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The Dadant beekeepers generally (I’d say 90%) keep buckfast. Medium sized overwintering strength (just a little bit bigger than Carnica) but fairly equal in terms of spring build up. Buckfast tend to produce ever so slightly larger colonies, maybe a super more, but I’ve had Carnica hives...

I think with 14x12 the basics are actually quite similar to Dadant - Dadant just gives you that little bit of extra freedom by having brood on a smaller number of frames. I am hoping that the flows where I am are fairly treasonable, perhaps not what I’m used to in Germany but it should still...

No I mean German Standard frames (Deutsch Normalmaß) - they are a bit shorter than Zander but a tiny bit bigger than Nationals. It's a bit hard to describe in words how I determine whether they want to swarm but I just start looking at the brood frames from the outside in and if there's plenty...

You must be fast then and I assume no double brood box? For me it’s the difference between checking 6-8 Dadant frames of brood (or 1-2 if there’s no sign of swarming, but 6-8 if I find cells) versus having to check 22 frames in a German national standard hive. Plus because the brood box isn’t...

Thanks all for the replies! After quite some digging, it seems that the ones I want (12 brood frames) aren’t even available in the UK so I’ll have to negotiate with some German manufacturers to send them over. This should also save a big chunk of money despite shipping costs as hives are less...

I’d always put some sort of landing strip in front of the hive entrances. Especially when temperatures are low and it’s been raining you see a lot of bees laden with pollen missing the entrance and landing in the wet grass where they die. Never in 20 years had any build up of dead bees on the...

I was just super interested in animals from a young age and we had half a zoo at the time anyways so it was just one more thing my parents had to put up with! I think I’ll keep it low-key for now, I feel like 4 is a good number to cover off eventualities.

I did! I spent a few summers at the bees with a beekeeper before and then a whole year when I was 11. When I was 12 I got my first hive in the autumn and then a few years later I had about 20 (I guess I was 15-20 then). I think I sent my own queens to a mating site when I was about 15 😅 I must...

I’d be quite minded to do a shook swarm now - something’s not going right within those hives and I don’t think they’ll make it through the winter. I’d take my best remaining queen in the affected hives, cage her up and then shake off the bees from all affected hives into a suitable container...

That sounds excellent, I’ll keep an eye out for them when I’m in the park!

Thanks for the recommendation!

I’m actually a big Buckfast fan! The Carnicas in Germany are great and the friendliest bees you could imagine but I’ve been completely blown away by Buckfast queens I get from Paul Jungels (or his distributors now that he doesn’t sell directly anymore) in Luxembourg. I was going to see what the...

Thanks Eric - this is super helpful to know. I have spotted some additional hives near where I am so I'm definitely not planning on keeping more than say 4 hives, really don't want to overcrowd the area. Finding a good location has been very challenging though as I can't keep them where I live...

I very much agree - I’ve been trying to convince my dad to use shallow supers but despite him being 65, he still prefers to lug around 25kg supers every summer…

I totally agree - a brood box full of honey is definitely something to avoid but shouldn’t happen in any event!

Hi Eric I’ve done Dadant before (as well as using honey boxes on my German standard hives which are slightly bigger than Nationals) and so far I’ve been able to lift them by myself even if they’re stacked above my head! They’re not that heavy full, about 20-25kg. I’m in Hackney Wick sandwiched...

Hi all I am thinking about starting beekeeping in London having done so for many years in my home country of Germany. I have made good experiences with Dadant hives there (the 12 frame brood box version as used by Brother Adam because it's square which allows you to manage the number of frames...

Thanks for the welcome! I’m conscious that Dadant is an oddball here and I was indeed intending to have stuff shipped over from Germany where it’s just so much cheaper, regardless of transport costs… I think Langstroth is a bit too small unless you have a double brood chamber which I want to...

Many thanks for the warm welcome. Bee breeding programmes in Germany are indeed quite sophisticated I would say, and the quality of bees is generally great. I think there are many reasons why that is so, starting with a pretty much national focus on using solely Carniolan/Carnica bees since the...

Yes we do - my dad took over when I left and reduced the number of hives from about 20 to 6, but with retirement looming he’s now built it back up to 12 or so!