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Following a thread where the reduction or stopping of egg-laying in Autumn is discussed, it sounds like mid-winter increase in brood numbers is prompted by increasing day length. I had assumed that available forage would always regulate the amount of brood. But of course, the bees are building...

Earlier today I posted the following.; I've been asked to clarify where I saw this. I trawled through the recent posts a short time after the event and was unable to find it, so my chances of doing so now, a couple of weeks later, are limited. I suspect that it was deleted although I wouldn't...

Firstly, I think it's important to say that I registered with "Beebase" as soon as I started beekeeping, I have not been beekeeping long enough in this unusual year to have been inspected yet, I will always be open to an inspection and I have no reason to think that the inspectors are anything...

I ask this with a smile and I hope it can be answered the same way. I admit that I have almost zero experience and that I'm therefore, largely a theoretical beekeeper. Some of my "hero","celebrity" bee-gurus advocate using queens raised from your own stock and say that if we allow the bees to...

I looked at the website "Scientific Beekeeping" because well, scientific sounds right. It's generally full of good advice. But it seems quite insane that it advocates beginners handling bees with bare hands partly so that they get stung making wrong moves. The idea is that you learn to be...

Now I'm heavily committed to the concept of insulation I'm seeing the very lucid (sounding) arguments against it. :banghead: This is bound to have been debated previously but I've been absorbing the theory that the winter cluster has a reciprocal arrangement amongst the bees in that the more...

Anyone who can be ar**d to have followed a previous thread where honey v. syrup/ overwintering is discussed may have reached the point frequently achieved in these beekeeping discussions where you're banging your head on the wall. To summarise, as of this date, we seem to have confirmed that...

This was being discussed elsewhere this morning......a wrap made from solid, 50mm Kingspan. I'm ready to get on with it but now my mind has been boggled as I've seen a suggestion that you keep the front of the hive facing the winter sun and don't insulate that side so that it gets the benefit of...

What I'm really needing guidance on is roughly by when I should have examined the hive and given it the final frame/box configuration for winter. I'm aware that type of bee, particular colony, weather and location will influence this.

One of the basics that I've read is not to use icing sugar to make syrup because it contains anti-caking agents (amongst other things). But it is widely recommended as the component in a "sugar-roll" (not such a sweet delicacy as it sounds); this is a contradiction. Someone on Facebook just...

As the question above....rephrased from a previous one about marking paint rubbing off. Our green marked Buckfast queen from a June nuc seemed to lack that certain get up and go from the start. I put that down to the need to first get established. In the last two weeks there has been a marked...

This is probably an FAQ....does it happen a lot that the paint rubs off? Today's brief inspection (which I'm not sure I'm brave enough to show on video. ;) ) included a sighting of the queen.....at least I think it was She as she's quite nosey and usually makes a point of being seen and adored...

I've seen it described (if I have picked this up correctly) that you place the frame above a crownboard which has a hole drilled small enough to allow only one bee at a time to pass through. Have I got this right and what is the principle behind the procedure please? Would that be one frame at...

I have an illuminated magnifying glass and all I see in the trays is tiny black grains (bee poo?), white wax, old cappings wax, tiny weevils and general flotsam. There is nothing that in any way ressembles the images I have seen of the varroa mite. The tray is greased with Vaseline and I'm...

Clearly, Abelo see the newer, shallow roof as an imorovement;. I haven't been able to compare with the deep roof, but logically, that seemes a better option for insulation, draughtproofing, better waterproofing and stability in wind. But what do I know. Has anyone got first hand experience to...

This might seem to be a no-brain of a question; but a document which I downloaded from BeeBase which was produced by FERA says not to smoke the entrance before inspecting as this drives bees upwards where you don't want them to be. Last week I followed that advice and for the first time out of...

Everything I have read about bees so far indicates that the collective "bee-brain" works to make the best out of every situation that confronts it. The concept that they thrive despite our well-intentioned efforts is found in many writings. But one exception to this is when it comes to feeding...

One of our hives opens straight out to a flat field which is currently "swarming" with swallows. It's pretty obvious what is attracting them today, although they have been there in previous years in any case. Hundreds, maybe thousands of bees are hatching daily, but could this predation affect...

I have no direct experience of any of the makes of polyhive but the Swienty is attracting me. It's not an issue for me if I can only fit ten frames as long as the externals are very close to timber dimensions. I would also prefer to see proper runners inside. Can anyone give me guidance based...

This was fitted in its custom eke above a matching, "multi-purpose crown-board" a couple of weeks ago. I noticed the bees had started building fragments of stray comb in the gap between the two plastic cones but today I can see that they will soon have blocked themselves out of the syrup. That...