Recent content by Tdf

Could you put the four supers under hthe brood box/qx and then unite. Switch it around a few days later to brood on bottom supers on top

Maintaining low varroa levels is probably the wording you should have used so as not to upset all the people who don't treat

Whereabouts in Ireland are you? Don't know of any proper commercial beeks

Started off helping the grandfather, he had about 150 hives at the time and looking back it was the way to go, there was none of this messing around just a no nonsense approach

@gregior what area are you in? Maybe someone on here is close by

There doesn't seem to be anything you could do. Have seen the odd hive swarm here leaving only eggs

how many hives do you keep at an apiary on average? Think this will hinder further expansion for you unless your getting 15-20 hives at a spot

you should be able to tell this by counting the amount of supers on your hives

They won't overheat, they will be fine for winter even if shaded

I'd check if I was you had a good few hives building cells here after the wet weather

@op when you say full of varroa what do you actually mean. Do they just have mites or is it a very high drop rate

a lot of lads are thinking of using it instead of osr because of poor prices.

don't forget when a queen leaves with no eggs, larvae or q cells as well

if you've a more than one hive there you might as well shake them all out or combine with another hive

They could be on the brambles close to the hives, but 10m is a very small area so they would definitely have to go further afield anyway. Its also possible brambles aren't yielding yet even though flowers out and also possible not enough out to get bees attention