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Have seen this mentioned a number of times recently and weighing the merits. Easy to use with hives floors that have landing boards? Has anyone used this with a WBC ? The exit nozzle is short and any extension seems likely to crystalise the OA ? Thanks

Hive that swarm control was performed on; queen plus frames into nuc and all but one QC torn down after 7days - this was 20days ago. Recent check - no sign of brood/queen, bees working in supers BUT noticed signs of CBPV. Shaking bees and the dark abdomens but no signs of mass deaths. Think...

Hi all Is there any coming back for fermented smelling wet super frames? Did a spraying of dipel before putting them away and may have been too quick in packing them up. I seem to recall that fermented stores is not good at all for bees. Thanks

I have a situation where one colony dwindled down to not enough bees to sustain itself (was at an out apiary and farmer moved them a few times whilst we were away on holidays so I imagine stress etc), but the queen is still around (2022 Queen) and was laying well into winter. What are my options...

Any advice/suggestions for a decent electric wax melter for small(er) scale cappings melting for 5 to 7 hive keeper? Also best place to get wax block moulds ? Thanks

Hi, Looking to requeen a couple of colonies due to temperament. Currently mid treatment (Apiguard). Is it ok to do an instant re-queen while still treating ? Conscious time dwindling for access to mated queens. Thanks

Apologies if this has been fully covered before, but I have a couple of hive that need requeening due to temperament, and I’m short on time. I think i have read that new queen can be introduced immediately old one is removed. Does that literally mean insert new queen in introduction cage in same...

Just got back from hols to find one of my hives killed off and taken over by wasps. Was a weak hive but had reduced entrance and the Wasp-out entrance thing fitted. Gutted, but one more lesson learned. Question is should the frames be destroyed ? Can they be used again? Anything I should do to...

Quick question. If there is a need to treat for heavy varroa now with oxalic, for how long do you remove the supers to use vaping? Straight off, vape and wait a day or just a short period of time? Thanks

Trying out running a colony without a queen excluder to see if it reduces the chances of swarming etc; Some questions for those that run colonies without a queen excluder; Does it end up being basically a brood-and-a-half setup as queen lays in the 1st super ? Do you wait till late in season...

Hi Have a colony that is a DLW one. Shook them out but are clustering. Am 99.9999% sure there is no queen and wouid prefer not to have a random cluster of bees in the apiary. Any advice on how to get them to breakup and beg into other hives? Thanks

Hi, Put some drawn super frames from last season on colony when flow started last week. Good news is they are filling and part capping some. Bad news is they are building out the super frames in creative ways and adding brace comb between supers etc.. I didn't get this with the new foundation...

Not something I am keen to do but a weak colony with DLQ and also cbpv needs to be dealt with. I don’t want to shake them out in the apiary so am considering euthanising the colony. I have heard water with washing detergent should be poured onto the frames, but not how much and if it suits a OMF...

One of my '22 "to-do's" is set up a bait hive. I have a couple of old dark frames that came from a demaree last season which I wanted to use. Some very light wax moth damage, but don't imagine that's an issue. Only potential problem is a few (5-10% give or take) of the cells are "wet" (glisten...

Coming to conclusion that one of my hives has gone through winter Q- or with a failed Q following a very late attempt at supercedure/swarming. When I come to confirm this in spring what should i do with the remaining bees? Shake them out or something else? Thanks

Took the opportunity to check on a hive while topping up feed. Just wanted to see brood to stores ratio, but ended up spotting a handful of capped queen cells as well :eek: . I didn't go hunting for the queen, as I would have at a different time of the season, and seeing as I can't imagine a...

Hi, Is there a reason sodium bicarbonate is the recommended cleaning agent for tools etc? Not wanting to blindly do things because it’s the way its always been done, I’m trying to understand why not just fairy liquid or some more modern detergent? I imagine soda/bicarb was all that was available...

Not an especially nice morning weather wise; about 8am, cloudy, mid-teens temp 1 of my hives has an unusual amount of activity at the entrance. At another time of year I would say there was a strong flow on somewhere as the number of bees trying to get in/darting out resembles that. I'm pretty...

A fellow local new beekeeper highlighted this to me as recently being offered to him from T's. Mineral Bee Worth discussing? I'm sure a lot of new (and probably experienced) keepers are thinking about ways to get colonies through as best as possible. More snake-oil or not?

Bearing in mind this is 1st season… when main flow ends will the bees start tucking into the supers? What are the key signs to look for? And should boxes (or individual frames) be removed to avoid this?