Recent content by anwe

To find Queen lift upper brood box onto upturned lid then go through both brood boxes .Laying Q is usually on a frame of eggs and empty open cells proceed with as little disturbance as possible. Bit late in the year for artificial swarming.

My hives homemade are walls 1" polystyrene sandwitched between plywood with heavier poly on lid these outperform basic nationals by miles, Brood is common on outer frames in these hives where under the same conditions nationals had empty combs. Cosy bees have less stress.

I have found that a bucket of hot soapy water is not good for wasps (stops them breathing)

I have only a few hives so dont need many Queens. Mating is difficult due to climate. plus no swarming probably due to climate and method of beekeeping so the supercedure cells are welcome. I try to replace each Queen which has headed a good producing hive for 3 to 4 years with its daughter. I...

The bees will only draw comb if they have something to put in it so I would go with feeding light syrup.

Make a small nuc with the sealed q cell shake in plenty of young bees if its to be kept in the same apiary as most will fly back to the original site.that way if the older Quen is failing you have a potetial replacement on hand.

There is a big difference between mating and laying while the two may be seperated by a day or so laying can take much longer. Where I live the Drones are flying at about 16c I think this is the lower limit for mating Amm other bee types may require more.I have been aware of mating taking place...

Ther is an easy to read book by Charles Mraz "Health and the Honeybee" which covers many of the pints raised here . he used bee stings to treat auto immune complaints including Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis. I have administered stings to a number of people on request. They all claimed some...

Longest I have had to wait for Q to start laying is 8 weeks usually if they wait this long they are drone layers.optimal mating takes place in the first 2 weeks after emerging.laying may be delayed by other factors a virgin overwintering would be too old to mate successfully

Could it be a hoverfly they come in a range of sizes and colours, their larvae eat greenfly

Capped Q cell usually is viable under this time frame and circumstance. Expect about 3 weeks to go before she starts laying depending on weather.could you put the cell in a nuc and put in a new Q to keep the hive strong then decide which to keep if the native comes good.

North we know each other Knickname should be clue enough.

I have kept bees for 15 years or more no swarms (I mark my Queens) a good Queen will last 4 years then the bees will superceed her sometime she becomes a drone layer and the colony would be doomed without intervention.The bees sometimes try to raise a Queen on a drone cell. I have tried...

I have seen laying workers who's bodies are polished and wings absent from their activities. From this and books it seems the bees give them the status of real Queens.

sometimes I have placed new foundation with the bees only to see it ignored and fresh comb built around and on it but without drawing from it.Is there anything that makes comb more or less desirable.