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polyhive - taking us all back to your advice at the start of this thread - thank you, clear & concise, & that's exactly what us new bk's need from you more experienced bk's to help us on our way : )

Hi everyone - another newbee question from me! Are you still feeding your bees? When do you stop? I was told to keep feeding til they stop taking it, but they are showing no signs of doing this! They are slowing up, but still getting through half a kilo of sugar made in to syrup each week in...

Thanks for your advice everyone :) Just one more question before I start to implement your tips - what do you use to cover the escape hole in the crown board for winter? Does it have to be anything specific or could I just, say, leave my rapid feeder on to keep it covered?? Thanks

Hi all, So here in Kent it's starting to get chilly now so I'm thinking of what preparations I need to start to make for winter, if I could get some tips please... 1. First of all, I did an inspection as it was quite sunny today & the bees were pretty active - at what point does it get too...

yes they are apivar strips & they were french - oh well i'll just have to replace with something else! think i need to try & find a new mentor, mine isn't even responding to my messages now :confused:

thanks skyhook - others have also suggested i give the feeding a break & see if brood builds up again, so will do that now til the end of the month. how long does feeding usually go on for? thanks also for the link to the apivar info - and yes there is resistance in my area. shall i remove...

ok thanks everyone, will have a look at these on amazon. i agree ted hooper is perhaps not the easiest book for a complete beginner, i thought i was just being a bit daft not understanding him!

MJBEE - sorry i forgot to say, no, the frames they haven't used are completely untouched, no comb. i will give feeding a break & see if the brood starts to increase again...

ok thanks everyone. so when do you all usually stop feeding syrup then? RAB - can you buy insulated dummy boards for winter or are they something you can make up yourself? if so what materials do you use? i feel a bit lost atm as my "mentor" from my local assoc. course has pretty much...

Hi all, I did an inspection on Sunday & added Apivar strips to the hive. For the first time since I got my bees in July, I saw one bee with an obvious varroa mite on it during the inspection, but that was all. Queen was present & active but I noticed a lot less brood than previous inspections...

Just wondered if anyone can recommend any good bee-keeping books to a newbee? I have Ted Hooper's Guide To Bees & Honey but am looking for something else - something easy for a new beekeeper to understand & put into practice? Thanks

i have roughly half and half of stores to brood in there - how much should it be please? the brood is mostly capped worker, with i'd say about 1/4 at egg & larvae stage.

hi, i have posted before but not had much response to my recent question - this is my first colony so a bit unsure at the mo. i got my small cast of approx. 5000 bees about 5 weeks ago, was told by my mentor to keep feeding them & not disrupt the hive for 3-4 weeks, then to add a 2nd brood box...

hi everyone, i had my first look inside the hive yesterday it was fantastic! the bees were very docile which was good for a first-timer like me :) anyway to update you - i found 4 frames in the middle of the brood box, plus the inner facing halves of 2 more frames used, so total of 5 frames...

ok thanks, still pretty confused :o i know everyone tends to have different opinions - at my local assoc. meeting the other day everyone was telling me to feed the bees like crazy to build them up & keep feeding til they stop taking it in autumn time. 2 guys completely disagreed & got quite...

hi all, well i've had my cast of what was about 5000 bees in a brood box in national hive for about a month now and they seem to be doing really well - just been noticing when re-filling their feed recently, there seems to be double the amount of bees in the feeder & at the hive entrance since...

My parents have a wild colony of honeybees that live under the tiles in an outside corner of their very old house. There has always been a colony there each year of the 25 years my folks have been there, plus the lady who owned the house for 20 years before them also always had a colony in...

lol guys stop hijacking my thread ;) ok just to confirm that this is what i have - a rapid feeder: http://www.cornwallhoney.co.uk/009d.htm sorry i don't know how to add the image in my post! so far no mould, but i will get myself a spare feeder so i can swap them over regularly for good...

Hi everyone, I've had my small cast a few weeks now & have been feeding them sugar syrup with a rapid feeder, as instructed by the person I inherited them from. I've been checking it every 3-4 days and most of the feed has gone by then, so I've been re-filling accordingly. I have been finding...

Thanks for the info everyone - that makes more sense now. I'm based in Kent and they are a colony from a cast of about 5,000. I'm feeding them syrup at the mo to help them get started & having to refill every 3-4 days as they are really getting through it!