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May and much-ado

Good evening my one reader. I hope this fine Sunday evening in early May finds you well ? A weekend of beekeeping again in many guises.. Friday - set up a trap out at the hotel where I have some colonies, checked all mine and it didn't come from my hives - so charged a nuc with 1 frame of multi-aged brood and threw in some young bees from a couple of supers. Meanwhile the on-site handy man was busy fixing a platform to a small ladder to which I strapped the poly nuc and before long the bees were fanning excitedly - hopefully I'll get many of the bees in the wall, maybe even the queen will vacate too but I'm not counting my eggs....they only arrived Thursday evening so you never know. Saturday - Meon Valley Bee Auction. About as far...
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Easter 2017

Hello my one reader ! Belated Easter felicitations to you. I'm writing after the fullest pre-Easter beekeeping for as long as I can remember. I'm on to 2nd on all and even a third inspection on one hive - I can't recall when this has happened for me for a very very long time and I've been keeping bees since I was 14 (I'm north of 40 now) The weather and an early OSR crop has really spurred the bees on. Having said that, I assisted an elder statesman of the beekeeping world this weekend and it was obvious where there was no OSR within foraging distance his bees were further behind those that were close or adjacent - but no further back than one would usually expect for the time of year I may add. On the paddock front, the sale...
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27th March - sold a colony

I was asked last summer by a friend who had previously had bees but had been left beeless since the previous winter if I could supply her with a colony on national frames. Accordingly I set up a split and took it through the winter for her. At the weekend she telephoned to ask if she and her husband could pick it up. We agreed a pick up time for the evening when the colony had finished flying for the day. As the day was warm and sunny I performed an inspection and marked the queen who was obligingly in the centre of the second frame of brood. A big fat lass indeed. All the capped brood was healthy, nectar and pollen being brought and the bees calm so I closed up content it would be a good colony. They duly arrived carrying a travel...
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All drone brood and angry bees!

Worried as had a super above the good Q hive then the QE then DLQ brood box and it's super above that. Worried that Q pheromones might not reach top bb & super (i.e. Bit like a demaree) so I looked today pm and paper not chewed at all. Decided not to mess about any more and took advice to shake out all bees from DLQ bb & super. Not huge no sod bees and all went back into the hive...hopefully to be accepted. I did narrow the entrance. More lessons learnt!!
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All drone brood and angry bees!

Worried as had a super above the good Q hive then the QE then DLQ brood box and it's super above that. Worried that Q pheromones might not reach top bb & super (i.e. Bit like a demaree) so I looked today pm and paper not chewed at all. Decided not to mess about any more and took advice to shake out all bees from DLQ bb & super. Not huge no sod bees and all went back into the hive...hopefully to be accepted. I did narrow the entrance. More lessons learnt!!
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Sherston Apiary

Opened 4 x 14x12 colonies at one of the new apiaries. One on 9 frames brood with 2 supers already 60% full, no sign of swarming. Two on 4 frames of brood, healthy, BIAS, supers added for space as a lot of capped brood. One I had to just throw out onto the grass as the queen has run out of steam. Sad but I caged her to show friends. And the last - 8 frames of brood, a few drones and at least 7 open queen cells. Split them up as an expanding this year and left the hive with 60% of the frames and a couple of drawn supers on top - v docile could be a good one to watch for offspring Must admit finding queen cells so early was a surprise ! KR S
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Real Progress and a new aquisition

A lot has happened in the past 7 days. While I've finally finished building frames for 25 new colonies and a number of my hive stands, as well as sorting a new out apiary and 'charging' a number of nucs with swarm lures as I sense the season is rapidly getting ahead of itself, I still find I've yet to open a number of colonies and that needs to be rectified in the next 7-14 days. This includes an out apiary of 14x12's that I am trying to decide whether to keep in that format or plan to change them to National and do away with the larger format, and also the Hotel Apiary that has a large National I am waiting to prepare swarming so I can split it. But the big development was my successful purchase of 3/4 of an acre of land I've had my...
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All Natural Herbal Feed Additive For Bees

