Search results

Second full year and I completed my summer extraction all good, I have one hive piling in on balsam and they have filled a super big time so I thought ok get the extractor out again to top my stock up, well uncapped the frames and into the extractor they went. OMG just jelly like lumps came...

Just checked a Nuc and this was running around, is it a honey bee?

It goes along the line of could this be supersedure, Two weeks ago I returned from an 8 day holiday to find three capped Queen cells, had a look for the queen but no sign although there were eggs so my thought was I had just missed a swarm, I needed to expand so I made a Nuc up from two qc's...

Just walked up to my garden hive as a big black cloud arrived and wow what a sight bees steaming back to avoid the downpour, I have seen posts on here of people talking about how the bees head home when the rain arrives but never seen it before, lovely to see them all flying back and scurrying...

Another extraction question, after doing a demaree on my hive the queen went on a go slow in which my top brood box filled with honey (not complaining) So today I extracted my question is can I still use the frames for brood? Or do I now need to just use them for honey frames? Just wondering if...

I have three supers to extract, majority is capped, if the uncapped honey is slightly above the 18% recommend water content once extracted and mixed with the capped honey I take it if I take a reading from the settling bucket and its 18% or below I should be ok? Am I understanding it correctly...

Is this caused by OSR Last year was my first honey harvest, at the end of May I took off some honey concerned they had been on OSR I only had around 15 jars in which soon got eaten but what I did do was keep my first jar, looking at it today the honey has separated being runny in the top half...

So last year was my first full year and I was quite reluctant to shake all the bees off the frames during inspections as my thoughts were this would damage any brood/eggs, what did happen was I lost a swarm as I missed two queen cells, so my question is during swarm season should we be shaking...

Good weather here today so decided to remove the super below the brood which the bees have over wintered on, once removed I have noticed it looks like they have started to store fondant in it(hard white balls falling out) does this indicate I need to remove the fondant? Hefting ok but as a...

Just coming to the end (hopefully soon) of my second winter, I had one colony last winter and so far so good I have two now, people talking about fondant got me thinking one of my hive is still heavy and one is light so I have added some fondant so my question: Isolation starvation am I right...

Hi All Anyone know what these little black beetle things are on my inspection board? Good or bad?

I often see people saying you should not tap the hive during the winter to see if you can hear the bees, does once a week tap really make that much difference? I have galv plate on the roof's of my hive's and I am sure when it rains / hails it must disturb the bees. My point being once a week...

Can anyone give me a clue if I have done wrong or just the bees doing there own thing, I have a cast swarm that I hived back in June, they are going great guns covering 7 frames, I have treated with Maqs just over a week ago. Inspected to see if they needed topping up with stores for winter...

Going to make a solar / steam wax melter, my question is what filter medium is best to run the melted wax through for cleaning.

About 5 weeks ago during an inspection I noticed one of my hives the queen had all but stopped laying and was very lethargic, I left alone and inspected again a week later to find two supercedure cells so I closed up and left them to it. Today I inspected and found a nice plump queen who had...

Hi All The last couple of inspections I have had doubts about my queen, not laying well, today's inspection I have one Supersedure capped cell and a couple not yet capped, I did see the queen who was very lethargic and not looking good also no eggs, my question is will it be too late for the...

Hi All Just a quick question First full year and my strongest hive has three supers on, the top one is 3/4 capped and the two below are filling fast, my question is the top one that is 3/4 capped will it be ok to extract? I understand it has to be below 18 on my refractometer and the capped...

Hi All Extracted my first super last week and suspected it was OSR, did the Shake test as it was not capped with no droplets. My question is I have put it into a bucket expecting it to have set by now but it's still runny, how long should I leave it before putting into jars to be sure it does...

I have looked and cannot find the answer so here goes, Probably a should know question, I have single brood and an nearly filled super so where should I put my second super? On top of the nearly filled one or between the brood box and the nearly filled one? The second one I have is a super with...

Hi All On my last inspection my hive was bursting with bees and looking healthy, super on and being filled, there were also a few play cups knocking around, my question is do I need to increase my inspections or will every 7 days still be ok? Play cups were not charged so I am taking it with...