So this is such a great forum in the sense that sooner or later you will pick up a real gem that is totally suitable for your unique set of circumstances…suitable for where presently you are in your beekeeping journey.
I’ll start it off:
About a month or so ago Michael_Bush mentioned how he salvaged old queens…instead of disposing of them he placed them in alcohol solution later to be used as “queen juice”…hadn’t ever thought of that or heard about that before. That queen juice could be used for such things as a swarm trap luring enhancement and coating queen cups before grafting.
There are a few for me Doug. Reducing the entrance, requeening to solve chalk brood issues. Also holding brood frames over the brood while inspecting them. @Peter48 would remember the day we found a little cluster of bees on the ground at my place. In that little cluster was a queen. I placed her in the entrance of the colony I suspected she belonged to.
The best tip I have got from the forum, hard to name just one but was from Jeff telling me about the video “City of Bees”. After over 40 years of beekeeping I believed I had figured out the best way of bee keeping for my climate and what my aims were but watching that video has lead me to experimenting in directions I hadn’t thought that much about previously.
I recall that day we found the cluster with the queen and I ‘tips me hat’ to you that you picked the right hive that she belonged to as she just strutted straight in with the cluster and not asked for her ticket.
Cheers
These two publications from the venerable @Dee, who is very sick and much missed. The first is about queen cells - which ones mean what. The second is about splits and is very readable.
There are 115000 posts and haven’t read them all yet, but adding ascorbic acid to syrup to prevent it from getting mouldy is so far my favourite. Thanks Dawn.
That, and to watch out because not all advice is actually good.
@Gaz tip about using plastic/rubber door wedges to help keep boxes you’ve pried apart from resealing before you can lift them off. Also - not first heard about on this forum but something that radically changed my confidence when inspecting hives was a tip to cover the frames with tea towels to keep the bees on the frames you haven’t got to yet calm.
This is just a few things I learned on this forum for the first time:
Beekeeping is addictive.
Ask 3 beekeepers the same question, you get 4 answers.
Eggs hatch, bees emerge.
We’re all “beeks”.
Just ask a question and there will be an answer and there’s no such a thing as too many hives / pieces of equipment.
Also that almost everyone here is very polite, unlike some other forums
So many great tips and great laughs! Caring, considerate answers to any question…tea towels from Dawn, using inverted outer cover to rest boxes on during inspection from Dee, and using a frame of brood to bring a swarm gently into a box from Jeff
Thank you Eva, I swear I think that tip is the best tip I’ve ever given. I wish I could take credit for thinking of it. It was passed on to me by a mentor.
I used it last week on a large bunch of bees that were gathered like a dinner plate on the side of a large tree.
Thinking back: His advice was to use a frame of brood to help hold a swarm in the capture box. I refined it to use the brood in the capture box where I don’t have to shake any bees. As well as using it in places where swarms can’t be shaken, such as what I did last week as described above.
@JeffH tip to use a sheet of vinyl on top of the flow frames super under the migratory lid we use. We now have no mess when separating, perfect honeycomb above it and good indication of when the bees need more room.
Dont thank me, thank the ladies at the local beekeeping supply store Guilfoiles.
