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Looks like I'm going to have to scour Facebook for an old freezer to go in my workshed. I suppose it'll come in handy for storing stuff safe from vermin when not in use.

Me too 👍

I think you're right about there being various mechanisms at work. I use a tens machine regularly and find that interfering with the signalling of pain (by electric shock in the case of tens or heat in the case of a hot spoon etc) is much much more effective than even the strong opiate...

Moved the hive with the prime swarm that moved in last month to my out apiary as they are seriously bad tempered bees. I've been stung loads of times by them, they've been patrolling a good 30 yards from the hive and following every chance they get. Swmbo threatened me with divorce if I didn't...

Surely it doesn't matter which direction of rotation as all the forces are from centre out regardless. Unless the air resistance within the chamber helps push out the honey from the cells 🤣

Kiddy is a little far for me to travel but curlygreenfingers is down your way I think. (Although he's a busy chap so maybe not) Possibly he might have a nuc or swarm in a box he could loan you over the holidays to see flight paths and wether they head for the playing field or not. Looks a decent...

Good morning, I have a couple of drawn frames from a colony I shook out a few weeks ago due to them being laying workers and no queen. The frames have capped drone brood in them which is obviously dead but I'm wondering if it's ok to use these frames in a nuc to build up a split or should I...

Thanks Hemo that's something I never thought of or even knew was possible. I'll take a look when I inspect the swarm colonies today.

I have 3 prime swarms from this year and another colony set up as a Demaree waiting for a virgin queen to get mated up top.

Thanks jbm I'll leave it be and do the bruising thing. It'll save me some faffing around and I'm all for that as time is a precious commodity at the moment.

That all sounds like good advice, I think I'll take something from everyone. The stores are capped so ill bruise the cappings, take out the qx (I think it's acting as a bit of a barrier it's a pressed steel one with many sharp edges) then once I see signs of them moving stores up I'll get a wire...

Good afternoon, I received an overwintered 6 frame nuc at the end of April and hived them straight away. On Inspection yesterday they have 8 frames of brood and the 2 outer frames filling with stores. I'm afraid they're running out of space. I put a super on a couple of weeks ago in the hopes...

I react quite badly to bee stings with a big ole itchy lump, but not wasp. I've just bought some sting ease pen type applicators. It states to use asap as I assume the venom won't have had time to spread and induce an histamine response. It's just ammonia with a bit of glycerine to neutralise...

We used to put blank .22 cartridges on the gas cooker with a baking tin over the top. Mother wasn't too pleased to find her cookware full of dents when she came to make the Sunday roast. I'm sure we also used to hit gtn pills with a hammer to make them bang although it could have been some...

Thank you for your timely advice.

Good afternoon, a quick question. I want to move a hive containing a swarm I caught this year The colony is strong and productive but a little bit on the aggressive side (the odd guard bee out to 10m following people) I'm going to give the queen a chance as they've only been in for 19 days, if...

Empty swarm cells with a brown ring around the top opening and nothing inside. I can't see how they could have emerged though as I moved that particular frame up ..15 days prior and it had no QCs on it just mostly capped worker brood and some older larvae. DOH! 🤦‍♂️ Therein lies my mistake I...

Good afternoon, I have a colony set up as a Demaree with 2 supers between and another on top. I inspected and moved a frame of mostly sealed worker brood up from the bottom box. I checked back after 7 days to find what looked like 5 hatched QCs (impossible I know) and one capped with a larva in...

I shook out a colony which was originally adjacent <3ft to a nuc with a swarm in it. I shook them out 20yards away. By the time I walked back to the hive stand there were loads of workers and drones trying to enter the nuc. The following morning there was a large pile of dead bees and drones in...

Definitely worth joining the local BKA. Today for instance I got an email from the WBKA offering nucs for £120, much less than the commercial suppliers. There might even be a keeper looking to move on a swarm as it's been a busy year and I recon some people catch more than they really need or want.