I’m back and working with bees again. I’ll hope you all had great holidays! This is the one print nuke designed to fit on a smaller printer like the Neptune 4 Pro! The work is in progress but it will be ready and updated on Thingiverse soon enough. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7265084 I’m putting some stl-files related to beekeeping there. As my goal is to make 300 queens the upcoming season I will be needing a lot of nukes. The cheap ones from china is not that good and the original costs about 35 usdollars, this will be in the 6-7 dollars, approximately the same as the china imports. This also makes a good alternative for colorcoding. 500-700 gram filament per nuke.

This is a couple of wooden hives I bought dirt cheap, they’re in the local format ”norsk” which means Norwegian. They are similar in size with Dadant for reference. I did some burning and lindseed oil, the hives are going places where I won’t be able to do as regular checkups as other more commercial hives, hence the bigger format. What kind of hives do you use?

Building a prototype for a dirt cheap top bar hive. The only tools needed are a circular saw and an electric screwdriver. And a propane burner (if you like that) Will get back on a tutorial when everything fits!

I'm currently writing the beginners course, it will take a lot of time. But in then meantime, what would you like me to write about? I can cover whatever you like. Would you like me to build a cheap hive? Would you like me to guide you through the different systems/hives? Go through how I clean materials? It's up to you! Hit me with questions!

I saw this question in a beekeeping group today: Is it best to buy bees locally or is there no issue shipping in from out of state? Almost everyone agrees that buying bees locally is the best option, and I agree with that as well. However, there is one commonly repeated idea that I do not share: catching swarms as a good source for your first bees. I understand why that sounds appealing, but I would not recommend relying on swarms as your main way to start beekeeping. The problem is simple. You do not know where a swarm comes from. You do not know its disease status. You do not know the varroa pressure it has been living under. You also do not know whether it came from a managed apiary nearby or from a feral colony living in a tree, a wall, or a chimney. A swarm can look “healthy” and still bring problems into your beekeeping for years. That said, I still think you should catch swarms if they show up. Leaving them can create other problems. But treat them like a risk until proven otherwise. My approach is to keep a separate, isolated quarantine apiary away from my main yards. I use a small dedicated toolbox that stays with that yard only. (I do this for all of my apiaries) Gloves, hive tools, knives, feeders, everything that touches those colonies stays there. This reduces the risk that a hidden infection or contamination gets carried back to your healthy apiaries. There are also a few practical steps you can take to reduce risk when you bring a swarm home. One example is feeding a swarm 50/50 sugar syrup. This helps ensure that any honey the swarm carried, which may contain pathogens, is used for wax production instead of being stored and later consumed. Feeding also stimulates wax production and creates an artificial nectar flow that helps the queen start laying quickly. I go deeper into this in my post here: https://www.skool.com/the-beekeeper-1771/why-i-replace-my-wax-every-year