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If smoked a few minutes before lifting the lid crownboard, more of the bees which might be feisty (and sting) will have consumed some stores, readying for an emergency ‘abscondment’ flight to safety in the case of a forest fire in their natural environment. Smoking, to drive the bees down, is...

It depends on the season. Sometimes a colony can be starving late in the summer. Sometimes the bees can already have kicked out the drones because the income is sparse and stores are low. Bees do not starve by calendar dates - it depends on the season. If the winter season (between autumn and...

You should be recording information when inspecting. The number of full frames-worth of brood is important - particularly if a beginner. Colonies can collapse late in the summer due to varroa loading - the colony brood decreases so virtually every pupa is affected by the varroa (sometimes more...

I don’t look. I leave them in peace as far as possible for the winter season. Unnecessary interference does them no good, as I see it.’

As per another of your threads - bees do not use a calendar for their operations.The weather is far more important for beekeeping.

One does not keep bees by the calender. Shirley, this last autumn/winter has ably demonstrated that?

Not sure why that reply was necessary. Neither thymol nor oxalic acid treatments cause resistance (fluvalinates would most certainly cause mite resistance to the chemicabl). As such, one does not inow who, locally, may be treating with chemicals that can (and do) cause resistance to the...

Let’s get a couple, or so, things straightened out. Oxalic is not caustic - it is acidic. There is plenty of calcium to precipitate it in body fluids. Breathing the stuff will precipitate insoluble trash in your lungs. On top of that it is a strong acid and, as such, will cause burning damage...

I don’t know whether this had been flagged up previously. Obviously not able to bring japanese queens to our shores, but given a few million years our species might just manage hornet attacks…

Calcium oxalate is insoluble - very insoluble. We used that fact, to analys for calcium in products, some 50 years ago. Any calcium oxalate (it WILL be formed inside you, if oxalic acid gets in). It will cause problems which we can do without. Eating rhubarb leaves is also likely not a good...

Get stainless steel. More expensive, but will last a lot longer, particularly if sublimating oxalic acid.

Please don’t be silly. The hive entranceis open all winter. The temperature at the floor level will be outside ambient. As I said earlier, they do not need as much ventilation as provided by a full OMF. BUT bottom ventilation IS the secret to good over-winteting ((along wit good top...

If padding out a box for a small colony, the most important part is complete sealing at the crownboard - heat will be simply dissipated to the empty sides just like leaving matchsticks under the crownboard for the winter. Next is the sides where the importance is greater as one gets towards the...

Cappings from stores is a different colour and size/shape than from brood cappings.

When they need it! What is the point of treating unnecessarily?

The excluder only needs putting on when a super is required. Some do not use them (often).

It at least confirms the colony is alive.:)

The simplest answer. NO! While they do not need as much bottom ventilation as an OMF provides, it is not generally a problem. Running extra-deeps, or with a shallow above a deep, is definitely a better situation for those weaker colonies caused by high varroa loads at inopportune times...

I use meaco DD8Ls for dehumidifying - but not for honey. Glad to see they now offer a 3 year warranty - they must be better than their earlier efforts. I have three, two operational and one awaiting repair or as a spare. They are usually easily repaired - but I am dismantling one again, today...

Unless of course you are standing by your hive as it swarms? In which case, they will soon settle anyway! Sounds like an urban myth (or rural mutts). I somehow doubt a swarm, flying to its new chosen home, is going to take any notice whatsoever as they pass by…