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I have kept local Yorkshire bees in 2 apiaries and I have queens reared from an imported Buckfast breeder queen (Not cheap) in another 2 apiaries. I get double the yield from the buckfasts and they over-winter exactly the same. I find the buckfasts to be a joy to work with and the Yorkshires...

All very good advice Oliver..... We need to look at why this is a constant theme on this forum. Folks are leaving classes, cleared solo with their bees and yet they are not able to tackle the first basic manipulation, the AS. It cannot be their fault, it has to be the training they are...

Hi Tom, do you use roller cages at all? In our experience the queens in cells are ok to move from your wednesday deadline but obviously with as little jostling as possible. They are remarkably resilient. A tray of 20 cells fell off the tailgate of our truck once at 13 days and they all...

I do put a frame of unsealed brood in the top box and move sealed brood there as it becomes available from the bottom box, it gets the top box booming and depletes the bottom boxes. If they start doing queen cells below then it is a high risk strategy sticking with that colony. You can move...

Hi Eyeman, I use the queen right method. I use a double brood colony and get it booming. Then put 2 supers of drawn comb over the top of a queen excluder. I then check it 2-3 days later for queen cells and take out a few frames of pollen, stores and 2 frames of sealed brood and replace with...

When I add a box of foundation to make a double brood and there is no clear flow on from OSR or bad weather forecast I feed a light syrup to help em draw the top box. The issue is not contaminating honey, they will make wax on the syrup if they generate the heat, they need food to do that. You...

I agree with Ely, we sell honey from clean supers but every week we rotate a new foundation frame into every brood box and remove a brood frame of honey as a method of reducing disease load. We spin out the brood nest honey and it is lovely. We call it scrag ends and it tastes better! My kids...

Hi Leo Depends what you are trying to achieve. If you are looking to go onto double brood to get a beefier colony then you might have waited until the box is bursting with bees. There are no drones about yet so the swarm risk is very low. Then put a feeder with a very light syrup on to get a...

Not a problem, some folks have used creosote on their hives for years.

Just thought I would share a discovery with you, I know some might not agree with me posting this but it is a great time saver. I just bought the large stainless steel steam wax melter from T#$%^es. I put in manky grubby old frames and set it to work and I was just not prepared for how clean...

Welcome, great to see folks willing to commit to the craft. It is easier to keep 20 than 4 in my opinion. For a start you don't have so much interest in any one hive and it is then easier to make the hard decisions, like culling a rubbish queen. The bees can only win from more larger scale...

How true!

How true!

Take the Buckfast route! I have switched this year and the pleasantness of my bees is stark when compared to the local rubbish I was struggling with. As long as you are responsible and nip any tendency for defensiveness. Any open mating can result in testy behaviour, regardless of strain, the...

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Brilliant....lol

More than happy with my method. It will work just fine.

Yes military, I understand the chances are that my drones will not be the sole suiters for the young ladies, but here the only option is to drench the locality in my own drones for the probabilities to improve, it is a numbers game. The guys near this apiary are interested, especially as I...

Jenks, There is no real alternative if you want nice bees here. A pocket of nasty bees local to me. If there was a joined up strategy for selective breeding local to me then of course I would join it but we don't sadly. Perhaps this is the start.