2017 Beverley Beekeepers Auction

Sunday 30th April was the Beverley Beekeepers 2017 Annual Auction! I got my first bee colony there in 2011 and it's continued to prove a really useful source of kit. Last year I sold an empty Nuc there, this year I had a few more things to sell and decided to drop them off the previous evening when submissions were being accepted. I was supposed to be meeting a couple of people in town that evening but I seem to be perpetually running late so they probably weren't too surprised when it happened again. When I got there half the hall was already occupied with items for auction the next day. I droped off my stuff and went on my merry way, met people patiently waiting in the pub, hit up a club as you do, went home and the next day I grabbed my chequebook and headed back to Woodmansey. This year I was specifically looking for a few Supers, a couple of Queen Excluders and some spare Hive Tools.

Auction this way!

I wandered into the hall as a WBC hive went under the hammer for £25. It wasn't long before a lot of three hive tools came up so I placed a few bids but stopped when they got to a fiver. The hall was pretty full with all.the seats taken and people standing at the end and either side of the stage. An Observation Hive got a lot on interest going for £100, there always seems to be a couple of these at auctions and they seem to sell well. I'm not sure if the buyers actually use them or keep them as curios.

One of two Display Hives that went under the hammer

This is a straw Skep. Bee Hive from the Olde Worlde.
Flipped over they make great laundry baskets.

As well as a few Observation Hives there always seems to be a skep at these auctions. This time was no exception and it went for £34. As usual there was a lot of National Hives and Hive parts. I noticed there were more WBC Hives than last year.

A trio of complete National Hives

Heather Honey Press

As well as the usual Hives there were a few curious items here and there.A strange looking contraption that looked like some sort of vice turned out to be a Heather Honey Press and went for £36. Outside a collection of canvas, metal poles and netting proved to be a bee enclosure for beekeeping demonstrations.

My Lots! 37x330ml Bottles, 600 Queen Cups, Conical Honey Filter and Frame Sides

Eventually we got to the bits I'd dropped off. There was 37 330ml beer bottles er mead bottles I mean. I've decided to stick to 500ml and 750ml bottles for my home brewing. They're good quality dark brown glass and someone got a bargain bagging them for a fiver. I also had two lots of 300 plastic Queen Cups I've had sat on eBay for about a year, they went for £2 per lot so think I probably broken even on those. I also sold a conical honey filter that I got at a previous action and don't think I've ever actually used. My last lot for sale was a box of mixed shallow frame sides. I've decided to standardise on Manley frame sides for my supers and these were 20 self spacing and two wide sides.

National Supers, Foundation and Crownboards.

 

Ten colonies, all sold.

As usual in the middle of the auction there was a break and everyone headed outside for the live colonies being sold. There were ten colonies in all. I think there was a 5 frame Nuc, an 8 frame Poly Nuc, seven single brood National Hives and one double brood National. The single brood colonies went for about £150 I think. The double brood which was described as 10 1/2 frames of brood, 20 frames of bees and a Super fetched £250. Lot of bees there. If I'd bought it I'd probably split it into two colonies pretty quickly.

Double Brood and a Super.
Bet somebody had a slow drive home.

Whilst the bees were selling I had a reconnoitre of the auction floor. There was a tool box with a few bits including three hives tools so I noted the number of that lot and another lot of three hive tools. I spotted a strange little plastic box for one lot which was actually a box of prepared Honey Bee microscope slides, I'd been toying with the idea of making some of these myself and decided to bid on them.

In a box containing quite a strange mix of things including a smoker and soap moulds I found a very innovative entrance reducer/wasp guard. I've never seen one like it before. It has two sides which can be open and closed and a mouse guard over one side. Clever piece of work by somebody.

Innovative Entrance Reducer

As bidding resumed a few flat slotted Queen Excluders sold then the framed excluders I was waiting for came up. Turns out a lot of people wanted those and I didn't win them either. The toolbox with the hive tools sold and I finally got the other lot of three hive tools for a tenner, got to wonder where those bidders were when the first set of three went for a fiver earlier in the day but such is the unpredictable nature of auctions.

