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I had the same thing with a hive last week. When I went up to vape at dusk, almost 7pm, there was a large cluster of bees hanging around the entrance of one hive. I put it down to them processing nectar, and after a couple of days their clustering had stopped. No thymol products on the hive.

I wait until the sales each year, then buy seconds, usually from Maisemore. Quality is good and prices are great. Just need to be organised enough to wait for the sales. There is a guy in my LBKA who sells stuff but it's cheaper and easier to use the sales.

I'm a complete novice at queen rearing, only having my first attempt this year, so I'm far from an expert, but I was surprised at how simple it can be and how little additional equipment you actually need. I used the Ben Harden method, and only did 10 grafts (7 successful) across one bar on my...

I haven't had to buy any this year either, thanks to skips. There has been plenty of free stuff around here, with so much lockdown building work going on. I got lots of smaller offcuts of brand new insulation from one skip, and almost a full sheet of old used insulation from another (the bees...

Do you actually need an incubator? Not being negative, but a genuine question. Unless you're planning to raise a lot of queens, or need to transport them, you probably don't actually need an incubator. The bees in a hive will keep the temperature much more stable than some of the cheap...

I know the bees don't have to be in the hive for the treatment to work. I just do it at dusk because I find it easier to vape when there are fewer comings and goings. Just turned out that last night they were all hanging around outside anyway!

I agree with Apiarisnt. I very occasionally see a small amount of condensation in the corners of the crown board. It's really not an issue though as there's never condensation directly above the cluster where the crown board is warmest. A small amount of condensation in the corners will just...

Went up at dusk to do final vapes on two colonies to find that the front of one of the hives was covered with bees. At least a foot diameter patch of bees. It was quarter to 7 in the evening and although today has been our first bright and rain free day this week, it's still only around 10C...

In my personal experience the GasVap is better than a pan vaporiser. I've got both. I started with the pan, but found that there would often be residual OA that hadn't vaporised. It would vaporise underneath, where it was in contact with the pan, but often there was a 'crust' on top that...

Yes, they're not glass but polycarbonate crownboards (or quilts as they're often called). I usually get them from Maisemore. They do them with or without central feeder holes. I always get them without holes and just put on a traditional ply crown board with those feeder/porter escape holes on...

So, I use a clear crownboard, without any holes in it. Then I have a simple eke, that's 50mm deep, the same as the Kingspan insulation that's cut to fit inside it. This sits directly on top of the crownboard. Then of course the roof goes on top. I use 8" deep wooden roofs, and they have...

I guess it depends what fuel you use, but personally I have no problem with my smoker staying alight or reliably producing nice cool white smoke using the free stuff! I'm sure with a lot more hives its a different story and its quicker and easier to just use fuel pellets etc. but for a...

Either way, good nutrition doesn't really help Tim to successfully get rid of AFB spores that are already present in the apiary - the original query in this thread.

Why don't we have a *groan* reaction? I think we need one :rolleyes:

Must just be my bees that completely ignore a spray of water. I've tried it a few times but found it barely encourages a handful of bees to move. I just stick to the smoker, if I need it, but I have to admit, I think buying any kind of smoker fuel is exactly like burning money! There are so...

Surely you want gullible if you want to try and get something like :) £60 for it!

Back to the sale... Put my order in this morning :) I'm sure the family will be delighted, when for yet another year, they get handed a load more boxes of 'lumps of wood', as my nieces put it, to wrap up for me for Christmas. I might be pushing my luck if I try it again next year :unsure:

Yup, some 'Happy' & easily gullible beekeeper can buy it! ;)

It's one of those 'Happy Keeper' floors. Supposed to be self-cleaning I think? And somehow help with varroa? https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2034&gclid=CjwKCAjw49qKBhAoEiwAHQVTo1aOx8g_eq6XRpigr46UwBTXoA46yAuia3Spqn3YZ6iZCF7__zWJMRoCosUQAvD_BwE

On the subject of how many colonies, I know everyone recommends getting two to start off with, and before everyone shoots me down, I completely understand the reasons behind that advice. You get to compare with another colony so that you can more quickly identify a problem with a colony; you...