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Hi, I am looking for a gas burner torch head that will fit on the canister shown in the picture. I have gone through two standard plastic ones, as shown, which break or leak gas after a few weeks use. Does anyone know of a reliable head that will last and be safe? The ones I bought were online...

I have two Maisemore six frame poly nucs occupied for overwinter. The bees look like they have stopped taking the syrup that is in the integral feeder, this is the one that acts as a crown board as well with a small Perspex screen and two wells for the feed. I will be lifting the feeder off in a...

Hi, I bought a cheap refractometer on eBay....yes, always a gamble, based it on research from people saying they were just as good as more expensive ones and they looked the same as the ones sold by mainstream supplier at £30-40, I paid £14. The instructions say the top half should be bile and...

Hi, Last year I collected one of my own swarms from a tall tree by cutting the branch and lowering it on a rope into a field below. This was thirty feet away from the parent hive and where I housed the swarm. A day later I went to move the branch and tidy up. Three or four very aggressive bees...

Hi, I have a hive on double brood, I inspected it yesterday and found what I thought were queen cells just started. One was in a hole in a top brood frame, one on the bottom of the top frame, both had the classic peanut texture on the outside, nothing in them. I also noticed a few untextured...

Hi, Anyone know where I can get the four frame nuc boxes in the UK that will fit side by side on a British National brood box to try Mike Palmer’s method of running nucleus colonies? They would need to be 9 1/8” wide to sit together and fit the footprint of a standard brood box. I’ve looked into...

Hi, Having seen the prices on the metal tubes made for holding wax for dipping dinner table type candles, I’m sure there must be a cheaper alternative. Has anyone found one? Thanks Courty

I put two brood frames, standard national size, in an empty brood box above a newly united and now single brood box. The frames were left over from making one box out of two and had called stores across the top with polished cells when they were queenless. The frames were in an empty brood box...

Hi, I recently acquired a couple of old wooden national hives with the intention of cleaning them up and revamping them. There are noticeable gaps between the boxes and the floor, and the supers, mainly through wear and tear and age. I have only had new poly hives before, which have no gaps. Do...

Hi, If a frame with new eggs and various brood stages is placed in a queenless hive, which options do bees choose to make a new queen? Do they feed a three day old larva with a few more days of Royal jelly, or go with a new egg, or something I between? I ask because I added such a frame 11 days...

Hi, I plan on uniting a failed split (drone laying queen, located and dispatched) with the original colony left overs after it swarmed (swarm captured and in its own hive). Am I right in thinking that the brood box of the queenless colony goes over the newspaper and doesn’t have its own exit...

Hi, I hope the photo has uploaded to show what’s happening. I noticed some dead bees on the wooden pallet that my hive is on. They looked like they had sat out in the sun but died of cold instead. Today there were bees in small cluster all facing the middle on the pallet. They seemed to be...

Hi, How do people configure their Abelo poly hive crown boards? The one I have has five round holes with a round poly disc that fits over the hole and a plastic round grill that clips into the hole. I overwintered the bees in a poly hive with the crown board on with only the poly discs over all...

My first year of beekeeping and I’ve clearly made a mistake with not treating for varroa early enough. What are my best options now? I bought a 5 frame nuc in late July, transferred it to a Abelo polyhive and initially it didn’t seem to flourish. By this I mean they didn’t seem to expand and...

I’m having doubts about the feeder I bought from Abelo, it’s the Ashforth style rapid feeder, I’m not sure how to add photos yet but I’ll try. It’s the round Tupperware type where you can refill without bees getting out and the bees should climb up a funnel and then go down under a cup to the...

Hi, I am the proud custodian of a newly acquired five bar nuc, having taken the plunge of starting something I’ve always wanted to do. I have a polyhive ready as their new home and some basic kit to get started. This is so exciting, I watched them returning to their box with full pollen sacs...