Recent content by jeff33

Yes, agreed with others. A strong colony will normaly produce more drones, nothing unusual with this.

brood. I will ask admin if I can put a message out this autumn to see if any beeks from South-Wales want to join for a big order (pallet worth).

It might be but I live near Swansea and would cost me more in diesel there and back than the cost of shipping!!

Not a pallet load that's for sure! With the local club I am likely to get people ordering 11 at most 😂

Just had a quote from Helen. Assembled frames come in at £3.04 incl P&P and VAT each. That's £1.30 cheaper than Gwenyn (looking at price for 11 frames) and £1.60 compared to standard assembled hofmann.

Just put a message out for a bulk order via the local beekeepers' club.. . unlikely to get much interest from the mostly 2 hives owners!

It's the pallet price which stings you. I was all excited when Helen quoted me for 500 frames and some wax dipped brood boxes but by the time you added VAT and £95 p&p there wasn't much in it. I would have had to dble my order to make it worthwhile. I will have to say that I am now sick of...

Double brood and 2 supers for 5-7 Frames of brood? That's a bit excessive and I wouldn't call this very busy. I run my hives on single brood and will demaree when I have at least 9 frames of brood and have done a bit of frame swap to give my queens room to lay. By then my BB and at least a...

Yes. I think there is a consensus that Amm may prefer vicinity mating while carnies and buckies will travel longer distances. Let's be honest though, with 1 hive of each type any virgin from these hives is unlikely to mate with the other drones. Even when you flood an area with selected drones...

I use the back of my Citroen Picasso, bit of a tight space but works well. Frame resting on the table and the cell bars on my knees. I don't do 1000s of graft mind you, just 30 at the time twice in the season.

Agreed, they will have used what you give them. Emergency impulse is sometimes desperation and they use both older larvae and younger larvae. Its not a must do but I like to do it to try and get a better fed queen.

No they won't unless the colony was already in swarm mode and had made swarm cells. There is no mention in the OP that these were about to swarm. @Bluetractorman if you don't remove your old caged queen from the box they will not make any Qcs as they are not Q-. When you add a frame of brood...

The OP is not asking about cross breeding, simply if they get get along living next to each other.....I am ok with my neighbours so long as they don't enter my property🤣

Already done 3 demaree on hives with 10 frames of brood. Got another one which has filled 19 frames with bias. Looks as if I will need to demaree the dble brood in a week or so! I have also finished all the uniting, will check if it worked this weekend.

Sounds good but far too much faff for me. With a F/T job, 30 hives, hobbies, and a missus time is at a premium!