Hive post-mortem

It is always really important to conduct a post-mortem on any hive losses, as it's a vital part of our learning curve with beekeeping. Sadly in many circles, losing hive is regarded as a "failure" which, if you are observing and watching and monitoring your bees rather than working towards a homogenised collection of colonies, …

Inspection Boards

At this time of year, I keep an eye on my bees by checking their flights and the Varroa board. Today was rainy and cool so I wasn't expecting any bees to be out, but I did want to check the boards. The Varroa (or inspection) board sits under the mesh floor of the hive, …

Thermosolar update

The Thermosolar hive's greatest attribute is its state-of-the-art Varroa control procedure, using the power of sunlight to gently heat the hive to a temperature for a short time, which doesn't harm the bees, but does kill the mites. I wanted to know if the bees do have a mite load, so I put the inspection …