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Thank you everyone, definitely a lot to think about. I may have to just take it on the chin and when the time comes, sell my hives and hope the money covers the cost of new/second hand equipment and Irish bees. The journey was something I was thinking might be hard going for the bees, not so...

Hi, we are planning to up sticks and move from East Midlands to Southern Ireland in the next year or so (as soon as it takes to sell). I have ten healthy hives which have taken me a few years to build up and which provide me with some much needed extra cash in honey sales as I am a full-time...

This is exactly what mine are doing in one of my hives. They're happily filling up on of the emptyish fondant bags with rows of brace comb. This is my most active hive and they've been bringing in pollen for about a month now whenever the sun shines. They seem to have plenty of stores and...

Before keeping bees, I used to buy blocks of beeswax for waxing my sewing threads when doing leathercraft. I still keep a block with my sewing kit as it helps my grip the needle better especially when sewing thick fabric. Also just having it around to sniff every so often as it's so lovely! Haha

How frustrating! Wrong time of year? What about all the hot porridge with honey on top for cold mornings and hot toast and as you say, the cold remedies? I hope you find an outlet soon.

How does it work when you sell your honey through a local shop, do they buy a batch off you and pay up front? Or do you provide X amount of jars and only get paid as they sell them? Just curious in case I have surplus next year.

Haha, this thread could have been written by me! This is exactly what I've been pondering and like you, I've been trawling the internet and bee books, trying to find the way that will most likely keep my bees alive and healthy this winter! In the end, I have all thetaken the supers off and...

Ah, this explains why the cheap tea light wicks from eBay didn’t work, the flame just got smaller and smaller and eventually drowned in the wax. The dipped candle I made using Thorne’s wick was much better and burned perfectly and as you say, the wick was much thicker. Thank you 😊

Hahaha, yes it is a good job!! I think your comments regarding the inevitability of bee casualties is probably very good advice. It's the same with all livestock farming I guess. I haven't been able to check them today as it's been milling it down, it will be interesting to see what they've...

This sounds like a great idea, I’ll give it a go. Thanks.

That’s really interesting to hear, thank you. I think I might try the round rapid feeders instead and in the meantime removing the cup and using straw sounds a good idea. Thank you.

Thanks everyone. Hopefully it’s just a blip. I lost my bees last winter so I’m extra anxious this year. Thanks for all your suggestions.

Thanks Enrico. Yeah it’s just a bit sad. I’ll see what everything is like tomorrow and hope they’ve taken down the syrup like they were doing, rather than drowning in it.

It doesn't really click, just rests in the groove and doesn't move at all once it's in the groove, unless you lift it off. The bees have access to syrup on their side of the cup and it's in this small area that they are drowning. I can only presume that they are shoving each other a bit but...

That's a useful idea, thank you. :)

Just for the record, the see-through plastic cup just fits into the circular groove doesn't it? I can lift it straight off again, but can't slide it from side to side, is that fitted correctly? When I fill the feeder, the level of syrup on the outside of the cup (the part that the bees cannot...

Trouble is, the bees weren't in the cup when I poured syrup in, they've gone down to feed and fallen in, but I don't know why.

Thank you. I'm currently feeding about every three or four days and the feeders have been almost empty each time, they're taking it down really fast. It makes sense that there would be a rush if syrup had got low. Thanks for that advice. Also, should I be feeding the syrup warm or cold?

This is the same kind of feeder that I'm using. Courty, what you describe is exactly what I'm getting. I'm trying to pour really slowly, but they don't move up in time. With the other hives that have plenty of syrup left but drowned bees, I don't know whether to change the syrup (it doesn't...

The dome caps are in the little groove that they fit into, is that right?