Top tip for me is to keep everything as simple as possible - don't clutter yourself up with gadgets.

I keep 4 hive tools in a honey bucket with some soda wash (1kg washing soda - NOT caustic - and a squeeze of washing up liquid) and a pan-scourer.  Clean hive tools are so much easier to work with.

Fully open mesh floors screwed to pieces of fence post front and back and a 7mm entrance - no need for mouse guards - and colonies do not overheat with the excellent ventilation.  They do not build drone comb on the bottom of the frames.  Hives are very easy to strap up for moving and the bottom ventilation is ideal if you are shutting bees in.

A great tip that I picked up from this list is tipping the hive back to check for queen cells, rather than inspecting every comb.  That has saved me countless hours!

Good, simple, record keeping (I use Excel and have a sheet per apiary).  Looking through the sheet before starting inspections often means that some colonies do not need inspecting e.g. if we do an artificial swarm then it is checked on the next visit but then marked NFI (no further inspections) if all is well.  Shorthand in the notes keeps them simple - BAS (brood all stages), QS (queen seen), VSNEY (virgin seen no eggs yet).  Tip: get someone else to take the notes!

Carry an old honey bucket to collect up bits of wax - that stuff is valuable!

I use ekes and keep them above the crown board.  Bits of broken brace comb with honey in are put there and will have been cleaned up by the next visit.

Rubber washing up gloves make your hand sweat and will stink unless turned inside-out after each apiary.  Nitrile ones are longer lasting, but very difficult to turn inside-out.  I now use only the thin nitrile disposable gloves and change them after each apiary.  Latex single use rip too easily.

Always carry a few queen cages (I always have a clip type in my bee-suit pocket).

If you have a colony on the point of swarming and you have no spare equipment, cage the queen and put her on the crown board.  You can then come back later, or the next day, to split the colony - knowing that the queen is there and not having to find her again.

Never destroy hatching queen cells, especially if it is a good colony, until you are sure that you will not need one of those queens.  Put some in cages ready for use if you find a queenless or swarmed hive later in the day or you are able to make up a nuc or two.

Always drop set honey into the centre of the jar when bottling - running it down the sides will result in white streaks when it sets firm.

Small-scale beekeepers often use light bulbs as a heating source in warming cabinets (this might stop as we move to LED!) but tubular heaters are much better as they seem to last forever (2 x 150w is about right for a 12cu ft chest freezer); always use a proper thermostat - a very accurate digital controller only costs around £10.

Test honey for moisture BEFORE extracting it.   If too wet, stack the supers 'staggered' and use a fan heater to blow warm air at them (but not too close or you may melt combs); a dehumidifier can also help.  (most of our honey is fine, but that from ling heather - Calluna vulgaris - is often wet even when the weather has been dry).

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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