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I'm in Devon so interested in where your family are for a possible 2nd apiary

Interesting thread. This will be my first full season, having got my colony as a nuc last July. My Aims and Objectives are pretty simple: to do the best I can for my colony to not get too run ragged with things to manage swarming effectively to increase by 1 colony (should be able to do this...

B&Q do some: https://www.diy.com/departments/outdoor-garden/lawn-plant-animal-care/pots-planters/pots-saucers/trays/DIY581178.cat

Made up a couple of supers and a bunch of frames over the weekend, ordered a couple more along with frames and foundation. Not sure if i'll have too many now but I suppose it's good to be prepared just in case. Also finished an OMF and roof (from timber) for some spare poly nuc parts I had -...

I know, but I like a pheasant hung for days, my workshop is often seen with hanging pheasants at this time of year (a good friend of mine manages a local shoot, so I get plenty of birds when I want them :) )

We have lots of willow and hazel locally and the hazel has lots of catkins so i'm presuming my girls are bringing that pollen back. They were super busy yesterday, was lovely to see.

If you're in Wivvy then you have a very expensive shoot quite close to you on the Tone down near Bulland Ford. I wonder how many of those birds are eaten or just thrown away.

yes, pheasant works well and the brining also makes it a bit more moist when it is cooked ;) bear in mind that it is game o a strong (ish) flavour already so don't smoke for as long - it is trial and error

chicken is also nice, brine it for a couple of hours then smoke it overnight and cook it (can be kept in the fridge once smoked), I use breast

Yep, I smoke stilton in small bits (around 250g ish) rather than whole wheels

Mackerel is easy to smoke, just butterfly it and smoke it for 3 hours or so, lovely. Also, smoked hard boiled eggs are nice, along with butter and jam (yes, jam) - both of these can be spread thin on some tin foil and smoked, the jam is particularly good on toast.

I used to smoke salmon but won't buy it any more as the salmon farming industry is horrendous, in the main, so out of principle I don't by salmon, unless it's wild line caught (but that would just be too expensive)

I'll recommend around 8 hours for an extra mature cheddar and stilton (smoked stilton is bloody lovely!)

A bit of an update on my colony. They did well late last summer and into autumn after i'd moved them to my garden. I didn't get any honey from them but wasn't expecting to anyway. They went into winter with plenty of stores (I did feed them a couple of litres of Invertbee, which they took down...

I'd like a good, cheaper alternative too.

Trouble is, as a newbie I would have no idea how much to use for the trickle method.

Thanks, that answers my questions, i'll buy some with a longer shelf life.

I was thinking of using what I need for my 1 hive, then sealing the pack with my heat sealer and using it again next year. Are you saying this will be OK to do? Cheers

Thanks, all worth keeping in mind. To be honest, for the low price I think i'll just use what I need and dispose of the rest. Now to the next question - how do you safely dispose of unused oxalic acid? hmmm

Bit of a thread resurrection here but ... does anyone think that Api-Bioxal powder can be re-sealed and stored once the pack is opened? I'm pretty sure the manufacturers say it won't keep, but just wondering if anyone has done it and it be OK in the next year? cheers