Laurence Edwards of Black Mountain Honey uses a Kevlar-cable retractable reel (about £20) clipped to his bee suit to keep his hive tool from getting lost on roofs or in pockets. The tool rewinds automatically and has survived three years because it never gets misplaced.
Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. So I appreciate my last few videos have not been about the bees. We've done pizza ovens, we've done smoked salmon, we've done a few foraging videos, but we're back on with the bees now, just in time for the whole country to go into lockdown. So I appreciate it's a really, really difficult time for all, so I'll do my absolute very best to kind of give you as many videos as I possibly can during this period. It's a good time to kind of build up on your skills, learn about the bees kind of through YouTube videos, and try different things out at home. So today's video, I'm going to show you something that's really helped me out over the past few years. If you speak to any of the beekeeping suppliers that I buy stuff from, they will tell you that I've used A lot of hive tools over the past kind of 3 or 4 years. My chicken in the background here. So we're in our garden today, so we're self-isolating, we're not kind of out in the countryside somewhere, this is our garden. So yeah, hive tools, I lose so many of these hive tools and it's because I kind of put them in my pocket and then when I need them I take them out, I use them and then I leave them on a roof and then I forget about them. And whenever I'm kind of moving apiaries, I always find that there's loads of hive tools left around. So I developed this little system, and I'm not sure I've seen anyone use it before, but it's kind of like a, a lanyard holder. Clips onto your pocket there, and it means you've always got ready kind of good access to your hive tool. And what's so good about this design is that you don't need to kind of clip it on and clip it off each time. That remains kind of on my suit throughout the whole season, and then if It's on an adjustable retractable reel, so it always comes back. So if I let it go or I walk away, it's kind of always there. It's in a perfect position kind of for me to use it as a handheld. I've got loads of kind of slack on the retractable cable. It's a Kevlar cable, so I've gone for a really kind of expensive option for this. Cost me about £20. I'll put the link up just so you know where to buy it. Maybe something that beekeepers could kind of Beekeeping supply stores could add on, because I think that's a really kind of neat idea. I really like it. There's a bit of an issue with this suit where the clip comes off, but while we're off isolating from everyone, I'm going to get the sewing machine out and I'm going to do that so it's a kind of permanent thing and it's basically stuck onto the suit. So that's it. This is a really kind of quick video just to show you what I do in terms of my hive tools. You can see now that hive tool is absolutely battered. It's starting to rust a little bit, and the reason is, is that I haven't lost that in about 3 years. I've only had kind of one hive tool, um, because I don't lose it, because I don't leave them around, because it's kind of attached to my bee suit. So that's the setup there. Like I say, comes down on a retractable cord, and it means that you've always got your hive tool available whenever you need it, and you've not lost it. Because the amount of times I kind of go to an apiary and I've lost my hive tool And I just can't get the boxes apart, especially early season inspections when you're trying to move frames around. It's really, really difficult to do it, so you do need your hive tool there. So that's it for today's video, really, really quick one. We'll do loads more of these videos in the garden while I'm off in isolation. Please hit the subscribe button, please hit the bell so you're notified of every video, and I'll see you next time.
