Produce > Kept Animals
Bees and Beekeeping
Geoff H:
My honey bees.....I have 4 strong colonies all in commercials with one queenless colony dying out - I have explained why I did not combine them in another thread.
Two strong colonies are Carniolans - lovely bees and two are black mongrels - a bit more feisty so stuck at the back of a farm. The Carniolans are in my garden and i can take photos 12 inches away without protection.
I have invested in a polystyrene hive from Denmark - Langstroth with Dadant brood frame which I want to try next year. I want to try Italians and perhaps Buckfast on my allotment.
paulinems:
huby has 1 hive at the moment but didnt get any honey this year he hopes to have more hives for next year is starting to make himeself more hive ready for new bees for next year
tonybloke:
are everyone else's bees still flying ?
Robert_Brenchley:
Mine are flying a bit on the brighter days, but that's all. Thorne's do a 14x12 converter (at an exorbitant price) so it's really easy. If you're any good at woodwork you could get one and copy it. I'm never comfortable keeping colonies in single Nationals, as even a small broodnest will fill one leaving very little space for stores. I've tried double box systems and it's too much palaver, so I have everything on the larger frames.
Melbourne12:
We are just ending our first season as beekeepers. We have two hives, both currently on ordinary nationals, but intending to convert to 14x12 next year since both became overcrowded in the summer. One colony are Carniolans, the other a dark coloured mongrel swarm.
OMFs on both, and crown boards left on for the winter. Both are being fed fondant at the moment, but to be honest they probably didn't need it since the mild weather has meant that they were still foraging as of last weekend.
We recently gave them a Hiveclean treatment since there were still a few varroa on the floor in spite of Apiguard in September. But right now the mites are our only obvious worry as we head into winter. Both look like strong colonies, so fingers crossed. We'll be putting anti-woodpecker wire around the hives as soon as the frosts arrive.
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