Today was the day to collect the new beekeeping equipment I had pre-ordered from E.H Thorne's open day at Stockbridge in Hampshire, it's an hour and a half drive up, but it was a lovely day for it. It was nice to meet several members of the local beekeeping association there too - and the … Continue reading Spending Money made from honey
End of season work
I'm taking advantage of the decent weather and painting a load of new poly mating nucs so I think it's time that I tidy up the stands for them too - 'insect friendly' paint being used, of course. I also have some new Maisemore's 6 frame poly nucs to paint. I use Valspar "Oxford Blue' … Continue reading End of season work
Bargain!
I bagged myself a bargain on eBay yesterday, and it has just arrived. A nice 27 litre capacity electric wax melter, that can also take a 30lb bucket to soften or re-liquify honey. It is virtually identical to the well known Kochstar wax melter, and is sold at a similar price. It is usually on … Continue reading Bargain!
Autumn Jobs
By now, most beekeepers will have finished the harvesting of the honey, unless they get a second honey flow from plants such as balsam and heather. The Ivy will start to flower soon, and provide more nectar, but it is a very bitter honey and many don't take it but instead leave it for the … Continue reading Autumn Jobs
New Queen, New Palace
I moved the nucleus colony with my new breeder queen into a full-sized hive today, it was too hot to wear a bee suit or jacket, so I wore just a hat and face veil. I'm pleased to say that even though my smoker was lit, and on standby, I did not have to use … Continue reading New Queen, New Palace
Queen Marking
Finding The Queen Generally this poses a problem for beginners, as indeed for some of the more seasoned beekeepers, who are not accustomed to examining their colonies on a regular basis. Perhaps the ability to spot the queen may be described as a gift, which comes with experience in the routine handling of bees. The best … Continue reading Queen Marking
New Incubator
Royal Mail have just delivered my new incubator, I've removed the egg turning mechanism (like most beekeepers incubators, they are actually for chickens eggs) and it looks like I could get 100 queen cells/cages in there, easily. Now to plug it in and test it......
Incubator disaster!
I checked my incubator last night, like I always do before I go to bed, and was horrified to see that the temperature was only 24°C when it should be 35°C. I checked to see if the temp setting had been inadvertently changed, but it hadn't. I opened the door, and found the fan constantly … Continue reading Incubator disaster!
Castles on a rainy day
It's a rainy day here in Dorset today, so I set about taking care of a few jobs I'd been putting off. The first task was to change out the metal runners in my honey supers for 10 frame castellated spacers. This means I need one frame less per super, and the extra space between … Continue reading Castles on a rainy day
Protecting my investment
Beekeeping is not a cheap hobby, with a standard BS National hive costing in the region of £325.00 before you add bees, frames or wax foundation, and a nuc of bees currently selling for ~£200.00. So called "honey rustling" or hive theft appears to be on the increase. As the majority of my hives are … Continue reading Protecting my investment
