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I got the measurements slightly wrong when I made nucs so getting frames in and out is tight. You could look at buying flat pack Nationals and cutting them up. The major dimensions are then right. Cutting the rebates and locking bars at top and bottom are a complication you don't have with...

Moved a couple of hives to a new beekeeper. Her old hive was swept away when the River Bain decided to create a 20m gap in it's bank (it used to be a canal) during the recent floods. The lost hive apparently was a valiant little swarm that survived for days hanging from the arm of a garden chair...

I leave the floor slide in so can tell by the cappings drop. The major part of the weight will be honey, I guess. The clump of bees and brood will be lighter ? ? . . . . maybe. My bees shrink back to a small cluster. Not like the photos you see from commercial beeks. Weight shifts might be...

My digital scale is just a cheap £10 unit from Argos. As one option is to measure in grams the sensitivity will be excessive if you use the kg or lb scale. The problem I think is the organic part of the system, the human holding onto the handle. :) My heaviest lift is a half-weight of 44lbs...

All you need is a flamethower drone. Simples. Not very reassuring that this exists in the world.

I've been using an analogue luggage scale for few years but have only weighed from one side using a eye screw in the floor. Analogue scale died and upgraded to digital. A bit too accurate, numbers shifting around to 100ths of a lb. Nearest pound is enough. Don't use as in photo. Now use snap...

In the past I've used Hoffman convertor clips (35mm spacing) from Thornes but they no longer stock them. Maisemore do. By chance had some push pins which give a 34mm spacing.

I loose track of where we are with Brexit and trade across the channel but . .. . is anyone even checking containers, trucks, caravans from the continent? The EU is doing border checks but we decided not to carry out checks (am I right?), we delayed them ("we" as in the elected government)...

Begins at 19'30" from start. No need to watch the rest of the stuff. Good apart from one shot of a European hornet with an Asian and the difference not pointed out.

Removed empty English feeder from my one double brood colony and gave them half a dozen partially capped frames above the crownboard in a super. Spare super frames that I can't extract. Boy were they unhappy at being disturbed. Wearing a jacket they went up the back and in at the sleeves...

Brother Adam used to use them. I don't know why. Link

Last check before winter of a bought-in queen introduced over 3 weeks ago. Tidy patches of brood across 5 frames. But they've created a capped QC! Removed. If they are determined to replace her I can't keep checking. They have kicked out the drones though. 🤞

The bait trays have been out on the wall for 3 days with very little interest. Monitoring = check when I happen to walk past. Not near my hives. 15-20m to nearest one. Added some lager to the syrup/jam, still little interest. Large Common? wasp seen once on shrimp bait + a few flies more...

Sunny weekend ahead. I'm putting out a couple of bait trays to see what's about. This photo from a month ago. Flies and wasps visit. Tray 1: sugar syrup/jam/pinch of yeast (who has cassis or for that matter spare lager in the house) Tray 2: mashed up shrimps (who has prawns, see above)

Completed process of introducing a couple of bought-in queens which arrived mid-September. One success (lying for 2 weeks), one failure (reintroduced old queen from nuc).

If I say this beach is safe to surf then . . . . .

Ahh! I love the smell of second grade cedar in the morning.

Check for queenlessness of super before reunite with introduced queen in BB. First box: No QCs Hanging onto drones. Calm. No open brood or eggs tho' yet. Second box. Roaring. Given frame with eggs but pretty sure they are queenless.

Richard Noel's YouTube video where he made up Jabeprode traps, the boxes look like standard Euro stacking boxes. They are sized to fit together. #edit The only other component is the floor mesh which looks finer than standard mesh floor, I guess to exclude small flies getting down into the bait.

Sounds familiar. I'm mid way through. One (weaker) colony had created 6-8 capped QCs while the old queen was caged for 6 days. It was a good job I shook each of the frames and hopefully found them all. The other colony, much stronger, no QCs. But then the queen I removed was a supercedure...