Recent content by Jambo

Assuming the filter which is being blocked is a fine one, could you try an initial coarser filtering stage? I am on a small scale and as such my processing set-up is very mickey mouse but the principles are the same - I have a colander and a sieve which sit on top of my proper strainer, the...

Even at the weekend when I was putting some extracted supers onto my heather hives, when I took the boards off that I'd had on to store/transport them, the smell of mint that came out was astonishing. I suppose people's senses are different and that could explain part of it, the other thing to...

I’ve got minty honey here from hives under lime trees and a super filled in a week when they were in peak flower and it was muggy - other local beekeepers reporting the same thing. You must have some somewhere I reckon!

FWIW I put a new brood box of foundation on top of a couple of my hives this time last year and with a feed they drew it out a treat. Drawn comb is great to have.

I had exactly the same thing in 2017 going into 2018; my sample size is small but I'd be inclined to think the bees know something OP doesn't, though I'd share the concerns about the low likelihood of successful mating now.

I have successfully cleared the early stages of crystallisation of chunk honey in my warming cabinet. 45 degC is enough to liquify all honeys I’ve encountered and wax doesn’t melt until >60 degC I think, so in theory it’s easy!

You could also stir them in lukewarm water, strain and then you have the beginnings of a batch of mead.

Have never used wooden nuc boxes but I'd imagine poly nuc boxes have had a big impact too, probably bigger in fact?

I'm still new to this lark but that seems odd. Conventional wisdom is that a colony with a current year queen building cells is either ridiculously short on space or it's actually supercedure?

I have certainly lost a fair few and would tend to agree; however you'd need to be watching your hives all day to be sure that they haven't fallen in the grass and returned to the hive, surely?

Green, 2019 queen swarming? Or 2014 or are you using non-standard colours?

With the hive open, wet nectar that flies out of the frames on handling, excited waggle dances going on. Bees completely ignoring your presence as they're busy and the mature foragers which ping your veil at other times are all out foraging. Without opening, bees flying in great numbers...

Still plenty of willow and blackthorn out in Aberdeenshire, and flowering currant is in full bloom too. Gorse very heavy with blossom and the odd bit of broom starting too. Gooseberries also in flower. OSR is highly variable, sheltered sunny bits are a few % in flower in some fields while...

Sounds about right... transfer it to other bottles if it bothers you. It really can take forever to clear. I have some heather stuff I gave up on clearing in demijohns but now it has gelatinous deposits in the bottles!

That's a smaller number than I've seen quoted elsewhere PH, where does it come from? Or do you mean 3 miles square?