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

> Come tell us about that useless veil a few years and or face/eye/nostril stings from now.



Actually I got stung on the tip of my nose two days ago. Last week I got hit twice on my left cheek. To tell the truth I would rather get stung in the face than in my hands, it seems to hurt more on my hands and be more likely to swell up and itch.

Thats actually a lot of stings for me but I have a queenless hive right now and they where not very a happy about adding a couple frames from another hive. I've only had about a dozen total this year.

Stings are just not that big of a deal for me.


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

Frame grip just don't feel like I have enough control over the frame when using it. Since I started raising queens I use my bee brush quite a bit.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I use the frame rest when doing full inspections. My wife will use the frame grip when trying to remove an outside frame full of honey.
I'd have to say the most useless thing we have purchased, was the leather gloves. Haven't used them in 4 years.


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## Keefis (May 4, 2012)

Hey Comello,
Did that guy in the picture eat a shrimp peanut egg roll with bee venom remoulade? Or is he Rocky's stunt double?

There should be a specific forum for the wall of shame that has those pics and any other documented disasters.
It is easy to learn from a picture. Some of my favorite books are full of pictures, with one sentence at the bottom of each page. "See Spot run."


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## dnichols (May 28, 2012)

snl said:


> Try using a sweat band even if you don't wear the veil...........they're great.........


Haha. There ya go. That's what I use. I can't believe folks don't use a veil. I get the whole one with the bee thing but a sting on the face is crazy bad.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

I've tried sweat bands, but I think I'm gonna need an industrial strength one. The ones I've used work great for about 30 minutes, then they reach their capacity and at that point it would be better without one. I probably just sweat way too much. But they say that once you stop sweating the heat is already causing you more serious problems, so I'm glad that the sweat keeps on keeping on.

I get stung almost every time I work my bees, which is every day. Most are in and around my nostrils, scalp, cheeks, neck, and fingers. They all hurt for a few minutes, but I've had no other reactions that I can remember. I never really swelled up from a sting. Sometimes a small welt forms at the site of the sting, about the diameter of a pea, then fades in about ten minutes.


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## bhfury (Nov 25, 2008)

Varroa "Dustructor"


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## mrqb (Jul 17, 2011)

Boardman Feeder


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## krad1964 (Jun 4, 2011)

I used a unique sweat band when I was running more. It has a strip of rubber that sits across your forehead. This causes sweat to roll back behind your ears and not across your face and glasses. It works!

http://store.haloheadband.com/HALO-II-pullover-s/9.htm

I have a pair of leather gloves that I hardly use and a frame spacer that is collecting dust.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

I've been racking my brain trying to think of something, but the truth is, all the reading I did on this forum and other sites really kept me from spending too much unnecessarily.

So thanks.

Adam


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## Tohya (Apr 6, 2011)

For me its a queen excluder, the frame grip is a close second but it is useful to get that first frame out.


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

The thin leather gloves that Mann Lakes sells seem to attract bees. I never get stung with cloth gloves, but usually the thin leather gloves were good for one sting or more on my hands, and I only have six hives.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

I have 10 small cell plastic frames that I do not like and neither did the bees. They only drew them out half way. Also, they have hollow parts in those frames that trap bees in them. Would hate for it to be the queen.

Bought a dvd that was a huge disappointment........Organic Beekeeping 101


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Bee Bliss, I'm glad you mentioned the dvd, I had forgotten about those. I bought three(?) dvds from one of the bigger companies figuring I could pass them around to some friends and maybe eventually use them at club meetings. These were produced by one of the bigger bee supply companies and they were a complete disappointment...they were basically advertisements for this companies products, some of which have been discontinued for a few years!!!









Paying to watch their advertisements left a bad taste in my mouth.inch:

Ed


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Plastic telescoping hive covers. They crack in a few years, leak, drip condensation terribly, and cost three times what I can make an aluminun covered wooden one for. I'll be making quite a few, as my buddy is planning on replacing all of his soon, and he has a dozen hives or so.

Peter


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

Queen excluder. I know I lost bees, several swarms my first 1 1/2 yrs til I took them out. 

