Recent content by Just Steve

When using pond liner or roofing felt as covering just carry a 6" square piece of wood as a way to insulate under the smoker if you put it down.

Putting your head in the sand and thinking that nothing will go wrong is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps nothing will ever go wrong and no one will be injured or fall ill but on the other hand it might go badly wrong and things could get very messy. I would search out some proper advice before I...

I purchased a bigger egg incubator last year from fleabay when I was looking at the feasibility of using one to hatch queen bees as mine was too small to stand the cells in. When trying to get ideas for building a warming cabinet it dawned on me that maybe I could use the incubator to warm...

For someone buying one the eezeebeevac takes some beating at a considerably better price than this one.

That works, I've also tried a varoa mesh crownboard to allow the roof to be removed for travel, one with a roof with a polycarbonate panel to see inside during use, one with a roof with a slide in polycarbonate panel which can be opened slightly to regulate airflow during use or travel and a few...

I've made a couple and whilst they were OK for the collection part and didn't harm the bees a bit of thought was needed to make them suitable to transport them once they were inside. Without adequate ventilation they could easily overheat on the journey home even with aircon in modern cars. I...

No inspection due to weather, hopefully the bees will spend the time capping the honey already stored so much I can begin reducing the amount of supers in use.

I work on the principle that anything in the brood box below the queen excluder belongs to the bees, anything else is fair game. There's no way to guarantee that honey has never been kept in an ex brood comb regardless of where it is extracted from so on that principle I would have no problem...

Worth adding up the overall cost of hives made with the seconds, it can be a substantial saving for you and though they are seconds the quality from Thorns or Maisemore is still good. The second hand market is also worth looking at. Cedar lasts years and can be painted up if it looks tatty...

Been thinking about giving it a go but not tried up to now. Maybe later on this year when I have time.

🤣🤣🤣🙃🤣🤣 With the cost of jars rising there might be a time when buying jars of food stuff from a supermarket and ditching the contents to get the jar works out cheaper than we can purchase jars in the relatively small amounts that beekeepers use.

Keep safe and hopefully one day you can find peace and happiness along with your family and bees in a secure and stable country free from the tyranny and oppression of your neighbours.

I use the corkscrew dog lead anchor type found in pet shops or the pet section of bigger stores. Very easy to get a purchase on for while twisting in and out and a convenient anchor point for your straps.

Definitely helps my arthritis, whether proven by science, medicine or not.

That's a bit of a jaunt. Fingers crossed for you Richard. I hope that you can get everything sorted. My secondary school had an observation hive in one of the science labs which is where my interest in honeybees began.