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I’ve bit the bullet and a BeePro suit from Sherriff’s is on its way. I will review it in a few weeks time.

I have a BBWear suit with a round veil that’s coming to its end after being patched a few times by my other half. The only downside with the round veil was that it was quite cumbersome when working in confined spaces removing wasp and bumblebee nests. A free service that I’ve now restricted to...

At the other end of the price range, does anyone out there have a Sherriff BeePro suit. My current suit is coming to the end of its life and I’m considering a BeePro because I would now like to have maximum protection and the cost isn’t an issue.

Update on the cutout we did on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately the queen and a lot of the sticky bees didn’t survive, it was a cold evening when they were added to the nuc. Not enough heat and bees to clean them all up. The surviving bees were united with another hive today. Not the result we...

Braula mites, we have them too! I had to search to see where Antipodes lives and it’s in Tasmania. Braula is common there.

Thanks. We scraped off the comb right back to the boards and Derek said that they will try to seal any gaps with expanding foam when the wall is repaired. But it’s a very old building and I think it would be hard to make it totally bee proof. It was a school and after it shut in the mid...

A cutout. Firstly a little back ground history. Last year a local beekeeper was made aware of bees that were seen entering and exiting a wall in one of our local council buildings. The entrance was just below the guttering on the 3rd floor and we now know that the bees had been had found a gap...

Same apiary in January and it was below freezing mid afternoon for over a week.

It was mild and sunny here on Friday afternoon, a balmy 14c. I inspected 5 hives in my sheltered apiary, high walls and a sun trap. 3 hives had 5 frames of bias and one had 4. The fifth hive had a failing queen with small patches of brood and one open charged queen cell. If it had been mid May I...

I’ve been overwintering bees in poly nucs for a few years now. I’ve had lots of queens that have only started to lay in late July or even early August and they had built up enough to make it through to the next spring. Autumn feeding yes and I give them some fondant if they are light the...

Because the majority of my hives are still Smiths I will be sticking with the shorter lugs. I got a joiner to make up the strips to the stop the frames moving on the side of the frame runners and they fit the supers as well. It’s a good idea that you have suggested but I would be worried about a...

I have had some 12 frame poly Abelo hives for 3 years now, after spending all my beekeeping years with Smith’s. I run the poly hives with 11 frames ( it gives me a bit more wiggle room ) and I am still comparing them with my Smith’s. Two things that I’m not keen on. 1 The rebates make it almost...

Thanks JBM I was wondering how long it would 🐝 before someone would take the bait 😉

Sorry l didn’t mean to be rude. But you showed great concern for the bumble bee and I have come across people who think they can keep bees without harming any of them. You might like to invest in a few of these. https://beevive.com/products/bee-identification-bee-revival-keyring-limited-edition

I will add that it’s quite common to crush the odd bee or two (or even more) during an inspection of a hive. If you can’t deal with that maybe beekeeping is not for you.

I have stored my supers wet ever since I started beekeeping. I put them on in the spring as the bees need more room. The bees are often up in them before I’ve put the crown boards back on. As I said in a previous post “ there’s nothing better than the smell of fermenting honey to encourage the...

I went to add fondant to 4 poly nucs I’m over wintering at a friend’s apiary. I got a shock on arrival because the willows behind my nucs have been given quite a radical haircut! They used to be as tall as the ones at the back. My nucs are the 4 to the right. You’ll notice how dark my bees are...

I know all about freight charges at this end of the country. When the appliance dealer’s say “spend X amount and get free carriage” we are always excluded. The freight for jars is even worse and adds a significant amount to their cost! Sorry if you thought I was after free sugar and I wasn’t...

I’m interested to know how you have access to so much free sugar. Would you be willing to tell us. Stored properly it should keep indefinitely. I would be working out where to store the 750kg bags 😉

Today -3c at 15:00 at my most sheltered apiary in the middle of town. Milder at +6c by Sunday. Despite our location we don’t often get prolonged snow or extreme cold due to the moderating sea around us. Shetland just a bit to the north of us always seems to be worse. Our winters tend to be very...