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As Beebe says, when you get your bees they might come in a correx nuc box. Some of the suppliers include a poly nuc with your bees (mine came with one from Paynes), but of course the cost will be built into the price paid for the nuc of bees. If you're getting bees from a smaller supplier or a...

Worth saying that a poly nuc box is always handy to have on hand. I consider it a tool like any other. It'll mean you're ready to do an artificial swarm straight away when you need to, or for a myriad of other things you might find yourself needing to do in the first year. Personally, if I...

Grafting for the first time, with a 70% success rate and going on to get three mated queens Catching my first ever swarm, and then another two later that same weekend The fact that I get to try all over again next year, and maybe get things to go a little more as planned (I know I'm delusional...

I actually have a jacket up there, in the bee shed close to the bees - doesn't mean I'll always put it on though!!! ;)

Popped up to put some more feed on the nuc, and got stung on the neck. Another 'I'll just...' job :rolleyes: One day, I promise, I will learn to suit up every time I go near the bees. It just might take another couple thousand stings before I learn my lesson ;)

:welcome: from another Kent beekeeper. You'll have to watch your wife, this beekeeping business can get addictive very quickly! ;) Sounds like you have a lot of support to get you started, but this forum is also a great place to hear about other beekeepers ideas or ways of doing things, or just...

Maisemore sale from 1st Oct to 30th Nov. Busy writing my shopping list.... :D

I'd agree with Dani, definitely worth getting a deep roof. My first hive (wooden national) had a standard 4" roof, and following advice on this forum I stuck a slab of Kingspan inside the roof. I also put an eke with a second slab of insulation under the roof for the first winter, but didn't...

Yes, it's a real shame when things like soaps and lip balms seems such a natural extension to the products we can make from the bee hives. But then I guess when you think about it from the consumer point of view you don't really want to slather anything all over your face without feeling pretty...

You can't legally sell it without a CPSR (cosmetic product safety report) for each product, additional insurance and I think you have to register on a cosmetic products database too if I remember right. BBKA news did a whole series on making and selling cosmetics a couple of years ago and went...

I really don't understand some beekeepers' reasons for being so negative whenever a landing board is mentioned. The most anyone can say is that the bees don't need them. I've yet to hear, and certainly can't think of, any way in which the use of a landing board would have negative consequences...

Didn't say they did.

I love the fact my bees do their own cleaning, and are the only 'pets' I don't have to clean out! They're just not that bothered about door mats. Of course that does mean my colourful landing boards end up looking pretty grubby at the end of each year.

Mine are still bringing in plenty, so I'm not feeding them yet (except for one small nuc), and it's looking like I may not have to feed them at all. My hives are all on double brood, so they tend to have quite a few brood frames full of stores by this point in the year, and it's only increasing...

Almost the same here. No plums or cherries whatsoever. Literally one cooking apple on our Bramley and just one eating apple on that tree (although that was only put in last year). Our pear tree however has done fantastically well. I guess it was all just down to the timings of the frosts and...

At this time of year, if you put your ear close to the hive, particularly near the box joints I find you hear a lot of 'clicking' type noises which I'm pretty sure are the bees laying down the propolis. I always like listening to them chewing up the newspaper when I do a unite - it can be...

I tend to use cardboard fruit packaging (we keep chickens, so I don't usually have egg boxes!) or paper potato sacks to get the smoker started, then stuff it with pine needles. There are a couple of trees locally that I walk by regularly, and I can easily fill a bag from what they've dropped on...

Ditto - This forum is enough for me to cope with! ;)

No, you don't need the crown board holes for ventilation - best to close them off anyway whenever you're not using them for feeding. Majority consensus (you'll have learnt already that beekeepers never agree anything unanimously!), and common sense, is that bees are better overwintered without...

:welcome: back!