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Beefarmer = technical skills, good money management skills, marketing skills, a healthy dose of luck especially from the weather gods and a large dose of insanity. And its bloody hard work too. Like most on here I do it because I love it, and I class it as a paying hobby, certainly not a job...

I run out apiaries of 10 hives which works well for me with the available forage at my sites. I have done vastly better with my brood management this year which is key for me, 7 day visits early in the swarm season and now fortnightly and I re-queen most each year. Give them room to lay...

As I see it Eric, reviews of studies online seem to indicate anything between 5 to 15% of Varroa fall through the floor, which I have seen described as 'statistically insignificant', and I can't disagree. My treatment regime has changed in recent years too with oxalic vaporisation becoming a...

I'm giving up on omf's. I have quite a few which I will continue to use but I really can't see much advantage and it is much quicker for those of us that build our own kit to make a solid floor. The tray stays in mine for 6 months of the year anyway!

Not much to do this week as the new queens should have hatched end of last week so hoping for good mating weather, although we could do with the rain to be honest, our bit of Sussex has had barely 5mm this last month. Spent today making up new mating hives, and I have just secured a new apiary...

This is precisely why common names are such a nightmare and the Linnaean system was devised. Take bluebells for example, grassland flower Campanula rotundifolia in Scotland and spring bulb Hyacinthus non-scriptus down south. There are many more examples where common names just confuse things...

Bottlebrush, particularly Callistemon citrinus splendens. The leaves have a lemon scent when crushed.

In my part of the world down sarf the Blackberries flower first, usually bigger fruit than the later bramble which flowers roughly 2 weeks later. There is much confusion online about this (don't bother with wiki which is riddled with errors). It is thought that the earlier flowering forms are...

Blackberry (not bramble as too early) will crystalize on its own anyway.

Out apiary inspection today, took 3 times as long as last week but I have got 7 more nice splits for another apiary that I will be making on family land, with others that I have lurking that should give me the 10 I require, plus another 12 nucs as back up. All going well (and we know that won't...

I inspected 10 hives in under 20 minutes the other day, probably a record for me as the girls were doing what they are supposed to be doing for once. I didn't see one solitary queen in that visit, just eggs brood stores etc, no time to cage anyone! Clench your teeth gently around her thorax or...

Well done, I think every beekeeper should have a go, it's a huge step forward or it was for me. I share the eyesight problems though!

Just had a quick peek at the 12 nucs I made up on Friday and all bar one flying well. That may require a bit of additional brood/bees when I next visit the out apiary as I don't have any left at home. Fingers crossed for good mating weather!

I use Mike Palmers system - duct tape on the hive somewhere and my own shorthand to know q line, good or bad etc. I try to keep it simple, just the basics. If I was breeding rather than rearing queens the records would have to be a lot more detailed but this does for now. ( It does pay to clean...

Out apiary visits yesterday and after the stingfest of last week a very pleasant surprise, they were absolute pussycats. Still a small amount coming in down here on the south coast but the blackberries are on the cusp so no real gap here.

After yesterdays stingfest my thoughts turned to washing my suit. I first saw Mike Palmers video a few years ago and since then I wash my suit in a tall bucket with washing soda and hot water and it hangs to dry in one of our polytunnels, well away from my other half.

I had to break down a breeding q hive that had the q bumped off by the workers this morning. Seven lovely cells to harvest (she was old) but boy did I pay the price. I lost count at 12 stings, being queenless and a very windy day really stirred them up. But apart from being a bit itchy where I...

Cut the grass in between work jobs. I start off every year trying to mow regularly in the apiaries and yet I still manage to miss a cut somehow somewhen and it looks like a mess. Probably comes from being in horticulture - I like it tidy!

Bit of a lazy afternoon as work this week has been physically hard going so off the to the out apiary to do the weekly inspection. I parked the van to one side of the hives, got out and just stood there to watch and listen. I don't think I have ever seen them quite as busy as this, the sound was...

Whatever takes your fancy I guess. Waterford crystal anyone? The dadant is the daddy of smokers for sure.