Greetings, We believe and support the importance of natural production in beekeeping. We have a all natural herbal feed additive for bees, Probee41. Increase honey production by 2,5 over and support for bees against disease such as varroa. We can't hear our voice all over the world, because we have a small regional company. Please contact me to use Probee41, be a dealer or a distributor. Please don't hesitate to asq me your question, Best Wishes, Aykut Kazancı Veterinary Surgeon Happy Bee, The Main Distributor of Probee41 Antalya/TURKEY [email protected]
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finally spring is in the air

Well after a day at the Taunton auction, I had a day part in the garage filling frames with half a sheet of unwired foundation for the OSR and then the afternoon was at my main apiary sorting out supers and also had a delve into 4 colonies which were all strong on 7 frames , 4 fecund and rotund queens all laying well and little incidence of K-Wing either. Also took the opportunity to move a nuc into a poly national to give them space (used a follower board) and then popped a super on the top separated by a sheet of newspaper in case the OSR races ahead. I also set two Asian hornet traps in two apiaries - first time I've used them - will see what that catch. KR S
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Glorious day - indoors for most of it !

Hello my one reader. Well I spent 3 hours there and back in the Landy (which is running very well since it had its first proper service in, ahem, years) with my two boys and spent a fun afternoon at Taunton Beekeepers's Annually Auction at Ruishton nr Taunton. The boys had a fun afternoon running amok in the playground next to the village hall - only sneaking back now and then for a free biscuit from the servers while I perused the 196 lots which were well organised and in lately good condition. I always attend these with an open mind and enjoy rummaging to find surprises at the bottom of 'assorted lots' As I'd purposely left the trailer at home, I was limited on what I could buy - but came away with a compete national hive and...
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March jobs

Finished off another 2 triple hive stands - design is perfected now, and then went out to 3 of the apiaries to check on activity - and popped on some Candipollen (Italian stuff) to keep the bees going in the upcoming unsettled weather....it might seem like spring but it's still only early March ! Some of the OSR around is starting to really grow - reckon it's about 3 weeks before it starts flowering before it goes hell for leather in April. And also found a new outlet for honey - they were so positive and excited unlike some outlets who seem to put all sorts of blockers in one's way to stock honey. Went back this evening to drop some stock in. Plenty to do either end of this week - am collecting a batch of 2nd hand hives on Friday...
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2017 and a new Beekeeping season.....

It's been a while since I last posted - apologies to my one reader ! I'll try and make amends over the coming months. After a lot of deliberations at the end of 2016, I made up my mind to expand my Beekeeping operation. I have taken nearly 28 years of Beekeeping to decide to step up my volume and now, in my (very) early 40s I'm taking the plunge. Having lost 2 colonies over winter - a nuc which was a v v late swarm gifted to me and a weak WBC, I currently have 25 colonies to expand from. The aim being to get to 50 colonies by the end of 2017, and, all being well, expand again in 2018. Why ? Well having had a lot of stress over the last few years I'm only really and truely happy when I'm out and about Beekeeping. I get so much...
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Bees Wax needed

Hello everyone, I'm the art bee, and im looking for bees wax! I am a final year art student and i am currently in the process of constructing my final piece... hey ho, I need a lot of wax to do this so, [B]IF ANY ONE HAS WAX TO SELL CHEAP PLEASE GET IN CONTACT!!!!!
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Is it too early to add a super?

Got my first colony last july so didn't 'super' them as started off with 4 drawn brood frames in new hive. Colony built up well and after autumn feed bedded them down for the winter in the brood box - really strong colony; good hive weight. Have been feeding them candy as hive weight down around 5Kgs and bees flying on warm days and bringing in pollen(white). As I have no drawn super frames I am considering getting in early to give them a chance: is it too soon? OA'd them at start of month so gave me a chance to have a quick look - brood frames fully drawn to each end and lots of bees! but didn't lift any to see what was in them as it was around 5°C and was worried that the flyers would freeze. All comments gratefully received.
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