Accidental beekeeper in Sussex

[jenkinsbrynmair]

only lift if a few millimetres off the floor, any further and your mind will play tricks with you.
Mine does anyway
And I won't mention the voices in my head

 

[pargyle]

Thank you for your explanation regarding number of fingers - makes sense
Luggage scales are on order as I like to be accurate.

A record of weight is a useful tool for overwintering. I have a couple of screw eyes on either side of my stands, hook the luggage scale over the eye, weigh both sides and add them together. After a year or two of hefting though you get to know what you should expect and just use the luggage scales for weighing your honey crop and then after a few more years you get to know what to expect by the number of buckets of honey you fill and the scales become redundant !

 

[Sutty]

With a rotting brood box and maybe super, I'd have a low threshold to leave the queen excluder in if it's very stuck in place.
Can you tell what sort it is? Eg see a wood plastic or metal layer between brood box and super?
Have a roll of duct tape and maybe some plasticine handy to patch up holes if needed.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

before you get a total meltdown about the QX.
I'll just like to mention that a fellow beekeeper who like in Southern Hampshire has never removed her queen excluders in winter and has never had any issues, so don't go trassing the whole colony if you're not entirely comfortable about messing around with the bees midwinter