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  1. thedozzer

    Happy New Year

    Happy new year Wish everyone a happy and prosperous one.
  2. thedozzer

    Failed queen ?

    Hi, If the little nuc we have made up fails, that's what we will do, but i don't think its a poor queen, think it was poor beekeeping by allowing water to get in the hive that killed a lot of the bees, they were the stronger hive going into winter, and were looking good until the snow! have been...
  3. thedozzer

    Failed queen ?

    Hi MAAF There are only about 50 bees left!! we are going to try the re caging her in a nuc with a few frames of BIAS/bees from the other hive. Hi Drex We have thought about that,we have plenty of Thymol ready mixed to go in syrup, whats the best to use? just a heavy mix sprayed in the top?
  4. thedozzer

    Failed queen ?

    Both hives were given barrel and half of thymolated syrup, the dud hive had 4 full 12 x 14 frames of stores left, and when we moved them into the nuc, we gave them 2 full frames of caped stores, so not fermented, and we scored them so they would know it was there. one of the frames have a good...
  5. thedozzer

    Failed queen ?

    Yes treated for Varroa in late Autum = Appivar for 6 weeks until zero mite drop. maisemore polyhive, the water got in between the QE and miller feeder, we use the galvanized QE and it showed signs of rust in one corner. there has been no brood or eggs for 4/5 weeks now, but because of the...
  6. thedozzer

    Failed queen ?

    We had two relatively healthy hives through most of the winter, both had plenty of stores. During the very cold snap with the snow, one of the hives got water/moisture inside. when we first inspected it, there was the smell of fermenting honey, mold and a lot of dead bees, but we found the queen...
  7. thedozzer

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Second inspection, one hive is doing really well and started to fill a super, the other is dwindling away to nothing, saw queen, but no eggs, took frame of sealed brood from strong colony and swapped hive down to 4 framed nuc. Hive had water damage over winter and some frames had mold and...
  8. thedozzer

    Sad little winter cluster!!

    Update, spent Monday evening cutting up a large sheet of 35mm polyethylene sheet into frame size pads, ready to dummy down the hive, then this morning was rolling out fondant sausages to fit in the gap of the frames. we planned to open the hives about 11:30 to give them the warmth of the day...
  9. thedozzer

    Sad little winter cluster!!

    Looks like we may get another warm day next week, will make up some insulation dummy boards & get some fondant strips ready. I have some vivarium mats from chill growing, i could use one of them inside the OMF to pump some heat in once they have been opened up.
  10. thedozzer

    Sad little winter cluster!!

    Hi Dani, OMF been closed a while, they have 75mm of celotex extra in the roof already, gather if we dummy down we should fill the space with insulation? they have a poly miller feeder on top, should we take that off?
  11. thedozzer

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Positively balmy 10c today so quickly popped the lids of to remove Apivar Strips, one looks good, plenty of bees and stores, the other was a sad little sight, 1 seam all clustered in the corner! Think we are about to experience our first winter loss :(
  12. thedozzer

    Sad little winter cluster!!

    We have not been able to get into the hives to remove the Apivar strips until today, as daytime temps have been far to cold last few weeks and we have had other commitments. Both hives are 12x14 poly. First hive was a little bit feisty as can be expected, but there was a good 3 seams of bees...
  13. thedozzer

    When would be your final inspection of the year!

    We have put reduced entrances one and taken all the supers of Sunday 6th of Sept, as the temps are changing and we wanted to get Varoa treatment on, last full inspection was 2 weeks ago, to make sure both the Q's were Ok and there was BIAS. They are 12x14 poly so as long as we give each hive...
  14. thedozzer

    Amusing questions about your bees......

    Last year when we started to get swarms, one when into a tree in a neighbours garden, we were out at the time, so they phoned us to ask "have you let your bees out for the day?"
  15. thedozzer

    Flower bed in the apiary & robbing

    we have clumps of wild marjoram in front of both hives and the bees fall out of the hive onto it, wander around the flowers for 5 mins, then fly about 5 inches back to the landing board. There are large areas of clover in the lawn all around them, with bees buzzing away on it, we watch lazy...
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