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İzmir, second year, two hives. In late August my big colony was filling three boxes — bees covering every frame, a beard on the front every evening. Yesterday they fit in…
Vermont, second year, two hives on double deeps. Went through hive one on Sunday: all the bees, the brood and most of the honey are in the top deep. The bottom deep has d…
Ontario, second year, three hives. We've had a freak warm week — 26°C today, humid — and tonight two of my hives have a beard on the front like it's July. A few hundred b…
Galway, second year, three hives. The ivy has opened along every hedge round here and the bees are absolutely flying on it — bright orange-yellow pollen loads coming into…
Ontario, second year, three hives on 2:1 for the last two weeks. I'm using the 4-litre hive-top trough feeders that sit under the outer cover, and every single refill the…
Third year in Uppsala, three hives, and everything is glued. Crown boards need a hive tool at every corner, the frame lugs are welded to the runners, one colony has narro…
Second year in Vermont, three hives, all in double deeps, and the goldenrod and aster are still coming in. Yesterday's inspection of hive 1 scared me a bit. The top deep …
First year in Yorkshire, one National colony from a June nuc. I started 2:1 (2 kg sugar to 1 litre water, warmed not boiled) in a rapid feeder on the 1st of September and…
Question for the nutrition-minded people. Twelve hives in Quebec, goldenrod and aster pollen coming in by the basketful right now — the frames around the brood look like …
Second year in Galway with three National hives, and I'll be honest: when I "heft" the back of a hive I have absolutely no idea what I'm feeling. Last year I thought they…
Second year in İzmir with three hives, and yesterday was awful. The hills are bone dry, nothing has flowered since July, and my smallest colony was light, so I made 2:1 a…
First-year beekeeper in Minnesota, two hives from packages in May. This week I've been finding twenty or thirty dead drones in the grass in front of both hives every morn…
First autumn feed here in Yorkshire and I've made a hash of it. Two colonies, both a bit light after a rubbish August, so I mixed up 2:1 — 4 kg of granulated sugar into 2…
One year ago today I installed my first package in a snowy Minnesota April — okay, the anniversary math is off, it was the day I ORDERED them, but let me have this. One c…
Second-year in Galway. At Tuesday's association meeting one of the old hands said "feed early or feed never" and everyone nodded like it was scripture, and I nodded too, …
Third year in Uppsala and I've been caught out before — two Septembers ago I was still feeding in October and the syrup just sat in the feeder going mouldy. This year I w…
Second year in Ontario and everyone at my club keeps saying "your colonies are raising winter bees right now, protect them from mites." I get the concept — the bees emerg…
Fourth year, eight hives now in central Texas, and I've never registered with the state apiary inspection service. Partly laziness, partly the classic worry — why invite …
First year, two hives (single deep + medium each) in central Minnesota, and everyone says 'feed to weight' like the math is obvious. It is not obvious to me. What I have:…
First year in Yorkshire, started with two nucs, and neither has done brilliantly. One's covering about four frames of bees with a laying queen and a mediocre pattern. The…
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