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A 1/4" (6mm) strip of wood is fine. The reason is that the top of a frame should be slightly below the top of a hive to allow for plastic or metal spacers, which is what used to be used rather than hoffman self-spacing frames. The 'slightly lower' bit gives you the extra mm or two you need to...

Most heat-loss is through the crown-board, so insulating above that does make sense. That's all I do with the WBC's I run. The wooden walls of WBC's are thinner than other hives, but the dryness of them during winter (unlike a rain-soaked single walled hive) keeps them being reasonably...

I can see the attraction of keeping colonies in one box with just a super or two for company as it makes life easy - especially if you cannot lift much. However it's generally believed that a National hive (WBC is worse) is too small for a honeybee colony so swarming will be more likely and the...

I have over-wintered two mini-nucs gaffa taped together and other small colonies over the years. So yes it can be done but the smaller colony, the higher risk of loss.

A 50% sugar solution is what the bees can use instantly which is why we feed thin syrup. As honey has around a 20% water content, then adding water will allow them to use it in brood-rearing if they need it.

Yes, you would not get laying workers if a queen was present. If you register with beebase, you can see how many apiaries are within a short distance of you, You might be surprised as to how many there are. (Although some could be historical and not have any bees in them).

In general, egg laying will reduce after the end of June, but lots of foragers to come though! Bees can spend their energies on gathering enough food for winter (which we can nick if there's some spare) rather than having a large brood-nest to feed all year. Swarming will also become less likely...

Pound to a penny, a colony on 4 frames a couple of weeks ago is not going to need a super this year.

If a colony is queenless, they are not so keen on drawing comb. Neither are they if they have no food. If you are concerned that they (a queenright stock) might leave, put a queen excluder under the brood box for a couple of days. This will not cause problems even if a virgin queen is present as...

Three frames of brood in a full-sized box is not that big. Someone had a nuc from me last week which had 6 frames of brood in a 6 frame box and was definitely ready for more space. As this is the beginners section, I would not suggest messing about with them but continue to feed steadily but not...

If they are fairly close to other hives, I would move them a little bit per day or in stages - you have 3 weeks after the queen has gone elsewhere to do this before the brood has emerged. Then I would shake out - moving them avoids any potential loss of bees. Maximum efficiency! But then I am a...

Heat seems to be the problem with Swibine and Apidea types. As soon as the queen has mated, a piece of queen excluder over the entrance stops her leaving. A roof tile over them helps too - gives shade and also acts as a weight to stop them moving. But they will abscond, sadly. I do wonder...

I f my double brood colonies produce queencells, I then do a reactive demaree. This might mean that the queen in in the third brood box at the bottom of the stack, with whatever combs without brood I can scavenge from the two brood boxes, adding foundation if needed. I might put a queen excluder...

Bees will swarm with a capped queencell. After a few days the beekeeper won't notice that the number of bees has reduced because so many are emerging which makes up the numbers. No capped or uncapped brood means that the queen has not been laying for 21 days. Workers:- Eggs: 3 days Open brood...

If the queen was mated 2 - 3 weeks ago, then you have a while before her progeny take over. If they behaved with smoke, then they are not too bad. The ones that roar when a puff of smoke is given are the ones to be concerned about. Water spray helps keep them down if they tend to fly up at you.

If I have a queenless colony in the same apiary as a sealed queencell, I will move it as soon as it is sealed if convenient for me. If, for example, the first take-up of grafts is poor, I might move them out as soon as they are sealed before grafting some more into the same hive. I would be wary...

"I ended up cutting the lugs off each corner of my Paynes boxes" I had forgotten about those! That was the first thing I did - before i painted mine. I can't see the point of them at all. (Sold my Paynes stuff some time ago).

Any time between 8 am and dusk for me. A good weather day is best, when the bees are flying. However sometimes you don't have that luxury and need to go in when all the bees are at home. If you have a virgin queen in a hive, don't inspect on a good weather day between 10 and 6 in case the queen...

I most cases, the colony will decide when the queen needs to go and they will suprcede her at some point.

Demaree with brood and a half? I personally don't like brood and a half so I would put the queen in the brood box and place an excluder between both boxes to keep her in place. Letting any drones out from the super when possible. With OSR around, you might well need another super or two before...