I had a virgin queen through the winter and very late to get started.
Same thing with this colony last year , thought there was no queen.
Bought a Buckfast queen.
The queen I thought was not there was and killed my Buckfast.
Verty lazy queens from that hive, unproductive.
She knew she was for...
My local club has an AH 'officer' and at the last meeting a week ago he had about 50 boxed up traps with a bottle of lure in each one. 16 quid.
If we get one, we phone him straight away and he comes round.
He keeps bees for a living , so he is very much on the case.
yes it dulls the senses.
That's it.
I barely use my smoker to be honest.
I guess it depends on how 'lively' the hive is
Light it , give them a few puffs, get in , get out.
We have an almost identical one on the allotments over the road.
Not been a problem for the beekeepers around here.
Someone has two hives in their garden about 100 foot away.
I used to be in a Wars of the Roses reenactment group.
I have bows and arrows, a crossbow, a variety of swords, some real and edged.
A complete suit of armour, spears, a mace and a morning star.
No one gets in unless I let them !
Made that mistake last year.
Just open it up, put fondant in and go.
I had done it a couple of times no problem.
30 seconds is how long it takes.
First colony no problems, second colony went for me big time.
Ended up with about 12 stings on my arms and back of neck.
Was quite ill for a few days...
Problem is she is not new to beekeeping been doing it for years.
She went around telling everyone my colony did not fail because of poor queen but lack of treatment for varroa.
I put Apiguard on at the right time and vape at the right time.
It was duff queen.
Well I do that every day but with coffee.
I did have a quick look under the roof and they were all over the fondant but that's all I am doing right now.