Buy equipment - Bee management...

Managing your bees is important to keeping them healthy and productive. From pest control and feeding, to marking your Queen, the right equipment is essential.

Pest Control and Disease

A hot air oxalic acid vaporizer, an effective treatment against Varroa, it is basically oxalic acid in the gaseous state. Non toxic for the bees, it also does not hinder the queen in her egg laying and shows to be highly effective against Varroa.

Vaseline grease can be spread on the bottom sliding board, and used in checking and detecting fallen varroa mites.

Catalogue reference

113. Gas powered liquid Oxalic acid sublimation gun £99.85
114. Oxalic acid vaporizer JB 200, for a 12 Volt battery (Advice: when using Oxalic acid please use ffp3 face mask and goggles) £37.50

Bee Medicants

Bees need to be protected from disease and when pollen and nectar are not available or in short supply, supplementary feeding may help the colony survive or make it more productive and populous.

Catalogue reference

115. Neopoll 1kg pack of vitaminised bee food £4.90
116. Ambrosia 12.5kg plastic jerrycan £22.90
117. Apistan £19.50
118. Bayvarol £19.50
119. Apiguard (Expire 4/26) Box of 10 £27.50, Each £3.10
120. 12.5 kg block of white candy for feeding bees £19.90
121. Api-Bioxal 35g – treats 10 hives against Varroa by trickling or vaporisation method. Expiry date: 31/8/25 £16.10
Advantages: Excellent efficacy and tolerance; Powder disolves easily in syrup at room temperature; Produces 4.2% solution; Permitted in organic beekeeping.
It is important to dissolve the powder as per manufacturer’s instructions – table and instructions enclosed with product.
Trickling Method: 5ml per brood frame.
Vapourisation Method: 2.3g per colony.
Protective gloves, mask and glasses should be worn when handling the product.
122. Varroa Med (Expire 4/25) £37.00
123. FormicPro (Expire 3/26) Box of 10 £90.00, Each £10.00

Bees and Queens

Our bees are bred from stock which we have found best suited to our seasonal climate and system of management. We endeavour to provide the beginner with a relatively docile strain of honeybee which overwinters well, builds up strongly into a large industrious non-swarming foraging force which will gather a good surplus of honey. Regular disease inspections are conducted by our beekeepers and by Ministry officials.

A five comb National nucleus headed by a young mated and laying queen and carefully balances proportions of young to old bees, eggs, brood and stores is supplied in a special ventilated, lightweight non returnable box, with hiving instructions. A 10% deposit is taken with each order which is collected from us. The customer is notified by a telephone call or email.

Catalogue reference

124. Queen Bee £41.00
125a. Package bees 1kg weight £180.00
125b. 5 comb Nuc B.S.Frames £200.00
126. 5 comb Nuc Lang or 14 x12 £210.00

Queen Marking and Rearing Appliances

With such a large number of bees it is often difficult to find the Queen quickly, so for this reason, many Queens are marked with a light daub of paint on their thorax. The paint does not harm the queen. The particular colour identifies the year the queen hatched. Sometimes tiny identification discs are used if more than one Queen was born the same year.

The international code of colours for Queen marking is as follows:
White = for any year ending in 1 or 6
Yellow = for any year ending in 2 or 7
Red = for any year ending in 3 or 8
Green = for any year ending in 4 or 9
Blue = for any year ending in 5 or 0

Catalogue reference

127. Queen marking cage press-in type £6.60
128. Queen marking cage with plunger £4.95
129. Queen catcher, glass £4.10
130. Queen catcher, clip type £3.10
131. Queen marking colours, per colour (see list of colours above) £3.95
132. Plastic queen mailing/introduction cage £0.55
133. Queen mating Nuc. Polystyrene, weather proof, warm. Full instructions provided £22.10
134. Super for above £9.25
135. Feeder for above £9.25
136. Butler Queen intro cage £1.55

Plastic 'Rapid' Feeders

There are many types of feeders. Direct contact feeders are usually some sort of air tight container. Indirect rapid feeders normally hold a large volume (2-3 gallons) and are the same dimension as the hive. These type of feeders don't require an empty super to be put over them, they can be made of wood or plastic and fit under the roof. They can be filled and re-filled easily.

Catalogue reference

137. 14 Pint £10.20
138. 3 Pint £6.50
139. Plastic green feeder (Miller type) £33.00
140a. Wooden Miller feeder supplied made up (approx. 2 1/2 gall. capacity) £43.60
140b. Wooden Ashforth feeder supplied made up (approx. 2 1/2 gall. capacity) £43.60
141. Wooden Frame feeder £7.50
142. Plastic Contact feeders (available in 1 gallon and 1/2 gallon)
 1 gallon £5.65 1/2 gallon £4.80