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Ironically one of my abiding memories of my childhood was getting my foot stuck in a natural beehive in a forest and being stun 30+ times. Even at the time I didn't hold it against them though, I had, after all just wrecked their home! :p

I did my very first, ever, hive inspection today. It's been 8 days since I installed the package of bees I got. The queen was there and there was also some very very small eggs so the colony looks like it will be successful. :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfrG_09toFs

Thanks for the replies. It's a good point about not using the smoker unless it is needed, and about using it to help reduce bee pancakes. :p One thing I am still uncertain about, and it's almost an academic point, is whether it does any good if there is no honey for them to rush to eat? From...

I have installed a package of bees to a new hive with no drawn comb. The few times I have had to open it up I haven't used smoke as there would have been no honey stores for the bees to go and eat. The bees have also been extremely gentle and I haven't felt the need to pacify them. However I...

Thanks for that, just bought some plywood to make some dummy boards. :D

I've finished making up the frames and hive but there is a gap when I add all the frames to the hive. The inside of the hive is 37.5cm wide, the 10 frames total 35cm wide and the remaining gap is 2.5cm. Should there be a gap? If there should be one should I space the frames out to fill it...

Does anyone have experience of foundation going hard, and this being a bad things for the bees when drawing comb, or is it more a case of hearing that it might be a bad thing and playing it safe?

Sometimes I feel sorry for scientists. They have to work hard for a long time to get enough data to be statistically significant and then get that data into a peer reviewed journal. Once in the journal they have to weather the storm of other scientists trying to find anything wrong with what...

Climate change is not a scam, it is science. Not just that but it is science that has been tested and contributed to by scientists all over the world. It is easy to say it is all rubbish without actually pointing out which of the many scientific studies that back up global warming are wrong. A...

I don't see why you shouldn't use it when doing something like a shook swarm. Figure 11 of the "Managing Varroa" pdf on Beebase shows how much of a difference it makes having a very low varroa count to the speed they build up in the hive. Oxalic is obviously better then sugar but I intend to use...

I will only be using it as an extra to oxalic and shook swarming. From all I have read it does remove quite a lot of mites from adult bees and therefore will help make a shook swarm be as free from mites as possible. I certainly won't be using it throughout the year as that would have pretty...

I should have just asked this at the start rather then assuming that it was bad because I had read that a few times. It is sometimes hard to notice when you pick up a preconceived notion. :p Powdered sugar is only a small part of my planned varroa strategy. I am planning to shook swarm each...

This is for powdering for varroa (which I will only be using as a small complement, while broodless, to more effective treatments). I had read that the types with anti caking agent were not good to use so it is surprising that you can't buy it without that. :p What type would you recommend for...

I am wondering where I can buy powdered sugar that doesn't have anti caking agent or any ingredients other then sugar. Does anyone know where you can buy this? Cheers!

I am wondering if there is a greater chance of a colony accepting a new queen if she is introduced after a shook swarm. For example you could remove the old queen from a hive, wait a day or two and then perform a shook swarm into a fresh hive containing the new queen in a cage. The reason I am...

Thanks for the info. I plan on using Buckfast so that seems to tie in nicely.

I am leaning towards getting a poly langstroth hive with a single jumbo for the brood. One of the reasons is that I like the idea of that single chamber holding all the supplies to get the bees through winter so I can safely steal all the honey in the medium bodies. Will that be enough for a...