Motorised Honey Extractor

The Motorised Extractor went for £310. The seller was someone who'd recently ceased beekeeping and was getting rid of their kit. An Easi-Steam came up but didn't meet it's reserve. I have one of these myself and think it's the bees knees. A Honey Settling Tank got a lot on interest too.

A Honey Settling Tank and a Heated Capping Knife

I bid on some metal frame runners but lost out so shall be ordering some online eventually. Frame runners make it far easier to manage frames in the Brood Box than having the lugs sat on the wooden rebates, they also reduce the chances of a bee getting squished when you put a frame back in the box. Most of my Brood Boxes have metal runners that came with some Easi-Pet Cedar Supers but some still have plastic runners which will melt when I scorch them.

Another mystery lot was a set of 6 small wood and metal cages. Evidently for some sort of thymol treatment for varroa. I'm not entirely sure how they work but I'd guess a thymol treatment possibly goes in the cage then it sits on top of the colony. A couple of people bid on those so presumably they knew a bit more about them.

Mystery objects

I won the microscope slides for £6. They're from Brunel Microscopes Ltd who are still selling the same set for slightly less, but I saved on poastage. Looking at their site they have a few other interesting slides on offer and may get a bit of custom from me.

I'd noticed a few brood boxes at the far end of the hall but hadn't paid them any attention, when we reached them I was surprised to hear them described as Commercial and joined the bidding. Most people still prefer the smaller National size hive so there weren't many people bidding on them. I think only myself and two others were interested in them. I got a lot of three for £15 and stood on for the next batch of three.

Commercial Brood Boxes complete with 12 frames each.

So that was six Commercial Brood Boxes at a fiver apiece. Later we got to some more Commercial Brood Boxes each with a compliment of 12 frames in each. There were two of us bidding on them. I got two lots of two boxes and frames for £5 per lot whilst the other chap got three lots of the same. They were varying in build quality, from some with perfect box joints on the corners to a couple with a few screws in the corners. A few had rectangular abrasions were presumably the previous owner's brand had been sanded off or something. After scorching, scraping, a little attention to a couple and a lick of paint they'll be ready for use again.

Boxes of jars proved popular as ever. Not the most interesting things to bid on but everyone needs them to sell a honey crop. After being a bit disappointed with Compak South Ltd shipping me a couple of broken jars last year then not responding to contacts or making any effort at redress I decided to pick some up here for less and got two boxes of 72 jars each. Saving 30p per jar on the pound jars and a bit more on the smaller jars. It sounds a bit trivial but really adds up when you start selling a few.

Free Worker Bee with a stack of empty Commercial Brood Boxes

Amongst the very last lots were two bundles of ten Commercial brood frames. I picked them up for £3 each. One set appears to be unused with the wedge still in place and the others had been cleaned up. I'll still be sterilising them all anyway to be safe.

Two sets of ten Commercial Deep Frames, £3 a set.

I noticed a few differences his year compared to previous years I've attended. Usually there's a lot of used Nucs being sold but not this year, possibly linked to my other observation that most of the bees sold were in full size colonies rather than Nucs this time. There were also less lots of random bits of kit lumped together than previously.

I've started to notice a few patterns to auctions. The bidding is busier towards the start when there's more bidders so it's worth submitting items as early as possible to get as good a sale price as you can. Conversely as a buyer you can get some bargains if you hang about to the end as people have spent up or gone to settle up their bills before the queue gets too big. The two sets of Commercial Frames I picked up were the second and third to last lots and definitely worth waiting around for.

At the end of the day I spent £98 and came away with ten Commercial Brood Boxes, 71 Commercial Frames, three Hive Tools, 144 jars and a set Microscope Slides. The items I sold off went for £16 which after the 10% auction fee comes in at £14.40. Loading the car took a while as I'd not planned to buy anything bulky and had 4 plastic crates still sat in the back, Took me a couple of tries to get everything in but I got it all home in the end.

Loading the car was tricky, hadn't planned to buy much.