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  1. Hebeegeebee

    Little or no brood

    August can be a bad foraging month - I tend to feed colonies gently over the month to encourage laying to ensure a good sized colony going into winter. My girls generally have plenty of pollen at this time of year but bring in little nectar after the blackberry finishes. Loads of pollen and...
  2. Hebeegeebee

    Correct way to nadir brood box

    Easiest to leave them in two brood boxes. Job done. However if you want to clear some old frames and get the bees to move honey from them into a super above, then you could set up the hive as follows:- This can be done in summer or spring with any frames you want to clear. From bottom to...
  3. Hebeegeebee

    Bees leaving hive after putting varroa strips in .

    Chinese stuff won't be approved. Don't use it.
  4. Hebeegeebee

    Tiny cluster of bees

    I have gotten Swibine mini nucs through a mild winter. So you can have a go for a bit of fun. Assuming the queen isn't mated, she should mate in good weather in the next couple of weeks - it's not to late in the season. You might then be able to add some more young bees (the ones left after a...
  5. Hebeegeebee

    Queen on the landing board

    A resurrection of an old thread! Hi Eric, The odd thing with my colony was that the queen continued to lay in the hive for the rest of the season, with no queencells so why she went out for a walk is unknown to me.
  6. Hebeegeebee

    Live package bees from Western Australia

    It seems to be a NO from this lot! Seems like you've opened a hive and a sh***y colony leaps out at you from the frames! Beware of the little bu***rs who try to go into your boots and into your cuffs!
  7. Hebeegeebee

    Melting Honey

    HMF develops as a product of time and temperature. You can get honey quite warm 50C - but not for too long. A large bucket takes a long time for the honey in the middle to become runny again - so it's not necessarily an exact science.
  8. Hebeegeebee

    Collapsed super comb with wired foundation: bottom wire lugs nailed?

    Tangential or radial extractor?
  9. Hebeegeebee

    Sac brood

    I would be inclined to get a queen in for a few days time and check thoroughly that there are no queencells remaining before putting her in. I have had a little sac brood on occasions but I'm not too bothered about it. It can be disconcerting to find it as a new beekeeper and you were right to...
  10. Hebeegeebee

    Moving a hive to another apiary

    I was going to suggest that if there are hives at the old site, any bees that return can find their way into those. Problem solved. Factors will include the location of any forage compared to their old and new location. And I am pleased that you did not shut them in for a day - not a good idea.
  11. Hebeegeebee

    Apivar strips

    What does 'a split' mean? Are you talking of a honey producing part or not? Note that a broodless period - which you will probably have with a new queen - tends to reduce mite infestation. And when broodless you can always use oxalic acid. Do you have a varroa problem that you are aware of?
  12. Hebeegeebee

    Made a mistake today, what should I do?

    Bees sometimes throw up queencells after the books say they should. An option (and there's no right and wrong answer in this case) would be to 1) use minimal smoke and have a careful look for a virgin running around. 2) Toss a coin and decide whether to remove the queencells or not 3) If you...
  13. Hebeegeebee

    Queen Replacement

    I would be inclined to remove the queencells - virgins can be difficult to find. If, in the process of removing them, you find a viable virgin, then you might like to cage her until the mated queens arrive. Depending on the amount of brood in the nucs which you have not said, you would not want...
  14. Hebeegeebee

    Feisty F2 Buckfast Bees

    Bees can be feisty after the OSR has finished, even if they were all fine before-hand - not all colonies exhibit this trait though. It's part of the selection process for me.
  15. Hebeegeebee

    Swarm keeps trying to swarm

    How long with the frame of brood be in-between hives? I have used a house-brick in a nuc - put the brick in boiling water for a few minutes so it heats up. You then have a (damp) heat-store within the nuc where the frame of brood will be.
  16. Hebeegeebee

    Drawing comb in queenless colonies

    If they need to draw comb in which to store honey, they will. However without a queen in the hive, honey will be stored in the brood frames so once the queen has emerged and is maturing, bees will make space for her to lay in the brood box so the honey will have to go somewhere. Upstairs in the...
  17. Hebeegeebee

    Apidea, wax starter strip or full length?

    I have used starter strips without problems. However once you get some drawn comb and want to expand or replace old comb, you'll have drawn comb as guides where starter strips can be placed in between the drawn stuff. Sometimes bees don't do as they are told. You need to give them a stiff...
  18. Hebeegeebee

    Feisty F2 Buckfast Bees

    Whether it's Buckfast, Carnis or Ligustica, you can still get nasty crosses as their genes mix with the locals a couple of generations down. Buckfast seem to have the worst reputation in this regard. (Is it justified?). That's why I rear from my best each year and they are decent bees as they...
  19. Hebeegeebee

    Whats falling down the gap between the NBU and the BBKA?

    It's very easy to bash the BBKA (Or they make it very easy to be bashed). It's a long time since I looked at the BBKA website which hasn't changed for a few years and is more PR and 'Give us some Money' rather than something for beekeepers who actually pay for it. (A bit like when you go onto a...
  20. Hebeegeebee

    Concrete beehive

    Zest hive?
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