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Ah, thanks. I wondered if you were trying a varroa treatment like Randy Oliver. Looks like you've put a lot of thought and effort into your set up.

I'm intrigued by what looks like sponges in the photo. Are they soaked in oxalic acid or similar?

I realise it's bad to disturb them for no real reason. At this time of year I'm normally just checking stores prior to feeding if the weather and/or forage availability haven't been good. This time I was intending to unite a rather defensive colony with a nicer one but couldn't find the queen to...

That's reassuring, thank you.

Hello Everyone, I was just wondering if anyone else has had problems with queens stopping laying when Apivar is added, or for any other reason at this time of year? As a follower of The Apiarist, at this time of year I am always thinking about the 'winter bees' being produced. This process...

I'm not disagreeing with the replies above, but I think it's sometimes quite difficult for new beekeepers to be comfortable with not knowing everything is as it should be. The main problem is, at this time of year, there's less chance that interfering is actually going to be beneficial, and if...

I had a colony last year that I thought was doomed because the queen stopped laying in September and it declined to only a few frames. However, I put it in a poly nuc and was pleasantly surprised to see brood cappings on the monitoring board in the winter. It survived and got transferred back to...

I've had a couple of years when I had to do far more late autumn/winter vapes than the packet instructions allow, even though I'd treated with Apiguard in August and one year also with MAQS in June/July. I think last year one hive got 8, and then I resorted to varromed which it said could be...

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'll see what it's looking like at the next inspection and then decide whether to alter how I'm providing the frames or just wait until the colony has built up more.

There is a queen excluder so I will remove that, thanks Pargyle. I never know when people say 'frames of brood' if they mean 'frames with brood on' or add up all the fractions of frames to give a total. There are 12 frames with brood on across the two boxes, but the amount of brood on each...

Hello. I'm using foundationless frames in my supers. I have some that were partially drawn last year and I added them back on a double brood colony a week ago. There is a strong flow on and I thought they'd be nicely drawn when I checked yesterday. However, the bees had filled emerged areas of...

I think a lot of people have unfounded criticisms of them. The process of beekeeping is exactly the same. The only difference is when it comes to extraction. I do have some experience and the issue was getting the bees to accept the plastic frames. Obviously it can be done, and people use...

Bobba - I'm rather irregular here but I do remember finding your posts with varroa counts really helpful when I was struggling with that issue. I hope things work out well for you, whether that turns out to be finding another site or coming back to bees in a few years when it fits in better with...

That's interesting hearing how yours behaves on heating too. I also get some powder on the board. I interpreted that as material knocked out by the bees before it gets hot. If your pan is below the mesh though, that can't be the case. Mmmmmm. It does seem that it might be better if they heated...

Have just checked and I see my charger cost 65 from alpha batteries. (I can't imagine what you get for 5.) My batteries are 12V 85AH leisure batteries, various budget brands from alpha batteries or tanya. As I said before, I didn't choose them for vaping but I've certainly had no problem doing...

That's good - inc speed and dec counts. I hope the numbers keep going in the right direction. I leave the hives shut up after removing the vape pan, as recommended on the apibioxal instructions, but I go on to the second one while the first one is waiting. When I've vaped that, I can unblock the...

Sorry to hear that Bobba, but it makes me feel slightly better that I'm not the only one. I have exactly the same problem of low counts through the year and then an explosion late on. This year mine have had MAQS, then 10 weeks Apivar with 6 OA vapes at 5d intervals. Now I've forked out for...

I understand that almost all apiaries should now be registered due to the change in law regarding varroa. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bee-health#varroa-mite-varroa-destructor-and-varroa-jacobsoni Varroa is now a reportable pest and since almost everyone will have it, that means almost all...

I had the same discovery in one of mine last week. I assumed that the bees thought she wasn't a good enough queen to make it through winter and needed to be superceded. She was a new queen this year and had never had a good brood pattern so I had wondered if she hadn't mated well. I couldn't...

Have just read that epic post from last year. It's encouraging that the hive did survive both the extreme mite levels in autumn and all the oxalic acid. Thanks for continuing to update your progress. I was also interested to read about robbing as a possible explanation. I thought maybe mine were...