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'Honey never treated above hive temperature' is a claim I could easily make on 95% of the honey I sell. My honey typically doesn't set for many months, usually well over a year. I'm still jarring honey from spring last year and haven't had to heat any of it yet. I'm not saying that everyone...

I had exactly the same problem with the same bain marie from Thorne's. Seems as though it's a common fault, and really annoying to find water pouring into your moulds along with the wax. The issue with mine wasn't that the edge hadn't been crimped over at that point, but that in smoothing off...

Painted a couple of new poly nucs with whatever paint was to hand... Think Putin will see these Ukrainian nucs as a threat? ;)

I designed my own labels and I have a laser printer, so I print them onto A4 label sheets then just cut them with a knife. Having my own design means I can print the best before dates directly on the labels (I use Adobe Illustrator to edit the design) - I just print as many labels as I need...

Best year yet for me... but I only have 3 full seasons to compare ;)

I had three drawn brood frames to give them so I'll see what they've managed in a week or so. If there's eggs by then I'll probably give them a chance on their own over winter. The ivy is in bud here so it won't be long until that comes in and my bees usually get a lot from that. If there's no...

Saw a tiny little swarm arriving so got out the bait box I'd only stored away last weekend. They settled on it rather than it, but hopefully they'll stay put now I've shaken them in.

It seems like a good year for wax moth here as well. I had one brood box that I'd left on top of a stack of wet supers (that were waiting to be sprayed with Dipel!). It contained three odd brood frames, mainly honey stores. They were distorted, weirdly drawn frames that I'd taken out of a...

I usually use the outside tap for cleaning up but for those without a garden or hose the shower works well too!

I don't get any splatter anywhere using a heat gun (mine just blows hot air gently), and I don't need to scrape the comb at all either. I simply pass the heat gun back and forth over the frame, from the top to the bottom (with the frame held vertically on it's short edge) and put it straight in...

I did a few frames of comb honey for the first time this year too - one of my neighbours asked about it last year, but it was a bit too late in the season to get going. It's very satisfying seeing all that beautiful white wax. I've already sold all but 2 pieces so I think I'll be trying more...

I've only had one sting (so far...) this whole year! Definitely an anomaly, as there's usually ten times that, mostly to the fingers when I don't realise I'm accidentally squishing a bee while picking up a frame. :rolleyes: Mind you, the one sting I did have was to my cheek, through my veil...

I'm a fan of the hot air gun, but I have a tangential extractor. Can't say whether it would be any different with a radial extractor, but it works brilliantly for me.

When I first started keeping bees, I read plenty of stories of queens being killed off by MAQS. The idea of losing my one and only (expensive) queen was so terrifying I decided there was no way I was risking it so I opted for OA vaping as my varroa treatment method. However, this spring I...

I am, almost literally, up to my knees in honey this year! I've had well over 90kg of honey from my best hive. As I type, it's with my legs twisted to the side, to avoid the 5 buckets under my desk. There's another 5 that have been in the dining room for 2 weeks - each day I expect the final...

Collected a little cast swarm from a neighbour today. It definitely wasn't my bees (I've been laying paying just a couple of feet away from them all weekend, so I couldn't possible have missed them!). The first swarm I've collected from outside my own garden. Nicely clustered on a little...

Thanks. I was thinking the roofs would help as sunshades - keep the direct sun off if it's going to be that warm.

Thought I'd hop on this post since it's recent and I'm also asking about closing up hives. Our new cedar greenhouse is finally being installed next week. It's just 2-3m away to the side of two of my hives. The greenhouse was supposed to be ready in December/January, when the hives really...

It's probably me, but I tend to use those more when I'm sharing the anger or upset of the poster, rather than disagreeing with them.

On the topic of the 'like' buttons, personally I 'like' these. In the beginners' section in particular, a question will often receive multiple and varying responses. In these instances I tend to see the like button as a way of putting my support or agreement on a particular post without having...