Recent content by BeeJuice

I started keeping bees six years ago and like many beginners, I wanted to increase the number of hives. I am now finding I have too many and am selling on a good selection of essentials - Queen Excluder x5 Supers x5 (3 with drawn foundation) (pine) Brood Box x4 (cedar) Oxalic acid vapouriser...

Fair enough - That solves the problem of what to do on Bank Holiday Monday!

Right ho! I'll take your advice. Thank you

That's interesting.. thank you for the replies. I usually go into the winter with the bees on a double brood box (nationals) Come the spring, I remove the lower BB which is generally empty of stores and brood, and add it back when the colony expands or if I need to split the hive in swarm...

I took a massive crop of honey in early August - I harvested earlier than normal as I had 5 supers on each hive and the bees were running out of room and I had no more supers to give them. Having extracted the honey I gave each hive a super to give them a little space. The supers are now filled...

I did consider my dilemma and I wrote down the options and possible outcomes in my post. As a novice bee keeper (in my third year) I am happy to ask for help - and it was gratefully received within about two minutes of my posting on the forum. If YOU don't want to help, don't - I shan't miss...

That sounds like a good plan. In that case, I'll leave them to it and let the bees decide... many thanks..

I've just done an inspection of my hives (9th October) and found two queens in one hive. I can't tell whether the new queen has mated but assume that the bees have decided it was time to replace the existing queen. It was 20 degrees today and is forecast to be even warmer tomorrow. Plenty of...

It looks to me like the gas vapouriser has too many issues with condensing. But, by a fortunate stroke of serendipity this discussion has come round to vaping from above - which, for those with an under floor entrance, is a good solution. I think it is time to ditch the gas vapouriser and go...

I've been following this thread with interest. I like the idea of vaping from above. I've followed what others have described - a clear cover, hole in the side, a shortened pipe and a heat shield. (this isnt really necessary with my set up as I use a blow torch aimed at 90 degrees. I have gone...

You would have thought that the Germans with their engineering prowess would have sorted these problems.

I bought this vapouriser as it appeared to offer a solution to the problem of faced by users (like me) with an under floor entrance. Previously I used a varrox battery operated vapouriser - but with the under floor entrance there's no way of inserting the heating bowl. My plan was to fix blow...

I've ordered one of these. I've switched to the hive floor with an under entrance - not possible to poke a vaporiser in the front. With the gas vaporiser I'm planning to make an inspection tray with built in piping to blow the smoke up into the hive.

The only time my bees attacked my hands like that was when I wore some gloves with a black rubber palm. They hate the colour black.

The only time my bees attacked my hands like that was when I wore some gloves with a black rubber palm. They hate the colour black.