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Anyone who has not lost a swarm sorry must be very very lucky! Basic rules i have been taught by most beekeepers is first box size needs to reflect swarm size. when i collect it if their are bees on 5 seems in the 5 frame Nuc then it goes into a full size brood box, bees on say only 4 means...

Really depends on how many hives you have. i.e. most of the recommendations have been for mall handhold ones, I run 15 - 20 hives and thus use a 13kg cynlinder, found the 19kg was just a bit big to lug around places when i need to. Then though you are in a different type of blowtorch...

I had to be de-sentized which is a two year course. i now where a Sherriff BeePro suit, nothinng stings through that but it is hot to work in. i use tradecraft garden gloves the blue ones, again very rare to get any sort of sting through them.

Having used Kieler and Apidea - along with the cheaper imitations i now 100% use the Abelo ones. They have so many advantages over any others - no i don't get commission. Frames are bigger easier to handle for clumsy men like me As a split box i.e. you split the box to try to mate two queens...

One friend told me, and have since followed always put her back middle frame uncapped brood where there are more likely to be nurse bees. Yes had queens balled in the past, but since doing this it has worked. Yes i clip, with out apiaries it is sort of necessary.

Please don't use old brood comb in swarm traps. Why, well if the brood has disease in it and you get bees from multiple hives visiting you spread the disease. As suggested lemon grass oil or other artificial solutions are as good and much safe for all other beekeeper.

Ask a local beekeeper when the next local auction is, you may not get an observation hive, but everything else is sure to be there much cheaper. Have a look at last months BeeCraft, i wrote an article about how to buy stuff at auctions:) This coming month it is about selling.

This aligns with what Tom Seeley finds in the wild i.e. circa 20%.

I would add a second box at this time of year, they are starting to expand fast, if concerned just put a full brood box on top but put five or six dummy board in - 3 each side so they just have extra frames in the middle, then as they start to use the space you can add more frames.

What I do to solve this issue is operate on double brood, 8 frames to a box - National standard. That equals brood and half space but all the same size frames. I use a block of correx wrapped in gaffa tape for the gap. So if bees fill brood over 13+ frames then i just take out corex and give...

So a Bee Owner not a Bee Keeper

Have to say made some when i first started beekeeping and whilst nice, getting propolis off is a nightmare so they got all scratched up and now cannot see through them so don't use them.

I run my colonies on 8 Frames in a National Box, double national , so equal in space to brood and half but vertical in effect (use a gaffer tape block of correx for the space). I tend to do a version of demaree when i get to brood over 10 - 12 frames. Here in the SE with the warm weather this...

Thanks good stuff, and yes the research does say you need more than 1g

Anyone in Surrey close to Woking going, i need something picked up and will not make it, pls DM me if you can help. Thanks.

Agreed just seems to be very few people doing it. Do you run during the flow with supers between boxes or in effect entrance, brood, QE, Brood, QE, Supers as I do.

With the publication of Allan Wade's book I wondered if there are any other people in the UK actively keeping Two Queen (i.e. only a queen excluder between two queens and generally run with a Consolidated Brood Nest, CBN) or Double Queen i.e. two queens separate brood, separate colonies but...

Ignore my last post, found Roger's book here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Rearing-Made-Easy-Punched/dp/B09MCGPFR5/ref=sr_1_4?crid=SKW6BWQZCESI&keywords=roger+patterson+books&qid=1641738329&sprefix=roger+patterson+books%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-4

where did you get the book, did not realize it was out yet

nice please do produce instructions.