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Indeed the boxes are a little lighter as they don't need to be so thick (and also 1 frame less compared to a National). For me, they are a little easier to work with.

Nasty stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitraz

One advantage of WBC hives is that the boxes are protected from the elements by the lifts.

Do they still use yacht varnish these days - all my dinghy sailor friends moved over to epoxy paint systems years ago.

only up to a point - there appears to be a sweet spot where with fewer frames the cells are drawn out longer per frame which allows more honey per frame and then the total honey can exceed that obtained with more frames with shorter cells.

hence the need to keep lift movement to the minimum. Its not a great design. Im thinking of adding strips of wood to each side of the front of the lift, so that the lift goes all the way down to the landing board at the sides. The wedges would need to be modified.

I used MAQS, as directed, on two very similar adjacent colonies. Each had double brood with 3 or 4 supers. After the 7 day treatment period one colony had just carried on as if nothing had happened, but the other was now queenless, with lots of dead brood (dead emerging bees with their sticking...

The wedge shaped piece below the front of the lift needs to be chamfered so that the lift front surface is in continuation all the way down to the landing board. It is usually shown in building plans with a vertical front edge but that leaves a gap. You also need to make sure the lowest lift...

Most of the world uses the metric system, for very good reasons, without being in the EU.

I thought Id have a go with this. wasnt expecting much but it worked very well and didnt produced many micro wax particles to block the filters.

I thought I'd look up the definitions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound

I was given an old but working chest freezer this year. Combined with a heater and temp controller it is now a very good warming/cooling cabinet. I made my best ever soft set with it this year.

I came across a hedgehog in the garden tonight. The first one that I've seen for a few years.

More like loss of habitat. I'm currently surrounded by fields and fields of linseed. A silent blue-green desert - not a single flying insect to be seen.

Seen no wasps or hornets in the apiary so far this year.

They look like wasps. I would leave them alone - they won't be there next year as they die come the autumn and a hibernating queen will start a new nest somewhere else in the spring. But if you must kill them them then they are plenty of things you can buy.

It took my colony a good 6 weeks to recover. But they didn't get robbed and OMF is now back in place. I have 4 supers on at the moment . Extracting soon.

I suppose another reason for not charging more might be to not go over the £1000 gross income limit set by HMRC in order to not have a potential load of hassle.

Jeez !

Maybe its about local competition: My local commercial beekeeper retails his standard honey at £5.75 /340g and it sells in the local garden centres and shops. I'm selling ad hoc at £5/340g which my BKA colleagues think is very good. Maybe its all relative too. How much is a pint of beer in North...