Recent content by Splitter

Thank you for the feedback. I'll be sure to give her a fair chance. It's all fascinating stuff to me. So much to learn. Will certainly let you know how it turns out :)

That's interesting. They hadn't been bringing it in last week when they were broodless. It was all nectar they were storing. While I am sure it isn't an exact science (what is in beekeeping!), perhaps it can be considered indicative?

Today I checked on the two 3-frame splits I took at the end of March. One of the queens has successfully mated, the other half still has a virgin. I'll give her another week or two to see what happens. Overall very happy though!

Well, I got to the bottom of my swarm issue today. Feeling a bit silly to be honest. For some reason I thought leaving the queenless half of my Pagden AS with a fairly mature queen cell (just about ready to cap) would be OK. I didn't think they would draw up lots of emergency cells as well...

That's interesting. Did you spray them with just water, or sugar solution, or something else? The plan for tomorrow is to pull down any emergency cells they have started making and unite with newspaper. Will be interesting to see if they accept the new queen, or prefer to make more emergency...

I had a small swarm escape my garden apiary today. They came out of the split I did a couple of weeks ago. Assuming I missed a queen cell and left them with two or more. I managed to retrieve them from the neighbours garden. Got away with it this time! Suffolk

Yes, I counted a dozen on one frame in this hive nearly two weeks ago. My friend also has a colony nearby who are producing lots. The weather will be the potential stumbling block I think.

I went in to check on the queen-right side of the split I did last week. All looking good at the moment. I'll leave the splits for a few weeks to give the queens a chance to get mated. 15 degrees and sunny in Suffolk.

Missed this post, sorry. You are correct. I forgot to put the dummy board back in (well spotted). That will go back next time i get in there. They have some drawn comb in the shallow box on top and I have fed them some 1:1 syrup to help them draw out the brood frames. I suspect the queen will...

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure I have overreacted after failing to prevent a number of swarms last year. The bees are out foraging this morning and my saving grace may be the better weather over here on the east coast. It's forecast to be 13 degrees during the day and down to 7 overnight for...

Hello all, New member here. Been beekeeping for three years. Started with a swarm in my hedge and now running 5 hives. I work for a mental health support charity and find the bees a great distraction when things get stressful. Still lots to learn and I have picked up loads from reading these...

I knocked a couple down last week but obviously missed one as there was a sealed cell this week. Agree it would have been better to put them off a bit longer but felt I had no choice after finding that. In my experience they don't hang around long after.

Wish I was!

I am hoping for a heatwave in a couple of weeks. Probably more likely to snow but you never know!

Thanks Swarm, that's me! I didn't want to spam the forum with my videos on the first post. Not sure on the etiquette. Thanks for watching!