Recent content by canterbury_keeper

Hi Anyone selling overwintered nucs near Ashford for spring 2017? Thanks M

Bit of advice... My (one remaining) hive is doing well I think. Queen's laying. Three good frames of brood. However, there 3 frames of crystalised ivy honey from the end of last year (see picture). Plus a super of more of it I left on over winter. Should I do anything with this, or leave it...

I am thinking of performing a shook swarm on my remaining hive, primarily to start them fresh and mite free, but also because I've heard some opinions say that it gives them a boost at the begining of the year (although I'd be interested in hearing this opinion). I've left them alone the last...

Thanks for that Jim - I'll leave them for a week before I check on them again.

Hi - I did a mini inspection today in advance of a visit next weekend (I'm living an hour's drive from my bees at the moment- so have to try and make the most of my visits). I lost one colony over winter - (which is why I was up at the apiary - to retreve and clean the hive). The second hive...

This colony was always problematic. It lost its queen in late june and I had to put eggs from my good hive in to give them something to work with. They successfully raised a new queen and layed down some stores. All of the brood comb was drawn, but I never added a super. I still think it's...

The stuff I've bought seems fine - very inexpensive, so maybe won't last as long as some of the more premium stuff though. That's all irrelevant now as I wouldn't buy from the Mann Lake distributer in Kent as the guy is an arrogant arse who treats his his customers like crap.

i doubt it was mice. I fitted a guard fairly early.

Yeah i assumed the queen was gone.

there was no sign of bedding.

they had neopol fondant. Do you think it's eggs? I didn't know laying workers could lay so many!

Had a mouse guard on. So I hope not.

Hmmm - so not disease. That's good I suppose. Here's another picture - there was a lot of wax debris on the mesh floor.

Went to check on the hives today (not a full inspection, just checking food supplies). One hive was super active, brining in loads of pollen - so I left well alone. The secon hive was active but bringing in no pollen. I took a look inside and decided to do a quick inspection. As expected, no...

I'll definitely be killing my wasps away from the hive in future. What's a low efficiency trap?