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I know the arguments in favour, but I don't like storing wet frames in the winter, so I always get the bees to clean out their extracted frames with the boxes on top and with constricted access for them....it works well and is much less messing about. It was on this forum a few years ago that I...

Hi Gary, I sometimes even use two layers of newspaper if I sense that one or other of the colonies might be a bit pushy, but never make slits or pinpricks. The bees will unite without any help, and it seems better to delay rather than hurry them. I hope you discover that you still have a queen. :)

I find that he strong flavour of heather honey overpowers when using in savoury dishes.

Seems a reasonable price. Includes all the regular WYRGB colours and few specials as well. https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/uni-ball-posca-pc-5m-marker-pens-starter-set-8-pack/6420751000.html

Do some people have bees that are always perfectly calm under all conditions and at all times? None of my bees are or are descended from a purchased queen bee. Sometimes a colony has been unpleasant to inspect; none of them has ever produced bees that chase me or anyone else away without serious...

The basic question remains as simple as it was in 2012. I've read some of the early arguments in this thread, and they seemed mainly to be about the "morality" of using a petrochemical-based product as opposed to a highly machined, timber material. From my real-world interaction with other...

I have bottom bee-space boxes, and find the bees have no problem with a floor that is effectively an upside down version of the crown-board, with an 8mm-10mm wooden rim....hence 16-18mm from floor to bottom of frames.

Isn't that just honey/preserved pollen?

I'm north of you, and at the appropriate times of year, our bees have foraged on sycamore, cherries and just now, now the rosebay willow-herb. Later they will find the balsam no matter how far they have to go. The problem always, and more seriously this year, is that as nature intended, the...

How can you be certain that all drones from a "bad-tempered" colony will carry the exact range of genes that contribute to the appearance that trait within a colony? Don't you think that exterminating all bees that don't meet with your criteria is likely to affect the frequency of queen bees...

Initially, I had an open mind about the system. In, 2023, I volunteered to help someone locally who had built and attracted a swarm to a Warre starting in 2020. He had never taken honey from it, although to be fair to the bees, he hadn't tried to. It wouldn't have been right to the bees to...

The silicone moulds have a turn-up at the edges, and you don't easily get wax running out everywhere. In addition, they are oversized for National foundation, so in any case, you don't need to get hung up about the wax reaching every edge. I've never used water or any other release agent on my...

Forgetting to put the queen excluder back in the right place.

Just when think that I'm getting the hang of beekeeping, something new comes along to force me to think again. I'm following the NBU workbook on queen rearing (by the Miller Method). I know there are better methods and alternative information sources, but the instructions are step by step and...

Get a silicone mould/mold, around £20 Ebay or Temu. I was sceptical..but works well, it's quick, the foundation can be a bit thick, the bees love it. Cut into strips, or use trimmed to your frame size.

I'm near Dingwall, close to place called Strathpeffer. At about 600 foot elevation. I can see the sea, looking out over the Cromarty Firth. There's plenty of natural forage as well as a reducing amount of OSR. Macduff and Banff are nice wee towns; I get over that way a couple of times a...

Hello to everyone who is out there. I forgot to introduce myself when I joined last week. I'm on the north-east coast of Scotland and this is my fifth season of beekeeping (despite the title of the thread). I'm averaging seven hives over two apiaries which is more than enough for me. I'm close...

I agree with the above. You will kick yourself in a couple of years, for paying good money for bees once swarms start to find you.

Best of luck....a brave, but sensible decison.