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A pen and paper is a beekeepers best friend, use my notes app on iPhone using Siri to dictate is about the top level of tech I need. never fails to amaze me that people spend time and effort creating these "apps" that no one really needs.

Really can't beat the no dig gardening method and have watched and followed charles dowding for many years. You hardly have to water, very few weeds and its just a joy. However last year I did my compost top up using horse manure and its the worst thing i've ever done. Got to cardboard the whole...

Is it snowing yet ?

If you have a smart phone you can easily dictate your notes and check them for typo's / errors etc straight after the inspections. I use an iPhone, place it nearby on the roof of the hive next to the one i'm inspecting, "Hey Siri" "Add note"- Hive 3, then describe what you have seen. it types it...

Also to bear in mind, all colonies will consume stores in differing amounts, so after your first winter you'll have a better idea.On my 14X12 I have some greedy bee's who will eat a full 3 or 4 frames of stores during winter and start on fondant in the spring, I've other hives where checking...

Agreed "not convinced you actually get more honey as such, but would would at least get the same amount of honey, with less frames to extract."

Are they quite pungent, they probably don't like the smell, I use a Thymol solution that I add to my sugar syrup and it stinks. Looking at the instructions they are a bit unclear. My understanding is you've done it correct, one tablet broken into 4 and placed in the corners of the brood box...

You would think it doesn't work out, have a go and try it. I had a hive this year with 8 frames on, i left a frame space in the middle to get a load of cut comb which worked well, if you space the frames slightly further apart they draw the cells more protruding from the frame edge, less flush...

Continued filling up the rapid feeders with syrup, I think another week or so and we'll be done. Got to take off the Apivar strips this week, then continue feeding for a little longer. Got 2 with fondant on and they are putting that away. One final inspection maybe, not looked since taking the...

Thorne are generally really good and I’ve had no problems with them, I had a conversation with their tech guy about my extractor, which is the Bee’s on a budget electric unimel, that came with strainers and buckets etc. At £420 it wasn’t cheap, but in “extractor land” it is. I have no idea why...

I think the controller is very very poor. Speaking to a friend with a far better understanding of the dark arts of electricity than I have, the reason this is cheap is the motor and especially the controller are poor. When I turn my controller knob even the slightest touch can send it going far...

Thank you, that‘s a good idea. Put it all in a empty super, some great advice on this thread, thank you everyone.

That’s brilliant thank you very much

Thank you Eric, sound advice.

That’s brilliant as a visual of what it looks like thank you, mine has a bit more wax that that. I’ll cut off rather than use a capping fork next year.

I'll go back to doing what I thought was right in the first place which is spring honey, put 1 super back on and store them wet ready for the summer, and the august extraction nadir under the brood box for 3 days.

Thank You JMB, So for next year I'll get the rhombus escapes. The uncapped supers last year when they were few in number I put them under the brood box, I saw a video on YouTube by Simon the Beekeeper and he left his just open outside the hive, which is what I did this year. I use a capping...

I took some spring honey, but not much, this was my first year of extracting 4 supers. If I explain what I do any advice on it being better would be great. Saturday evening I put porter bee escapes into the crown boards, moved the boards to above the QE. I taped up the airflow vents in the...

Bee escapes put on the crown boards and shifted them down on Saturday evening, took off the supers and decided to extract 3 of the 8. So took my with "help" from the kids about 6 hours to extract and put everything away and wipe down very sticky children and kitchen.