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Well ... confession time for me. I left one of my settling tanks on my decapping bench intending to let the full tank settle overnight ... Rule No: 1 - check that the honey gate is properly tightened and not dripping. Rule No: 2 - Even when you have obeyed Rule No: 1 - either stand the...

If you are concerned either drop Robin an email or give him a ring on Monday - they really are the most responsive beekeeping supplier ... I added to my original order and sent them an email at ll;00pm to ask if they could add it to the order and I got a reply from Robin at nearly midnight to...

If you are going to nadir a super you don't need a queen excluder between it and the brood box - you will be taking it off early in spring or pre-winter if it looks as though they have cleared the honey upwards (an easy check - you only have to tilt the brood box to look).

I got everything I ordered ... it wasn't a huge amount and I got my order in very early.

I've found the only 'safe' method - and I've had 100% success over the years is to make up a nuc with frames and bees from 2 or 3 colonies and introduce the new queen into them - I usually put the queen in with the travelling cage suspended and let her out in a day or so if they have not already...

You can take frames and bees from three colonies to make up your nuc so you don't weaken any one of them at this critical time of the year when they are starting wintetr preps. They won't fight being thrown in together - just make sure you don't accidentally put a queen in there ... except the...

I doubt that anyone has any sound ideas how it can be fixed but what we can be certain of is that the problem is getting worse and the plans so far have not worked and I see nothing in the current 'plan' that has any better chance of success.

Portugal is the easiest place in the UK to gain EU nationality - and you don't have to live there 365 days a year - just demonstrate that you have a permanent residence there for 5 years and that you have spent more than 138 days per year in the country each year and you can apply to be...

It has to be organised and inspected - I am not suggesting that every employer has to provide accommodation but if they can and like student accommodation is inspected for suitablility then I see no reason why employers should not have accommodation available - and as Murray does, make a...

Yes ... you would need to backdate the process. The problem is that the illegal immigrants are tutored by the people traffickers and they tell them: 1. Throw your passport away or leave it with someone you trust in France (although the majority of people traffickers insist on holding onto...

As long as it does not descend into something toxic or politicised I see no reason to move it .. there is a problem and if it can be discussed reasonably here then there is no harm in it remaining public. We might consider moving it out of the general beekeepin section to Off topic though ?

Agriculture and industry in the UK is being devastated by a lack of low level labour .. Murray's experience is not isolated - a local tomato grower has had to dump tons of tomatoes because he can't recruit local labour economically to pick them .. even students are not interested in these menial...

Have you checked varroa levels recently ? I mean - a proper check - either a sugar roll or a a blast with OA to see what the forced drop is .... You may need to combine these as, without enough bees going into winter, they are doomed.

I've taken a day off work to do my extracting ... rain still rattling down here as well so I doubt I'm going to have any bees interested in what I'm doing.

In my location (semi-urban, allotments, domestic gardens, parks, railway banking, fields and hedgerows, lots of trees, ivy etc,) there is good forage right the way through to October. If I extract earlier than (usually) August Bank Holiday then they can fill another super or more in August...

It's finding out that's scary !!

Shake them out in front of your other hives... with just a cupful of bees they are a lost cause on their own. I'm a real sucker for a lost cause and I've tried in the past ... it never works and you just end up with an empty box or a dead out. Quit whilst there are still some there.

Or do what I've found some less than scrupulous scrotes do .. buy it in and then pretend it's their honey and label accordingly ... avoiding all the hoops. Not saying that's right and I'd never do it ...

Oh dear .. I think you might be right - 100,000 – 350,000 Scoville !! I'm frightened to even touch them ...

Was going to put clearers under the last few supers I left on the hives .. didn't start until 5:30 after work - not that there was much point earlier as it has been piddling down all day. The rain cleared up for me but it was damp and overcast - surprisingly bees very well behaved. The...