Recent content by Beardy Weirdy

Thanks, everyone for the guidance and information. I've just done another hive inspection and sure enough, the one Queen that I have been able to mark is strong and the colony numbers have increased again. The other big colony, no Queen spotted, but plenty of bees, capped honey, pollen, and...

Thank you Both, I have seen both methods on Youtube but thought that it would be a good idea to ask advice on this forum before doing something that I may regret later. I will certainly have to thoroughly inspect these hives and check for virgin queens before I do anything. So I'll give these...

Hi All, I have caught four swarms over the last month and of those I have only seen a queen in two of the hives. One of which I managed to catch and mark. These hives are a little aggressive and when I inspect the hives, the worker bees fan and are rather noisy. However, only one of these...

Thanks, Enrico, They are a lot quieter this morning. The cast and queen are huddled up in the skep and Diomede is back to normal. So I'll concentrate on finding a home for what looks like the small cast swarm ever....about half a pint of bees.

I certainly feel like a bad beekeeper today for various reasons, but mostly because it doesn't matter how many questions I ask, videos on youtube I watch, or books I read about bees...I am still at a loss to understand my bees. I keep bees because I find them enchanting. Every morning I sit...

Good Evening All, So today I have been busy DIYing the house and was just thinking of calling it a day when the wife shouts through from the garden. 'Your bees, they're acting strange again'. Sure enough, she was right, I found a small group of bees on the garden path crowding around a...

Thanks, mdotb, Sorry, what I meant to say was that the bees appear to have removed any capped honey and nectar from the tbh bar and are now in the process of re-filling it with nectar. I think that you are correct about the virgin queens in both the TBH and National as the bees remain...

Brilliant! Thanks for the advice Pargyle. I've just come in from watching the bees and the two nucs are storming away. I'll need a new super for the national, but that's not a problem. Yes, I agree, TBH's are fun, but lack of time and knowledge has come back to haunt me. I'm loving the Nucs...

(Originally posted in Queens wanted section) Hi All, I have had a Top Bar Hive for just over a year, but I soon ran into difficulties with cross combing. So much so that I decided to leave the bees to get on with it and start again this year with national hives and once I had enough...

Thanks Dani, yes I'll do that.

Thanks Dani, This was a swarm I captured and put into a national hive. At the time it had a fantastic looking queen. A week later and she has disappeared. I've added a super and some comb from my top bar hive, the bees fly in and out of the hive, but they are not drawing out any comb and...

Hi All, On a hive inspection today I find that I have plenty of bees and no queen, no queen cells, no brood and what comb there is, is all nectar. So I'm looking for a new queen, has anyone in the West Midlands/Coventry/Warwickshire area a queen for sale? Many thanks.

Wow! Miles ahead of me, but I'm getting there slowly. I totally agree Beersmith, the first thing I do when I return home from work is rush out into the garden and say 'Hi' to the ladies. :) They have fought off numerous Wasp attacks and even a stealth raid by a solitary Hornet. Sometimes the...

Lol...it certainly does! I was told by a TBH pro not to remove the follower boards from the hive, but my first concern is the Bees welfare and keeping them going through the winter. The hive is somewhat crossed combed, but I will deal with that next season. I'm hoping to get at least one new...

Ahhh...MartinL, just what I have come in from doing. ;) Well I actually removed the follower board and replaced it with a bar. So now I have three empty bars ready for honey comb. :) Bees looked great, however, a couple of Wasps tried to get in the hive, taking advantage of the hive being open...