Lots of bearding on one hive again this morning despite it not being hot weather. Enough space in the hives and no queen cells (2 days ago), open mesh floors. Wonder if they need an extra brood box, despite being 14x12.
I'd lost patience before that unfortunately, in disgust at the mad prices being paid e.g. over a £100 for a polynuc and £80 for 3 old wood supers. Great day for sellers.
The poly hives I painted with one coat of thinned masonry paint 5 years ago have no sign of peeling and the surface is well bonded. If the paint is too thick I could imagine water would get under it and the weather lift it or it would crack when knocked, but it only needs to be a thin covering...
Moved a hive half a mile to a new site last night when all the bees were in. Stuffed the entrance with a bit of greenery and placed a few branches in front. Put another box with some drawn comb on the old site but very few bees came back to it today and none inside tonight and all settled down...
14x12 National colony for sale 6 frames with brood at all stages.
Productive, gentle Buckfast-cross bees.
Overwintered 2023 marked clipped Queen.
Treated for Varroa in winter.
Collection Bosham W. Sussex.
Can deliver at reasonable distance at cost.
Frames transferred into your own hive or buyer...
I use a low power terrarium heating mat (cheap from Ebay) sitting on a piece of kingspan, with the bucket placed in a cylinder of 2 layers of aluminium-faced bubble-wrap insulation with a lid of the same. Collapses into a small space afterwards. Takes a day or two to warm through.
Inevitable. Who regrets the end of analogue TV?
Most younger people don't even have landlines as mobile phones have proved to be reliable for most people. The cost of maintaining the analogue network for the few is not affordable when few want to pay for it