Search results

john ,good to know all went well, i have never used both those methods together, but no reason not too, im not keen of using air fresheners even in the home let alone for my bees

if you wish to use air freshener thats your choice,im not judging, im saying its not for me

i admire your diligence, the best my hive tool gets is a flash over with a blowtorch,

i have always made a few cuts in the paper to get the bees started, maybe some newspaper is tougher than others ? as for using air freshener, its not something i have tried and most likely not something i would have to hand,or want to try as some air fresheners can contain formaldehyde and...

i would try to keep it simple, just add another super under the one with the capped stores, and you can either leave the capped stores in place or remove it when you are ready to take off your share of the honey

What items do people have in their inspection kit, i thought it may be interesting to compare notes and for beginners to get an idea,as to what are essentials. smoker + fuel+lighter ,queen cage, marking cage+marker,nitrile gloves,hive tools, bee brush, note book+pencil,screwdrivers+few...

have you looked into using a Snelgrove board ?, its a great way do a split without loosing your honey crop

when you did the newspaper method , did you make a few cuts in the paper ? i have never know this method to fail, obviously the bees need to be able to start chewing the paper, usually within 12 hrs you find the paper shredded at the hive entrance

Mike i totally agree, although i have had colony's who were just plain nasty and would attack as soon as i approached , and several layers of gloves were needed, those types were quickly re-queened

ordinarily i would be looking to replace a few old frames with new foundation each year as part of my frame replacement plan, which ones you remove is not so critical, usually the black and worst looking is what i do , placing the fresh foundation near to the nest so it gets drawn out and if...

i totally agree if you use thick gloves you dont get the feel glove less makes you think more about your hand movements across the frames ensuring they are deliberate and slow, and especially when picking up queens, also if the bees are stingers, makes me think about requeening, i use...

well, after almost 35 years i can say it still hurts, the sting itself is not usually the problem, its the itching a few days later, worst sting was in the corner of the eye not painful but the swelling was scary, also note most stings have been received from other keepers hives while not even...

yes it is possible , im guessing you want to populate the nuc with bees from several hives get a small hand sprayer filled with weak sugar syrup,this is sprayed on the bees then shake the frame they are on into the nuc, it will enable you to put them together without any fighting by the time...

Just been for a drive this afternoon, noticed OSR fields in full flower, with this warm weather we could get a good honey flow,

duplicated my post, is there a delete ?

what you are observing is quite common in warm weather, is the hive situated in full evening sunshine ? think about ventilation, if it is a strong colony think about opening the entrance fully ,do you have omf, i cant make out what you have in the photo, as for splitting them only you can...

as this was for a beginners class i personally would not talk about varroa treatment in any depth as it is a subject on its own and certainly not for a beginners talk, of course mention diseases and mites but im sure given the limited amount of time available there are far more fascinating...

is it crammed full of stores ? dose she have room to lay ? also the weather has not been great what i have done in the past, remove a frame and replace with foundation, and feed syrup,this gives them something to do and stimulates laying,then recheck in a weeks time

i had to look on the map, never knew there was such a place, something learned every day lol

i spotted a few newly hatched drones last week at my own hive here in Hampshire,