Search results

Looking at buying more boxes and frames. I need to make some more roofs and floors. 8 years in. It never stops. You'd think they eat these things.

A school friend claims he can start harvest when it happens in Ambridge. They must use very good agricultural consultants. Let's hope no nests found in, where is it? Borsetshire. Don't listen myself.

I've been using 1kg sugar:1 litre water (ish). I'll let others debate the equivalent ounces and gills. Don't know what Mr McGregor uses. Just useful that @Into the lions den sees 13litres become 14kg/30lbs of stores. And that that is what they need for winter. Big feeder. My lot, in my...

I saved this from Mr. McGregor on his twitter thread: 26 September "These were only fed yesterday...full feed...some have already taken half of it and drawing comb. Full feeder holds about 13 litres..depending on slope on hive...so at 1.4kg per litre thats around 18kg of syrup.....ripens down...

I'm hoping to move a 5 over 5 frame colony to a single BB while the bees are busy with the ivy. Not done the following before but . . .have taken 5 frames from across 3 hives and done a newspaper unite on top of a 5 frame nuc, queen started laying end of August, ie. 2+ weeks ago. Thinking...

Blowing bees out of supers is fairly standard for bee farmers in the UK and Europe as well. Don't blame the Canadians. ? In the above videos he's clearing partial supers to be robbed out, once, at the end of the season. From other videos I've seen Mr Steppler uses clearer boards in his...

Bought a box from Thornes recently and they no longer need to take your details and the batch number at checkout. Change in regulations? So there's a lack of traceability through the supply chain. Haven't seen this. Thanks. Will check the rest of the box.

Checked 5 of 6 hives. Nuc would be vulnerably weak with queen that's only been laying for 5 days if there were more wasps about. 🤞 Supercedure may or may not have happened, no old queen, no eggs yet. Others don't have much area to lay with honey in brood box. Seem to be coasting already. ?

While putting extracted supers and incomplete frames back on colonies I dropped comb of honey on the ground from a top bar and stood in it. Spilled diluted honey in feeder over the crownboard and down the front of the hive. Much swearing from me, the beekeeper and much excitement in the apiary...

Seen bees on overripe plums before. Not this year. Must have a better option. Not seeing many wasps either.

:party:bee-smillie Just found a bought-in queen from BMH that I thought was lost last week. I was being so cautious, step by step. Last step, turn over the push in cage to check she'd walked down into the frames and she flew up. It was like watching a £50 note fly away. Left the hive open for...

(y) In a talk from a retired bee farmer and inspector he blamed bees being moved around, coming in contact with more wild and commercial populations. So bee farmers or significant hobbyists. If you have to make money you don't have the time to check your colonies, (says me, a beekeeper who...

Opened the curtains and it's all gone a bit feral out there. Robbing frenzy. Yesterday I put tape over a gap in an extracted super that I'd left on top of biggest colony. Tape came away and the thieving beggars are having a great time. Throw on a jacket and sort it out. !

Clearer boards in 4 colonies. Much frame shuffling. Mostly the one big colony. The colony where I nuced the queen last week having found QCs. Leaving the nuc on the other end of the stand meant the foragers knew just where to go and they've robbed the nuc dry. Can't see the queen. !

Can you steal frames of brood to give to another colony that might collect some late honey? Don't know now many colonies you have.

Could this rhyme go back to when bees were kept in skeps. Didn't they shake the bees out at the end of every season to take the honey? The rest of the rhyme does talk about "loads of hay" and "silver spoons".

Not clipped a queen before. It's the first year I've even managed to mark all my queens. Not good at it. Will have a try. Saw a post on here that they are still seeing swarms. A couple on Facebook near me also. Even tho' we're 6 weeks after the solstice. Having slept on it thinking could have...

Nuced the queen in my biggest colony. Playing safe. 2 capped QCs in upper frames of brood area. Reduced to one. Thinking it is too early for this to be a supercedure?

I had a failed nuc where the comb was all drone. Set up with QC in mid-May. QC emerged but by mid June there were multiple eggs in cells. End of June looked like this:- I intended to shake them out but 20th June I pruned out some QCs from another colony and found 2 VQs emerging. Instead of...

Swarm where I caught a queen which then died in a clip must have had another queen. BIAS. Swarms, bait boxes, splits and nucs all seem to have got mated so I've jumped from 2 to 8 colonies. Rags to riches. Well, 'riches', maybe. Only one of them has collected any significant honey. Potential.