The shortage and trouble with the past year will carry over to next year.
There is also a shortage of quality Queens I suspect the quality of imported queens will dip also. Demand far out strips supply this year for UK Queens.
At the end of the day no one should buy a nuc without a full inspection.
or if inspection is not possible buyer beware a good supplier would swop the nuc if there was a problem with an un inspected but saying that a good supplier would not get in to that position to start with.
A lot can happen...
If it smells funny it may be the cheap chinese wax with only 50% bees wax or less and the bees will huddle in a corner or above the frames and build there own comb
The Bibo box frames seem a good idea but remember when the covered in bees and your looking for the queen you have to open them up crushing bees in the hinges and when your finished you have to fold them back up when your finished. and have the problem of crushing bees.
PS The Hivemaker mating...
I take a guess the smoker fuel is a PG VG mix to produce cool smoke?
You could reduce the price by selling the unit without a battery or built in charger
and the buyer could source there own 18650 batteries and charger as there can be bought on ebay the atomiser is that replacable? or can it be...
My View is from the outside.
I get invited to many LBAKs to give talks. I do not go to see if i want to become a member or mock as you put it!
Just go and give my time free of charge and these are the things i observe.
In many places it seem if you face does not fit your not made welcome.
Many...
I have visited a lot of local BKAs this winter and i have to agree out of 12 local BKAs if i was a member i would not go back except to one!
They are on the whole very boring stuck in the 1930s and run like the old working mens clubs of the 70s
They should be fun to attend but there not new...
If yu do the maths for a queen imported most likly the cost of frames and wax a cheap card box feeding a nuc to build it up.
I would not risk giving a deposit with a non traceable blank PO
OA treatment kills around 20% of the bees and if you slice a dead bee in half a few weeks after tratment they look like they have been pickeled in brown vinagar. I have treated with OA on only two occations and both times i have seen a reduction in the size of the cluster follow soon after. If...
I never use the perspex crown boards to stop the roof getting stuck down just rub a little vasiline round the edge a tiny bit will last ages. as the poly hives they do not need any extra insulation. ( If there ****** poly hives)
Multi queens in a single hive is what is known as
perfect supercedure the hive keep the original queen until there happy with the new queen the most queens i have found in one hive at the same time was 9 a week later there was only one. If the new queen is unmated or there not happy with her...