Search results

A friend of mine has just been given some wormit hives. The only reference I can find states that these hives are "almost completely compatible with national frames" which is good news. Does anyone have experience of this type of hive and a there any issues with using national frames?

I made a mistake last year with an artificial swarm that I attempted. I found the queen and transferred her on the frame she was on into a new brood body on the site of the original colony. I clearly missed a queen cell as she swarmed the next day and left a queen cell at the top of the frame...

Is there a course to prepare for this exam in the Peterborough Area? Thanks

I got this from a local BKA today and it is about 800m from my hives. As I dont have an out apiary prepared and instantly ready to move onto I dont see that there is a lot I can do. Wait and watch for dead bees and then take a sample of them to send off seems to be my only option. Hopefully...

Did my usual thing of sitting watching the bees last night and watched this large bumble bee alight on the landing board. It then walked calmly into the hive. Wandered about on the floor for about 30- 40 seconds and then calmly left. I would have thought it would have been attacked or chased...

I have a big colony that is rapidly running out of space. Currently they are on brood and a half with two supers and I suspect that I will need to move to double brood soon. My question is really about the end of the summer when preparing them for winter. Do you overwinter on double brood...

I bought a new box of latex gloves yesterday from Lakeland. I noticed when I got them home that they contain some element of Aloe Vera. Have I just wasted my money and will the bees go mad at this smell? Note to self read the label more closely next time!!! Thanks Alan

I sat and watched a cast leaving my hive yesterday. My fault as I should have reduced the queen cells to one and not two. As I watched the cast leaving it occured to me what does a queen leaving on a mating flight look like. Does she leave with a few attendants or does she take thousands with...

I have had a report of a cast in a tree about 150 metres away. I will have a look tonight and if they are still there see if I can get them. My question is really what do I do with them. Put them in a nuc or combine with a hive that is building up?

Just completed my second inspection of the year and one hive is going well with brood over 6 frames and plenty of bees eggs, capped brood some drone brood and honey. I have not seen any drones yet. 9 frames are drawn so I put super on to give them more space. They are on a standard national...

My son got a lovely photo of one of our bees last weekend when we were moving a hive. This was sitting on his arm as he took the photo.

I am about to set up two new hives and wondered if there is a body of opinion on which works best. Warm way is frames parallel to the hive entrance and cold way is perpendicular to the entrance. Let the voting commence.

Just finished reading Lansgtroths book and he mentions spraying the bees with sugar water before manipulations. His view was that it is much better than smoke. Do people still do this and is it better than smoke? I have not seen it mentioned in the modern books I have read.

I am moving hives in advance of setting up a new Apiary on a patch of land between my garden and my neighbour. Both hives need to move about 6 feet. I know about the less than three feet or more than three miles bit. The bees were out flying on Saturday afternoon and I moved one hive about 2...

Does anyone have a plan or sketch of a stand for a National Hive which incorporated a landing board? I am keen to make my own but dont really want to invent it!

I have discovered woodworm in the rafters of my garage which I am proposing to treat with an insecticide. My workshop is set up in the garage and it is where I assemble all of my beekeeping hives and frames. I will obviously have to move all of my beekeeping equipment out of the garage for a...

One of my hives is getting very light so I went up today to put 2kg of Fondant on. As soon as I removed the roof I noticed through the holes in the crown board that they were all lined up on the top of the frames fanning. Too hot? It was 11 degrees here in Yorkshire today. They are in a...

I am doing a presentation to my sons school about beekeeping and thought that it might be fun to have some fake smoke in the smoker to simulate smoking the hive. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to do this?bee-smilliebee-smilliebee-smilliebee-smillie

I have been looking at the Ickowicz website for all things French beekeeping and noticed that they have some wax moulds in various sizes in copper for making blocks. Does anyone know where I can get these in the UK. I don't see them on the usual suppliers websites. Thanks

I saw these in the catalogue and thought they look like a great idea. Then I read Ted Hooper and he says not to get one as heating the honey bit will increase the HMF content. Now I am confused. Are they a good idea or not and do they really spoil the honey that is extracted from the cappings?