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Hi All, I have inherited a fairly old motorised extractor which I was told might need some electrical repair. On further investigation it looks like (and smells like) the motor is burned out and needs replaced. It's a 12 frame radial extractor. Looks like it had a variable speed controller...

Ahem... Back on topic, I use a small electric Rapesco nailer and find it excellent and quick for putting frames together. Don't think I'd try it for hives, but not ventured that far yet.

Oh yeah, have seen here, she's marked and easy to spot. Seemed to be moving around ok, couldn't see anything obviously wrong with her. Just no eggs or larvae. Colin

I transferred 3 frames of brood with her, shook in some more bees, and put a super on top with some stores in it. It's on the same site though, which I realise isn't ideal, and I was expecting it to dwindle a bit with the flying bees going back home... However I inspected it after a week, and...

Hi All, Did a split of my biggest colony on the 14th June, Queen was laying well, and was close to a full BB of bees at the time of the split, all seemed quite strong. Queenless side continued on fine, made a few queen cells, I left one in and took one for another colony, just waiting to see...

In at the bees today, and I'm a bit worried that they're running low on stores. 1 of the colonies especially had started to fill a new super but it seems very light now. Another colony is still on a brood and a half, but again I didn't see much evidence of stores. The weather for the last 2-3...

Hi All, Had to get in to the bees today as it's been 2 weeks since last inspection due to nasty weather up here. Wasn't the best of days, 13-14 degrees maybe, and a bit breezy, but the best it's been (i.e. not raining and 30mph+ winds...) and forecast is worse again. So, bees not happy with...

The notes by Magnus are excellent, and I did the beginners course that used those notes with the Dunblane and Stirling beekeepers last winter. It's a great association, not just with Magnus but with some other very knowledgeable and experienced beekeepers. If you're anywhere nearby I'd...

Was about to ask about those that work without foundation - was reading about that this afternoon.

Curious - it was suggested to me that I should replace a BB frame with a drawn super in one of my colonies as a way of getting the Varroa count down. I realise that the Varroa mite prefers a drone cell, but the question is why do the bees choose to build drone comb off the bottom of the super...

Hi All, Now that swarming season is upon us (up here at least) I'm attempting to inspect on a weekly basis. I was last in at the bees on Saturday, which was 9 days after my last look (not ideal I know) but it's the weather that holds me back. Even then, Saturday wasn't the best of days, bit...

I'm not convinced that the supers have that much honey in them anyway. I had a look and some of it looks more like it's still got sugar syrup stored in it. Would this be possible at this point in the season? I did feed them a fair bit in the autumn. Some drawn super comb would certainly come...

Still a newbee, but as far as I know it's Oxcalic acid crystals that are placed on a hotplate. They then vapourise, and the vapour re-crystallises on the bees, allegedly killing 95% of the mites (outside sealed brood)

Just been in at the bees today. My strongest colony seems to be doing well. I added a super full of drawn comb to the top last Friday but so far the bees haven't touched it. When I got this colony it was a BB plus two supers, with no QE, so there was brood all over the place come spring. It...

Hi All, One of my colonies was set up with a BB and a super, with no QE over the winter. On first inspection, everything looked ok, found the queen in the super, marked her, and moved her down into the BB, and fitted the QE. It was also treated with Oxcalic acid by sublimation shortly after...

Thanks all, starting to make sense now. Fred - they are Thxxnes but no yellow card or instructions - not sure if they should have had or not. I'm sure I can knock something up. Already treated with Oxcalic acid by sublimation and have a short frame in the brood box of the worst affected...

Any suggestions for the best way to replace the queen excluder? Maybe I'm still a bit slow, but I'm finding after I've used some smoke, the bees are still coming back up when I'm trying to put the excluder back on. Colin

Hi All, New beekeeper, and new to this forum. Brief background - I have inherited 3 colonies from my elderly and ailing father-in-law, who is a great beekeeper but hasn't wanted to admit he's needed help with them for some time, so I'm on a bit of a recovery mission. The colonies...