Recent content by Catrin

Thank you all. The brood box is looking pretty full so I will replace the two frames that look most suspicious with clean ones (they are just honey - no brood) and think about how I decide to deal with it. The honey is beautifully capped (except where I have been poking it). There are usually...

I’m quite a new beekeeper (got my colony in July last year), please could I ask a potentially daft question? My bees seem very hardy and have been out and about even in the awful weather we’ve been having in the North East. We had a few days a few weeks ago when OSR was in flower and the...

I did a course which finished in early July and got a 5-frame nuc just after. I was quite relieved not to have to worry about swarming and so on this year (I have been checking but no QCs have been made). The queen is laying like mad. They are so gentle and calm that I only really have the...

Thank you for your help! I was hoping that I could get away with just one hive this year, as I'm getting a 5-frame nucleus, and plans are to invest in more as funds allow before next spring. I had thought that I'd be pulling the frames apart each year, so it's helpful to know that's not the...

Hi, I'm a very new beekeeper and the hive in my signature is a flat pack one without any bees in it yet (they're arriving next week). I made the mistake of letting my father-in-law, who's a carpenter, look at the hive. He's got all sorts of "improvement" plans, most of which I have squashed...