Recent content by pigletwillie

I have kept bees at home for 3 years now. I moved them from inside my garden to a piece of my land alongside a shared drive. There were no issues until people could see the bees then there were complaints to the Environmental health dept at the council. I just built a 6ft fence to force the bees...

Yesterday I removed the feeders from the last hive, added a solid crown board and put the roof back on. Noticed forragers returning with lots of bright yellow pollen. Into the work shop now to make a ruck load of brood boxes and supers ready for next year.

A dry day forcast tomorrow so my what WILL you be doing in the apiary is to remove the feeders from the last two hives, remove the corex under the mesh floor, remove the supers and queen excluders, fit solid crown boards and put the lids back on with a brick on top. Then its onto maintenance...

Try not reading the Daily Wail at all!!

Amari, they fit in my four frame extractor :)

As my hives are all at home and the distance from the apiary to a covered part of the garden where I do my extracting is literally a few paces, through a gate then a few paces, the weight isnt an issue. I may try a double brood then brood sized supers above on one hive just as an experiment...

Well, they have drawn out and started filling frames 7 and 8 now. Yesterday I put on another 5ltr feed, the last one they guzzled down, they are still bringing in pollen by the bucket load so hopefully if I get another week or reasonable weather I will have a hive ready for winter.

Do any of you just use brood sized boxes for broods and as supers? My rationale would be that everything is the same. It comes to mind because I ran out of supers this year and used a brood box as a super with new foundation. Other than the super sized super being a tad heavier than normal it...

The hive in question had a crown board with holes for porter bee escapes. I will swap this out tomorrow when I put in the second tray of apiguard. As for the insulation, any recommended thickness?

I have six hives all with mesh floors. Last winter I had an issue with damp in one hive and had to change the comb on 5 frames due to mould. The colony survived and built up ok but obviously had to draw out new comb. Since then I have cut ventilation holes in all of my roofs (with mesh behind)...

I have an old nuc in my back garden that requires a new lid. Before I got round to replacing it a small swarm colonised it in July. Of a great temperament (4 kids and a dog just a yard away) with no pinging or aggression I finally moved the swarm into a full sized national today. They have drawn...

Thanks buddy. Much appreciated.

Applied Apiguard to five colonies today. Lots of bright yellow pollen being brought in. A sixth colony was upgraded from a nuc where it made itself at home in July into a full sized national yesterday. Lots of brood over five frames and very little stores so today I added a feeder in an attempt...

I am a large lad (but getting smaller slowly) and need a new bee suit. Can anyone recommend a place where I can buy a suit that's 60" across the chest or get one made to measure? Thanks in anticipation.

Oh a huge lesson learnt, but then I have got fabulous comb honey that I would not normally get. Another lesson learnt is that one can never have too many supers :)