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Vermont, second year, four hives now after a split. Last August I watched a weak nuc get robbed out in an afternoon — silvery frantic bees fighting on the landing board, …
Finally built the solar melter I've been talking about for two years, and Alentejo sun turns out to be extremely good at this job. Build: plywood box painted matte black …
We hit 36C this week and I got the top-bar keeper's summer tax: one fresh comb, heavy with nectar, folded off its bar in the afternoon heat. Seven years in and it still h…
Fifth season in Małopolskie, up to 12 production colonies now, all mediums for honey. Extraction weekend is coming and my cold knife and I are not friends. Half my combs …
Third year, first serious attempt at foundationless, and I earned the classic punishment: the bees ignored my starter strips and built one glorious sheet of comb diagonal…
Sharing because this nearly became a fence war. My two hives decided the neighbour's pool was the finest water source in Kent. Dozens of bees on the pool edge daily, a fe…
Third summer in North Carolina and my strongest hive has taken up permanent residence on its own front porch. It's been humid and 33-35°C for a week, and I expected after…
I do a handful of removals every season here in Jalisco and finally retired my death-trap shop vac rig for a proper cyclone bucket build. Sharing because the difference i…
Quebec, 5 years. Our club got a booth at the regional fair in August plus two school visits in September, and I've volunteered (been volunteered) to build and run the obs…
Oregon, 5th year, 12 colonies, and after this spring's inspections my lower back has opinions. Currently running double deeps for brood. A full deep of honey is 80-90 lb;…
North Carolina, 3rd year, and I caved and bought a Flow Hive 2 last summer after two years of conventional Langstroths. Now that I've run it a full season I keep getting …
Istria here, so Slovenia is practically over the hill, and I've been visiting a friend's čebelnjak (bee house) near Maribor — three walls of AŽ hives stacked like filing …
İzmir hit 38°C this week and I opened my second-year hive to find a disaster: a big new foundationless comb, drawn just this month and heavy with nectar, had sheared off …
Confession time so nobody repeats this. Moved four 5-frame nucs about 90 minutes to an outyard on Tuesday. Screened their entrances shut, loaded them in my enclosed cargo…
Old timer at my local association swears by running 9 frames in a 10-frame brood box once the combs are drawn — says the extra space makes inspections gentler, fewer roll…
First year, two hives in Minnesota. Been inspecting in a veil-jacket combo, regular jeans, and cheap nitrile gloves from the hardware store. Yesterday a guard bee nailed …
Cold-climate keepers, what's your winter entrance setup? I've read everything from "leave a top entrance for ventilation" to "top entrance = heat loss disaster". Average …
Went all-in on foundationless in 2023, sold my excluders and starter strips. Three years later: drone comb everywhere, inspections take longer, swarm management is a nigh…
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