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    Back to the bees

    For the first time in 18 months or so I am back at the bees, this time with no limitations thanks to a total knee replacement in January and what a joy it is to be 'normal' again, whatever that is! What is not normal, at least for me is the sheer volume of honey they are producing this year...
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    Nuc weights for winter

    Has anybody got a target weight for 6 frame poly nucs going into winter? I am hefting at the moment but my nucs are increasing in number each year and there has to be a more scientific way of approaching this.
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    Transporting queen cells

    I have got a half dozen qc's to transport to an apiary 30 mins from home, how do you do this without causing damage to them? Hopefully temperature shouldn't be too much of a problem at this time of year.
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    Vandalism.

    Just found out about this from a local group - poor Doug. At least the fundraiser is going well but this will leave a bad taste.https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-to-recover-from-vandalism-of-beehives
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    Bee rescue

    Just thought I would run this past everyone. Long story cut short, there are some hives on family land that are no longer attended, probably for 3 years now and the keeper is not coming back. 3 are dead, one however is quite busy but the hive itself is in a shocking state and if I try to move it...
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    Bee suit washing

    At the moment I wash my own bee suit at home in our family washing machine. My wife does not handle any of my bee clothing nor does it get put in with any other clothes. Question - is this enough separation between my bee clothes and by definition traces of venom and my wife. I remember reading...
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    Honey fermentation?

    I have got a few 30 pound buckets of rape honey all taken off in one batch in May this year. I was moving the buckets to make room for yet more honey and noticed that one of the buckets plastic lids was popped upwards. Obviously gas coming from the honey which is set. None of the others from the...
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    Queen rearing

    I have got several very nice hives this year and I would like to raise maybe 6 to 10 new Queens from these good hives. I should say right now that I am only doing this for a bit of fun and to get to learn a little more about keeping bees. This is not about improving the world for mankind! I am...
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    Queen rearing

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    Q/e-less

    Just an observation really. This is the first year that I have gone excluder-less in a couple of hives and judging by the way they are performing they will all be without the q/e next year. In the supers I use one frame drawn, one frame foundation as per usual practice but I have noticed today...
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    Personal Hygiene

    I have read the NBU blurb and gleaned information from the many books I have read, thing is what is a sensible level of hygiene for a hobby bee keeper such as myself? I don't want to be a slob, on the other hand I don't want OCD either! At the moment I clean my hive tool, gloves etc after each...
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    Feeding large numbers of hives

    The title says it all really. Just how do the commercial beekeepers feed the large quantity of hives they have at one go? I'm not talking about our American cousins, rather commercial beeks in this country. The volume of kit required must be frightening or is there another way?
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    Mouldy old combs

    I have some supers which were taken off my hives earlier in the year that are going mouldy - they were originally the 'halves' of brood and a halves. (Horrible system!) They are I think about 2 years old and too good to chuck out as drawn comb is always in short supply. Any idea how I can stop...
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    Supercedure troubles?

    I went through the hives last night - all seemed well until I got to my single hive of Buckfast bees. On splitting the two boxes ( it was on a brood and a half, very full and I am getting all my b and a halves on to double broods by moving the Qe down and putting a box under ) I must have...
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    Foundation - to feed or not?

    One of my four new splits is growing so fast that it is running out of space, so time for an additional brood box. Trouble is with expanding the number of hives here is that I have run out of drawn frames. Would it be beneficial too feed now, or just leave alone and let them get on with it as...
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    Soggy bees

    Anybody else's bees out in the rain? Went out this morning for a quick look around the site and it was pouring down with 8mm already in the guage. Small bumble bees were foraging on catmint - nothing unusual about that but when I went and walked past the hives my 2 strongest were both flying in...
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    Which type of bee?

    I have been keeping bees for 4 years now and it has been great fun. Like a lot of people I started out with a swarm given by a fellow beek, and most of the bees I have today are descended from that swarm. Trouble is they are a touch swarmy and as my time for beekeeping is more limited these days...
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