Category Archives: Bee-keeping

Apiary land(e)scaping

Posted on April 19, 2024 by james

I stopped by an apiary this evening to find out what state it was in and how much work was required. The brambles were starting to encroach a bit at the end of last Summer and I’d decided to take … Continue reading →

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Splitting a hive with a queen cell

Posted on April 19, 2024 by james

I decided this morning that despite the breezy weather I’d crack on and split the hive I found a queen cell in yesterday. I gathered all the parts for a new hive together and placed then next to the existing … Continue reading →

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Dealing with a swarming colony when you can’t find the queen

Posted on April 18, 2024 by james

As I wrote in my previous post, it appears that one of my colonies may be about to swarm. It’s so stuffed with bees that there’s no chance of finding the queen easily, so I really need to deal with … Continue reading →

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Time to move home

Posted on April 18, 2024 by james

Well, not “move” so much perhaps, as to get a new one. It was a very pleasant morning this morning when the wind wasn’t blowing, so I decided to swap three colonies of bees from the boxes they were in … Continue reading →

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More beehive repairs

Posted on April 17, 2024 by james

I’m not entirely sure where the time went today, but a fair bit of it was spent working on more beehive parts. I filled a few dents in some poly brood boxes and repainted them (and in a poly roof), … Continue reading →

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A bit of sorting out in the apiary

Posted on April 15, 2024 by james

Despite the high winds and horizontal rain showers I decided that today would be a good day to sort through kit in the apiary and work out if there was anything more I needed as I got around my apiaries … Continue reading →

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Not sure I can repair these two…

Posted on April 11, 2024 by james

My last two wooden brood boxes that I’d put aside to repair — for the last few years they’ve been home to a colony that swarmed into them when they were stacked up full of frames that I was intending … Continue reading →

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Beehive repair thoughts

Posted on April 10, 2024 by james

I have some old boxes that were either made the wrong size (depth) or have shrunk over the many years they’ve been out in the open. Some of them I’ve extended back to the intended size with pieces of timber … Continue reading →

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A bit of progress with hive repairs

Posted on April 9, 2024 by james

“Other stuff” seems to have taken up much time today, but I did at least get a little bit of progress made on repairing hives. First I put some danish oil on the rims I added to floors a few … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 15th November 2022: A new beekeeping tool

Posted on April 8, 2024 by james

Given all the under-floor entrances I have made, there is now a possible need for a tool to clear the entrance slot of rubbish in case it gets blocked up, so today I had a swift visit to the workshop … Continue reading →

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