Recent content by Niv

I have been going through my supers and found that some mouldy pollen in some frames. Should this just be dumped? Or is it fine to give to the bees to clean up? I was considering dumping it, not melting out the wax even but thought it worth checking.

Hefted my hives after some of the starvation news in this thread and found they were still on two fingers so all good for now. No loses to report, which is nice.

Its reassuring to read that its fairly common practice to let the bees decide which queen to keep. I have often thought it was a good way for some of the reasons mentioned in this thread but had been put off it by some saying that the surviving queen can get injured then both get killed off.

As I have just shared in my related thread, I am using a vivarium temp controller connected to a ceramic heater. It is my first time needing to warm honey and so far so good.

Found an old temp controller and ceramic heater for a vivarium so heating has commenced!

I have a small chest freezer i could convert actually. Its only for freezing bee related stuff so maybe it can be converted for duel purpose!

That's where we do the weekly shop so that should give us a chance... also, as a local... how did you let that typo get through haha

Yes I do have an electric oven, so that could work. It does sound like those silvercrest jam makers are a popular choice too, so will keep an eye out for one of those.

Thanks for the feedback and options offered. It is a 30lb bucket. I have been keeping bees since 2017 and this is the first time I have had this issue. Normally I jar it up fairly promptly after extraction but this year I have had some personal issues that has delayed me. The jam maker looks...

Is it ok to put the bucket in a tub of recently boiled water? Or is that too hot?

Hi All, I am looking for options on what to do with a bucket of honey I have that has set. My first thought was maybe I should make soft set with this batch. Does that sound like the best idea? If so, can anyone link / give a simple guide to making it. I am a hobbyist and do not have a set up...

I would love one of these, but seems a bit overkill for 150 jars a year :)

Last feed of the year done. They have guzzled down what I gave them so far so each hive will have received 12kg sugar each. Ivy still coming in, plenty of pollen. Still have a bit of mite treatment in two hives going on as I got delayed, but its still warm enough so I am not too worried.

Mine is whatever the height of two breeze blocks and a concrete base board is :)

Hi enrico, yes I am on the Somerset Levels - I swear I had it in my profile once upon a time so don't know why that's disappeared! I will happily shadow you when you are next doing some vaping so please do give me a shout - Many thanks for the offer.