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Surely you have heard about washing your kit in Washing soda? This was stressed as very important at our local association. I can smell washing powders and fabric conditioners a mile off so what it must be doing to the bees is obvious. You walk into some folks houses and it is all you can...

Yes, I noticed that straight away! There was a Beecraft post on Facebook around Christmas time with the same thing :)

... not in my experience. Wobbly soft foundation can be a nightmare to get into the slots etc.

And if the sheets have gone hard, dry and/or brittle, refresh them with a light going over with the hairdryer after you've put them into the frames...

Quickie answer: dunno, have you checked the mite drop?

I often have bees rushing at my hands as I go to pick up frames from above. Quite alarming and not very nice. I try to combat this by 1. going through the majority of the frame lugs and loosening them with the hive tool. 2. bringing my hand up the sides of the BB from below and sneak over...

I really like that idea, Enrico. I'll try that.

Here in Zummerzet we are going through the same as Tom B, i.e. from dangerously empty supers to full supers in 10 day, dripping with nectar from the nearby limes (I assume).

Is that Nagaland in upper Burma?

Using Commercials, the frames have much shorter lugs than nationals and these always seem to be covered in bees. So I was constantly smoking the frame ends to remove the bees, before picking them up. This year for the first time, I've learnt to simply plunge my nitriled fingers into the mass of...

I suited up before strimming yesterday and boy am I glad I did. Out they came and surrounded me in a cloud, like a scene from a cartoon. Got one sting on each hand, through nitrile, before retreating! Mowing is no problem...

I agree, remove the excluder, for at least a week. After that, make sure you check the queen is downstairs before putting the QE back. Also, if brood in the super bothers you, have a quick look in the super frames for eggs/larvae which might have been laid in the last week. If you find them...

S'pose that's true, ha ha :)

Just went through a hive which was a swarm I collected 9 days ago. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, I thought I saw 2 virgin queens on adjacent frames. There were signs of the first few eggs being laid. Tosh or not?

Spoke too soon.... two of the nucs have DLQ's. I only noticed when the larvae were capped, with the telltail bulging tops etc. Shakeout time. Darn it....

After over a month, the hive with the slow to start virgin has eggs, and larvae. In fact, I have 6 out of 6 new queens just starting to lay up. However, there is definitely a difference between scrub queens and the larger ones from swarm cells, or is this due to how much they are being fed and...

Thanks MS I'll give it a go

She doesn't look like a fat "ready for action" kinda girl and she's been in the nuc for nearly a month now with no sign of lift off. How much longer do I wait? I've been feeding for a week now in an effort to get things going...

Positives: This extractor is built to last, with high grade, sturdy materials. It's heavy duty. They throw in an extra couple of baskets for extracting brood frames. The drill is variable speed and has a reverse option. It gets quite hot but seems to be coping, so far. Negatives: and I don't...

I have 2 apiaries. The honey from one has a slight smell of boiled cabbage. Is it OSR honey? If not, what?