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We wanted to draw the super out as the brood box is bursting with bees and we wanted to nadir it so give them more room if needed below. It was half drawn and we've nadired it now and will leave them alone. The colony has been building up since it was a nuc in June so they have plenty of...

There is plenty of food in the brood box. We were feeding to draw out the frames so they could use it either to store the ivy that is pouring in or to nadir to use for brood if necessary. I know they don't store it and that wasn't the aim. My question is it it too late for them to draw comb.

Hi, I'm advising a friend who started beekeeping in June. I gave her a nuc with a queen from my stock and they have built up nicely. The brood box was packed with bees and they had started to started to store honey in a lovely arc above the brood. We put the super on in the summer to give...

Probably, I have kept a genealogy chart for about 3 years and now have some 5th generation queens. I certainly have never bought a queen. My colonies are either from locally collected swarms or from my stock. To be honest I don't think about it. I just bee keep as if varroa does not exist.

Gosh so glad I have seen this thread. I have mentioned treatment free on the main threads a few times and been shot down so I only dip into this forum occasionally. I have been keeping bees since 2016 and apart from the first year when I did treat I have not treated, don't count mites, to be...

I've just put a super with half capped stuff, left after extracting, onto my 3rd biggest colony. The biggest two have two supers still. One has one super still full of brood (ran brood and a half this year) and one with two supers full of uncapped honey. Hoping to take a bit more of capped...

So why would I not need a seed if using OSR? What would stop it just crystallising as it would have done anyway.

I just wasn't sure if it needed to crystallise first. I don't really understand the chemical process to be honest but I'll give it a go.

great thanks.

I am going to try to make soft set honey this year assuming there is going to be lots of OSR around me as there always is. Someone in my local association told me that he makes his soft set from his spring honey before it has crystallised. He extracts it, leaves it 24 hours, adds the 10% of...

Gosh thanks for the replies. I've been at work all week and haven't had the chance to clean it so it's still sat in my kitchen!! Todays job. I contacted Thornes who advised not to remove anything so I've just wrapped the motor up and will tip it and hose it down.

My bees stock up on ivy honey. I don't normally feed unless I feel they are not heavy enough towards the end of september. I assume it's ok as obviously what colonies would have got in the wild.

I bought my labels from labelsonline.com which comes with free software to design your own. My son drew me a picture which I use and I label it according to the village where the apiary is.

I use rhombus clearers for 24 hours. Works really well - just the odd few left. I am extracting this afternoon and had to take some supers off a day early from my out apiary as I didn't have enough clearer boards. I put them tucked in a gap in the foliage at the back of the shed where they...

After reaching my capacity limit with my manual extractor in the spring I have invested in a Konigin 9 frame electric radial extractor. I'm planning to spin the honey this afternoon and am just contemplating cleaning the extractor. However the tap is on the same side as the motor so I'm not...

5 supers from one and 4 from another. Most of my others were split so have left the honey to them. The picture is a rather amateur marketing shot.

If your bees didn't seems worse for the fact that you didn't treat them last year then why not try that again. I don't treat my bees and they are fine. I do wish more people would try it and it could become more of a trend. BTW I don't require any abuse for this - we all bee keep in our own...

Do you need to find her? I do as little as possible to my colonies this time of year as I find they don't appreciate being disturbed. Personally I would see if they survive the winter and then find her in the spring when there are less bees and they are all happy and foraging on spring plants.

If they've been in that configuration for a while then leave them be. They know what they are doing better than we do.

There is always OSR around me. In previous years my spring honey has never crystallised. Last year it crystallised really quickly. This year's spring honey is now still so runny I can hardly spoon it out. I just sell it with a crystallisation info sticker on the back.