Search results

My bee shave always been healthy as long as I've kept on top of varroa. Last year I had 2 colonies dwindling and couldn't work out why. I got the inspector to check them and he didn't know, but confirmed that it wasn't foul brood. I combined the 2 (as they were in the same condition) then...

People often talk about putting an empty super under the floor- but is there any reason why it shouldn't be used between floor and BB? I see the biggest source of draught as being likely to be the tray slot. Obviously if you leave it too late in spring they're likely to build wild comb, but I...

Having got further with my researches into wax exchange, I'm not that impressed with the exchange rates, and I'm getting fed up with spending lots on foundation. I'm therefore thinking of trying either starter strips or super foundation in my 14 x 12 brood frames. Has anyone tried this, and if...

Hi folks I was hoping to trade in some wax for foundation this year, but I've just had a look on thorns and KBS websites and can see no mention of an exchange. Has this been stopped, or is it just my unique observational skills coming to the fore? .

No, not nicotine patches. A while ago there was a discussion about smoke alternatives, I thought it was about time for a review. If you have used liquid smoke, water with clove oil, or anything else- do you still, or have you gone back to smoke- or gone to using nothing? All experiences...

With help from the forum I managed to get back in touch with ITLD, with the result that he came all the way to Bournemouth to speak to our association. He gave us a very interesting talk, and it was great to get answers to some of the questions I've wanted to pester him with but didn't like...

Does anyone have any contact info for Murray? I need to get in touch with him regarding a talk next week; and I think he's a bit too busy to check on here. If anyone does have a mobile or email for him, could they either pm it to me, or ask him to check his pm's? Many thanks, Skyhook

I've just heard that last night, 4 hives were stolen from our association apiary near Bournemouth. They were fairly new cedar 14 x 12's made by David Pearce, and therefore have OMF floors with shallow entrances, and double-sided crownboards with an oversize space on one side. If anyone hears a...

This is regarding Hivemakers thymol treatment for varroa. The thread started with using the mixture on oasis. The majority view then moved to using it on kitchen paper, with a minority faction favouring teabags. What would be the down sides of trickling it direct onto the top bars? It could...

My wife commented today that there had been a huge amount of activity around my garden hive the other day. My first thought was 'I hope they haven't swarmed', but I was comforted by the thought that they have a young queen from AS earlier this year. I opened up this afternoon- good news they...

The thought occurred to me whilst scrabbling for boxes to do yet another AS- if you're running out of options, is killing the old queen a viable method of swarm control? If you kill HM, remove all but one QC, make sure they have enough space, and go back in to remove further QC's, will that...

Following recent threads regarding protein feeding, I thought I'd just add this 2d- worth. I've just inspected my hives. 5 out of 5 alive and with brood. some stores/fondant remaining- and not a scrap of pollen anywhere, bar a few fossilized cells in one hive. I've seen them bringing pollen...

Programme coning up on american migratory beekeeping- sounds quite informative. Happy listening. .

Just seen this on the web, and thought it looked quite good as a concise reference. Does anyone know it, and how do you rate it? .

Fed the bees this afternoon. I have one Pains poly, which has the miller type feeder with no cover over the centre section. When I took the roof off, there was a faint but unpleasant odour, a bit like when a mouse dies under the floor. I'm now worried that this could be foul brood. I...

Emulsified thymol pre mix. 30g thymol crystals placed in honey jar,add 5ml of isopropyl alcohol to the crystals,place jar into a water bath of boiling water to speed up the dissolving process. In another jar pour in 140 ml of boiling water and add 1 teaspoon of lecithin granules, stir well,and...

One of my hives has gone downhill fast, and I'm almost sure its CBPV. Difficult to assess their recent behaviour as it's mostly been hiding from the rain, but yesterday I went down and 3 out of 4 were flying as I would expect, this one had the odd bee coming and going but most wandering around...

I put thymol treatment on my 5 hives a fortnight ago before going on holiday. I inspected today while opening up to replace the oasis. 2 of the hives had heavy drops (around 800 each over 13 days), and 1 had a drop of about 150; but all 3 of these had no eggs, brood or larvae. (The other 2...