I have a frame holder and love it. I have a frame grip and use it once in awhile and I"m glad I have it.


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

Queen excluders are great for sifting bees to locate the queen - not so great for keeping the queen out of honey comb.


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## Blaze (Jun 7, 2012)

I bought these screen bottom boards from a local apiarie with a tray underneath to fill with vegetable oil to collect SHB, mites and ants. Seem like a good idea at the time. Turned out the screen they used do not keep the worker bees out and killed over a thousand bees overnight. Needless to say my girls where not very happy wend I checked on them the next day. I was suited up but received multiple stings when I was removing the SBB and my forearms now look like Popeye. I need to go back and try to get a refund, but more important to have them stop selling this product until they fix the problem. Most useless piece of equipment I have bought so far. Tried to add pictures, but doesn't seem to be working for me.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

What type of wire is in those screened bottom boards? Are they going through the screen or around it? Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Ed


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## Blaze (Jun 7, 2012)

They where going through the galvanize wire screen and several bees got stuck in-between the openings. Just big enough to let a bee pass through. Guess I can use it as a queen excluder. 

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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Try to post the pictures again...looks like the local path on your computer.

Either you have small bees and the seller was using #6 mesh or something. Smaller bees can get through #6...so if you working with small cell you wouldn't want that. #7 is the holy grail, but rare as hen's teeth. I can't remember who it is but one of the major supply houses builds a beetle trap with #6.

Ed


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## Blaze (Jun 7, 2012)

Ed, thanks for the info and I believe I got the pictures to upload. Must of been #6 mesh because they where all small bees, no drones or queen that I saw thankfully. Been trying to find a smaller mesh screen, but the big shops don't sell it. 

john


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## Cedar Hill (Jan 27, 2009)

The most useless tool purchased? A manipulation cloth which keeps the bees quieter and warmer when used in the early spring. Saw it used by an English beekeeper. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but didn't realize that it's only used when opening hives on chilly, damp days and who would do that? OMTCW


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## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

I will have to go with frame rest also. Got one with my with my first hive 5 years ago, ran across it in the garge a couple weeks ago.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Blaze said:


> Ed, thanks for the info and I believe I got the pictures to upload. Must of been #6 mesh because they where all small bees, no drones or queen that I saw thankfully. Been trying to find a smaller mesh screen, but the big shops don't sell it.


Looks like a larger mesh. Count the number of squares inside of 1" and that will be the mesh size. You can buy #8 off of amazon.com.

Ed


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## DJS (May 7, 2012)

Blaze said:


> Ed, thanks for the info and I believe I got the pictures to upload. Must of been #6 mesh because they where all small bees, no drones or queen that I saw thankfully. Been trying to find a smaller mesh screen, but the big shops don't sell it.
> 
> john
> 
> ...


I build mine with #8 (1/8")screen wire, was worried that it would be to small for SHB to fit through, but could not find a source for #7 or #6 wire. So I tried #8 wire it work great it has killed 100's of SHB and no bee's. Dead SHB is a good one.


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## Robbo8916 (Jun 11, 2012)

Cedar Hill said:


> The most useless tool purchased? A manipulation cloth which keeps the bees quieter and warmer when used in the early spring. Saw it used by an English beekeeper. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but didn't realize that it's only used when opening hives on chilly, damp days and who would do that? OMTCW


Lol. I think English beekeepers especially in my part of the country use the manipulation cloth on chilly damp days because that is pretty much the only weather we get in England!!! haha


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## sweetas (Apr 16, 2012)

They probably think it is a warm sunny day. IE, on June 3 , it was 10 C, closing in on the middle of summer. Here in Perth , it was 24 C and bright sun shine (bee paradise).

It is all relative
Geoff


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## buzz abbott (Mar 6, 2012)

Birdman said:


> I will have to go with frame rest also. Got one with my with my first hive 5 years ago, ran across it in the garge a couple weeks ago.


hope you didn't get a flat tire when you ran across it.


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## daddydon5 (Mar 21, 2011)

Without question, the most useless equipment I have purchased was the Brushy Mountain corner protectors. Purchased them because they were mentioned favorably on a podcast I heard. Waste of money.


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