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Annual tradition, third year running: the end-of-season wash thread. Post your pre-treatment count, what you treated with, and your post-treatment verification wash so we…
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…
All six of my hives in Drenthe have had robbing screens on since late July when the wasp pressure started. They've done their job — zero robbing this year, first season I…
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 …
Fourteen years in Tuscany, and after watching fluvalinate and coumaphos become expensive placebos across much of Europe, I treat rotation as non-negotiable. My current lo…
Fifth year, Małopolskie. I have a colony that's queenright and healthy but just small — maybe four frames of bees after a poor season, not combine material in my view bec…
Perthshire, seven years in, and every autumn I re-litigate moisture strategy with myself. The traditional camp: quilt boxes of wood shavings or a moisture board under the…
Quebec, five hives, well, four now. Found a dead-out this week — colony had been dwindling since July and finally gave out, and by the time I opened it yellowjackets had …
Galway, second year, three hives on a rural site. Arrived yesterday evening to find one hive shoved clean off its stand — boxes separated, four frames pulled out and scat…
Uppsala, third year, five hives. One colony has a queen I've been unhappy with all season — patchy pattern, colony never took off, wash numbers fine so it's not mites. I …
Devon, four hives. Nights are dipping under 10°C so this week is entrance week: reducers in, mouse guards on. Mice move into hives once clusters form and stop patrolling …
Southern hemisphere check-in. We finally got a calm 16°C afternoon in Wellington yesterday so I did my first proper frame-by-frame inspection since autumn, all six hives.…
Extraction done here in Provence and today I finally rendered the cappings from all eight hives: two passes through the solar melter, then a final water-bath melt and fil…
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…
Third year, four hives in the North Carolina piedmont, and we're in that ugly gap before goldenrod really opens. My neighbor (lovely woman, endless patience) texted me a …
Second year, three hives in Vermont. I know the bees being raised from now onward are the fat winter bees that have to live until March, and I know mites had to be dealt …
Every year the forum fills up with 'is it too late to X' threads in October, so here's my pre-equinox list from north Georgia, 22 seasons in. Adjust timing north or south…
Finished a full Apiguard course on my worst hive (of five) here in the Willamette Valley and did my verification wash yesterday, three weeks after the second tray went on…
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