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I looked into using larch but internet searches came back saying it makes for a very heavy hive. As you probably know oak and sweet chestnut are quite expensive here vs the US (and relative to cedar given its suitability) so might be worth checking US forums for answers on those if you have a...

I've used the smaller ride on mower 12v battery with no problems, its about a third of the size of a car battery. May not work for dozens of hives but should be enough for a single apiary and can be recharged between uses.

on the swarming topic: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/14/yes-bad-beekeeping-is-to-blame-for-unwanted-urban-swarms https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/09/berlin-beekeepers-leave-swarms-without-homes-schwarmfangers maybe stick up a few bait hives

The second picture is an unusual choice, a mouldy broodbox, with very dark comb and very few bees....is that some white mould under their glove? is that filtered our of the liquid gold?

So you were making assumptions but stating them as fact? this is one of the main problems with beekeeping, these ‘facts‘ then get repeated and the misinformation spreads

On varroa 'preferring' drone cells, are they sentient enough to choose which cells they go into or do they enter all cells (including QCs) but are more successful in drone cells due to the longer incubation period?

is there much evidence of queen's emerging with dwv? I see a picture here but wonder how common it is https://www.honeybeesuite.com/queen-deformed-wings/

how does inspection work when you've got another queen in the top brood box? any tips to avoid knocking or dropping her out of the brood box when you lift it from that height to check if you need to add a super in the middle?

Start with two but buy a spare hive and empty nuc (or two) so you have the equipment to expand if it goes well. That will be a significant financial outlay to start with.

you're still not getting it are you. it's a hobby for you but a source of income for others. By undervaluing your honey, time and capital spent on equipment you are having an impact on the price in your area and potentially someone s income. no problem with you giving it away as gifts, in doing...

I live in a windy spot so i've hives in an enclosed space with pine trees around it, bees on the west of the space fly earlier as morning sun hits the hives there first. Hives on the east side seem to fly a bit later though. Entrance direction doesn't seem to make a difference

I think stings act as a somewhat necessary barrier to entry. new beekeepers understand that its a serious undertaking. otherwise I think you have everyone doing it on a whim and end up with a lot of neglected hives ...a bit like those people who buy flow hives and then realise there is actually...

the oz armour suits use more rigid veil material than in you pictures ( i use a similar light veil when mowing near the hives). if you have any sort of bad reaction to stings buying a decent suit should be your first priority. they are expensive but may save you medical expenses down the line.

Grew some buckwheat this year lots of flowers but only saw a couple of bees on it for a few days, phacelia was covered in bees at same time. The Japanese make buckwheet (soba) noodles from it.

Hughmann are you feeding at the same time? if you are then they are just putting the syrup in the super frames. if you stop feeding they may move it down once they have space below.

find a lot of bumbles like that here on colder nights, sometimes give them a bit of sugar syrup on a matchstick and they get enough energy to fly off to somewhere warmer

tried storing wet once and had this : "The combs can look pretty awful when they are brought out of storage next spring but the bees will quickly clean them for re-use." they cleaned up the cells but was left with some moldy bits around the edges of the frame which wasn't ideal so have gone back...

yes, thanks for that but you may have noticed there have been several other posts on the topic since the first post. Conversations evolve. Also the OP has more than one hive and didn't specify if they were leaving it on or extracting and feeding it back so my point it applicable

we've had a lecturer say cross contamination is a reason you should not give honey back. If you are extracting from multiple hives or apiaries and mixing it all together in the extractor or settling tanks there is a risk (possibly small) that spores from one hive could be fed back to the others...

by ventilation I meant moisture escape, I've never had a condensation problem (as mentioned earlier in the thread) with crown boards