Willow

[Jon]

Do folk generally paint their Apideas? They appear to be made of sterner stuff than the 6-frame nucs.

The don't need painting but if you have them close together it helps to have different patterns on the roof to help the queen find her way back.
You can do this with gaffer tape.

Best not to have them too close together though.

[Jimbo]

I have used Apidea and the cheaper Warnholz. The Apidea in my opinion is slightly better manufactured. I have found no difference when it comes to mating. The Warnholz comes in white and I put coloured marks on them using ink markers to help the queen find her way home. I also prefer using the Cupkit system instead of grafting direct. This is only due to the location of my hives and the requirements needed for grafting and time restraints I also have. I average about 80% queen cells being produced using the Cupkit and about 50% - 55% successful matings from the mini nucs. I prefer using mini nucs due to the fact you don't need as many bees as you would in a 5 frame nuc per queen cell. One of my plans this year is try and increase these percentages and to produce more mated queens.

[GRIZZLY]

Bees pouring out of the hives today.Temp up to 15deg C so had a quick look inside.Found 6 full frames of sealed brood plus lots of eggs and larvae in various stages.Almost every returning bee was bringing back pollen-mostly Whins but the willows are starting to show as well.All the daffodils are well out and the bees seem to be taking an interest.Polyanthus well out and also providing forage.Am going to give them a little feed just to keep them ahead.Still only found 1 varroa under 1 colony so looks as tho' the OA did its job.