Recent content by DomB

Thanks all. I love the idea of letting them all go down into another brood box and having the wild comb empty out naturally over time. Just not sure I'll find the Queen and get her on the right side of a clearer though! Will go look at clearers. Thanks all for the great help

Hi, I took on a friend's old hive recently which is good and strong but needs a bit of a 'tidy up'. The brood chamber has a a queen excluder on top and I've noticed that the chamber is missing about 3 or 4 frames. The bees have filled in that gap with 'wild comb', i.e. not in frames, which is...

So, Just wanted to say we had a great day. I had about a dozen groups of 6 or 7 people come round and see the bees. I showed them the entrance and how to approach the hive and talked through what to look for as the bees go in and out. We talked about swarming and collecting swarms and populating...

lol. And if you speak to people like that you shouldn't be out in public. To be fair, maybe you didn't understand where I'm coming from on this: The place I have my hives at has decided to invite the public around the gardens for the first time, and asked if I can talk about the bees. This is...

Ok, thanks everyone. I'll look up the symptoms and stuff just so I'm more aware tbh. And will have a phone to hand! Will also just give a gentle warning to folk that these are wild insects at the end of the day etc. Sounds like due dilligence is the best I can do!

Hi, I have my bees on a community site which is having an open day this weekend. There'll be kids and general public around. Not thinking it will be overly busy but I'll be doing talks to groups of folk etc. I've suddenly had a fear that I should have an epipen at the ready in case some gets...

Thanks! I'm not so keen to buy a new Queen, am hoping to just raise new. The hive I've got is very productive so I'm hoping to pass those genes on if I can! I haven't got any quantity of foundation in the new brood chamber's frames; might be able to add a few small strips. As I say, I'm...

Hi, My lone hive looks to be doing really well, the brood chamber is very busy and the super is filling up. I have enough equipment for a second hive so I'm wanting to split the first (thinking I might then have two hives next year and less chance of a swarm this year!) Can I ask: Is it too...

Thanks bees4u; we haven't taken anything from their brood chamber.

Rooftop; thanks so much! I didn't know about the HMF level. I've already boiled it down so I guess I've about stuffed it now! d'oh!

@bees4u - We usually leave each hive with what sums up to about a framesworth of honey for the winter (all the uncapped stuff etc) but this time we've taken just about the whole lot. Is there any reason not to feed the bees (other than the cost and effort of doing so)? @Sugarbush - it's was...

Thanks Rosti. I suppose I could just give them the honey as it is.

Thanks very much.I'll give it a go

Hi, I have an amount of honey which is not really sellable so I was looking to make it into a winter feed. I've seen recipes for mixing icing sugar into the honey to make a fondant. It pretty much says to just add the sugar until the mixture becomes the desired texture. Has anyone any...

Thanks All. I boiled the mush and ran it through a muslin. Have now got a disk of wax my wife will be happy to have and a kinda of syrupy mixture. Will it be OK to feed that syrup to the bees instead of the fondant?