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Like everyone else, I'm faced sometimes with the bees refusing to work fresh foundation in supers, regardless of how well developed and teeming the supers above might be. I usually leave the QE off for a decent while to allow Queen Footprint Pheromone etc to disseminate more readily and I don't...

I was foolish enough to miss The Beekeeping Show in February which looked great as a tradeshow - I'm 200 miles from Harper Adams, in Northumberland, and just wondering how great the BBKA Spring Convention is from others experience? I'm not interested in making flowers out of wax etc, nor...

I've trawled the forum and for the most part, I appreciate the issue of pollen sub is a bit of a touchy subject that turns into a debate on its necessity or otherwise - however, I bought a 50lb bag last year, probably because I got carried away with my debit card, and it just may prove a...

Merry Xmas everyone - I've the opportunity of buying both some poly hives with colonies, some without, and other equipment - I appreciate these things are changeable, but I've read a few places (perhaps over-optimistically now, and I fear it may have been in two BBKA books that I read it, so..)...

Hi, I've got one of the 180cm Abelo honey warmers and had put a large bucket of heather honey and wax in (having opted for the crush and strain), but it's granulated badly, and 4 days at 38.5*c has proved fruitless. I'm reluctant to up it to 50*c per Dave Cushman, as I obviously want to keep it...

Those of you who have been assiduously following this Forum this year better than I, may recall I was in a flither about finding fondant cheaply. Crossed that bridge. Only now the bees, in their infinite wisdom have filled their brood boxes full of stores and seem scarcely in need of the stuff...

Despite being relatively youthful for a beekeeper at the grand old age of 36, I've got significant damage to my back from my previous job, particularly bad when involving any kind of torsion (another reason I prefer frames the warm way). Sawing or splicing fondant with a bread knife has had me...

This has been my first year using Demaree's and they proved invaluable in all that hot weather preceding this terrible past month, I've still got a couple configured as such and am now turning my thoughts as to how best to overwinter them - currently, although the queens in all are this year or...

Hi all, I've taken the dreaded decision to buy sugar and try to make my own fondant/candy as Tesco/Sainsbury's 5kg bags at 95p a kilo are the best I can find after Sugarfine quoted me £14 for 12.5kg and then ghosted. This is only my 9th yr of beekeeping but I've never even thought about...

Sorry if this has been done to death before, I'm a Luddite. Supposing the Randy Oliver method of placing 'Swedish cloths' of cellulose sponge impregnated with 50:50 veg glycerin to Oxalic Dihydrate gets DEFRA approval eventually (though I'm sure it'll come with a hefty price-tag for the license...

Hi, I mostly run the 12 frame Abelo's at my home breeding apiary, and have read a little about two queen hives - have preemptively demareed and reduced the resultant qc's in the top box to one, with the bung left out as an entrance, rotated 180*, and two supers with two qe's sandwiched between...

Like lots of people, I'm on medication that makes it hard for me to regulate my body temperature- psychiatric meds. I've got a ventilated mesh suit already and a water sprayer, but last year still had a few instances of mild heat stroke and am struggling to get round all my hives without...

Hi, not a massive problem I grant you, but having been plagued by huge amounts of chalkbrood in my first few years, I've slowly bought and bred from stock that remain asymptomatic- however, even those this year show some chalkbrood, though only in drone comb - thinking back, this seems to be...