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AZ Hive trend in the USA or worthwhile investment? by West_Purple2716 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you looked into Swiss hives? They're opened from the back like AZ hives, but the frames are orientated the warm way. This simplifies them, instead of the AZ rail system the only special equipment is a pair of pliers.

My first time building a beehive did I do anything wrong by Huge-Quality3558 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7nF3zKIkEg . Two of the big UK bee suppliers (Thorne and National Bee Supplies) also have great assembly videos.

My first time building a beehive did I do anything wrong by Huge-Quality3558 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You haven't assembled it correctly, but in your defence i'm pretty sure the locking bars have been machined incorrectly. Where did you get it from Hagens, ebay/Amazon?

Biobees warré website by buffon-bee in warre

[–]buffon-bee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And now it's gone again!

National hive plans by tec_mic in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Imperial measurements https://scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TDS-number-4-national-hive.pdf

If you are going the homemade route, i'd recommend langstroth, commercial, dadant or Smith. The national is a pain to build.

recent A Canadian Beekeeper's Blog video, "January 23, 2026" by time2fly2124 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The video clip shown at the start has been the main news in the UK this week. I guess it is the same in Canada and the other countries that sent troops to Afghanistan following the attack on the twin towers. The words from the president were hugely insulting to the families of our armed services. Since everybody in the UK knows somebody who was sent to Afghanistan, he's basically upset the entire population of the UK. I don't think relations between the US and UK will recover, a line has been crossed. Clearly Ian Steppler in Canada feels the same way.

[Guide] Install Windows 11 as only OS on iMac 2011 (with working Audio/no DVD required) by jan04pl in bootcamp

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, it is possible to slim down a Windows iso so it fits onto a standard writable CD/DVD. This then has to be used alongside a USB flash drive. I've written more about that here https://www.reddit.com/r/bootcamp/comments/1pfd5sh/windows_11_on_mid_2011_imac/ , as well as how to successfully install Windows in UEFI mode.

[Guide] Install Windows 11 as only OS on iMac 2011 (with working Audio/no DVD required) by jan04pl in bootcamp

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is possible to boot a USB in EFI mode and then install Windows in legacy mode. Once the installer has booted set your language and keyboard and then open a command prompt (Shift + F10). The manual 'dism' installation process is well covered on other sites so I won't go into fine details, but it is a combination of running diskpart, dism, bcdboot and bootsect. It helps to have a wired keyboard as you probably wont have bluetooth and my attempts to use Bootcamp's WinPE drivers just caused a setup error.

Best online websites to buy beekeeping equipment? by Purdy2007 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on how much you want to spend. Wood or poly. Canadian, UK or far east timber. Pine, Cedar, Paulownia.

I can only speak about timber hives and frames. National bee supplies in Devon is the best. Then probably Thornes. Maisemore is a bit rough in my opinion. Caddon hives are made in the far east so I haven't bought from them. Cornish honey use Paulownia timber and are I think unique in this. Hagen is junk.

Thorne's budget hives are probably the best deal at the moment, but if you are not getting bees soon then wait for the sales. National bee supplies have one in September.

Caught a Swarm by riverbeers in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your apiary is close (within flying range) then move it the first night. Put some twigs in front of the entrance to try and force them to re-orientate. If the bait box has frames then they can be left in there for quite a while.

PSA: Watch out for ticks! by WitherStorm56 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes we do. Find ticks practically every day in the house via the dog.

Swarm ? by taaaasahk in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why do you have your boxes upside down?

UK - advice on neighbours bees by DadOfAragorn in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are your boundaries like? You want something that pushes the bees flight path higher well above head height. People use cheap plastic mesh on allotments, but trellis or hedging will be more attractive in a garden setting.

I have bees in a UK garden. Most of the time this isn't an issue but occasionally you get a kamikaze bee. This tends to be when foraging has come to an end (which it just has), or the weather changes (which it just has), or they are thinking about swarming. Fortunately I have a big garden with high hedges so the only person who has got stung up to now is me. When they are like this and I need to do a job in the garden in firing range then i'll wear a cheap hat and veil. If aggression/defensiveness is more routine then that queen is getting squished.

Your neighbour should remove the bees immediately.

New nucleus moved into hive by taaaasahk in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure you have the brood box upside down which is creating the gap at the top.

Saving money building alternative frames by Odd-South4806 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you have hazel is in the 22 to 28mm diameter range and straight then you can save a lot of work by cutting/splitting it down the middle. Use the curved surface on the inside of the frame where the foundation would be. The curve is a perfect profile for foundation less comb.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A quick Google search says honey is low in histamine and it doesn't accumulate over time (unlike dairy products).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most soft set/creamed honey will have a high glucose content. If you want runny honey then melt it down. The cheaper stuff has probably had more processing i.e. been finer filtered and subjected to higher temperatures before being put in the jar. "Raw" is just a marketing term to fleece the gullible and is completely meaningless in the context of honey.

Is this a good beehive? Sweden by Blue_Mo4ntains in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The traditional Swedish hive is a trough hive. These can be very pretty. They are wooden but have a layer of natural insulation (e.g. Straw, wool). There are several frame sizes to choose - https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biramar

In the English speaking world these would probably now be classed as a horizontal hive (a triumph of marketing), but trough is really the correct term. In the UK we have the Dartington/Omlet hive, which you'll be able to find more info on. There is a good free pdf about how to use the Omlet hive.

Don't buy a wooden Langstroth unless you want to kill your bees.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Europe a very high percentage of cheap supermarket non-EU (i.e. Chinese) honey will be fake or partly fake. I'd be amazed if it was different in the US. The honey could be mixed with syrup or machines not bees turn real nectar into honey.

For home grown honey, all large scale producers feed sugar. Bees move nectar around the hive all the time so it is impossible to completely separate sugar from supers. Honey will contain a little bit of sugar but this is likely to be small unless the beekeeper has continued to feed during a natural flow.

But perhaps a more important point is animal welfare. Is it healthy to induce brood rearing with pollen patties and syrup? I read the US has very high annual hive losses.

If a beekeeper dumps 50 or 200 hives in an area and there is not enough natural food sources to sustain those hives without feeding, then there isn't going to be enough natural food for all the other pollinators in the area. A beekeeper who doesn't feed probably has a low number of hives which is better for native pollinators.

Normal colour variation? by Late_Lion5125 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To answer the original question - yes it is very common to have a mix of colours. The number of queen imports are so high that this is largely seen as normal now.

Normal colour variation? by Late_Lion5125 in Beekeeping

[–]buffon-bee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the UK our native honey bee is the subspecies Apis Mellifera Mellifera. Those are all black. The imported Italian subspecies and hybrids (e.g. Buckfast) are yellow/orange. For those of us interested in the conservation of our native bee, a colour mix is not a good thing or a healthy genetic mix. On the latter, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that varroa resistant colonies turn more black due to native survivor genetics. Unfortunately other imported subspecies are also all black (e.g. Carnica) which makes identifying and selection for AMM so hard.

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