Recent content by Busybee

I purchased the 12 frame and found it quite easy to clean. Proped it up on the rear leg and washed out with a hose pipe which allowed water to drain away from the motor. Covered the controller and lid switch in plastic bags. Takes quite a while to dry afterwards but was not as bad as originally...

Thanks jeff33

Thanks Erichalfbee

Thanks jenkinsbrynmair. I thought i would just have a look at warnholz between showers to see how the land lies. It is teaming with bees and with BIAS in all stages. There is also now an unmarked queen which i am assuming is supercedure 2021 ? as other queen very well marked. Checked through...

Yes the hive likely has about 30lbs on board at the moment and therefore don't wish to split. If the queen succesfully unites with this hive, my idea was to supplement it with capped brood from my other hives to overcome bee depletion and ensure further nectar collection from bramble etc which...

I would hope not, but that is just my feeling. The hive has plenty of room, even more so now that the brood box has been depleted of 3 frames, and also although the queen is a 2020 has not laid any more than a mating nuc + extensions ogf brood. No signs of nosema on frames and comb and all...

Markthebuilder. Thanks for reply. My main objective is to utilise this queen but also to remove the mating nuc from my back garden. I like them, but the wife not too keen now there are few more bees flying :). So the idea was to try to unite everything in one go. I would close up the mating nuc...

I have a large hive which had one open charged cell at yesterdays (Saturdays) inspection and several queen cups polished with eggs in. I found the queen and made up a nuc with her. I have a Warnholz mating nuc at home with a 2020 queen in it which i rescued from a failed hive in spring (I think...

jenkinsbrynmair and masterBK, thank you for your valued knowledge and input.

Will the original queen in the bottom brood box not attempt to swarm with sealed queen cells in top box ?. Just trying this method for the first time at the moment and i was going to remove queen cells day 7 or 8, but would prefer to leave to day 12 if that is unlikely to cause swarming.

In this situation if i was wanting to unite with another of my colonies, i would do as you suggest and get rid of queen. Then knock down all queen cells. In 9 days time go through colony again and knock down any further emergency queen cells. Then when colony queenless and unable to produce any...

As long as no queencells being made, plenty of stores available. Put nuc box on stand where you intend on hiving and leave for a couple of days with entrance open for bees to orientate. Weather set to warm up in two to three days. They will be ok.

Have a similair problem at moment. Possibly 30 bees on floor not knowing what to do. Often loaded with pollen and overcome by rain or cold if they do not get back in to hive. Am going to check tomorrow if Lime is in flower as this has often been said causes bees to become DRUNK !.

Leave them alone as you say until your next inspection, making sure they have plenty food and pollen. If still no abundance of eggs or larvae try a test frame at next inspection.That will give them a chance to produce an emergency queen cell if needed and also reduce probability of laying...

As far as i am aware George Imirie died quite some time ago and sells nothing ?. I have used these several times and feel that they give improved production and less congestion of brood boxes, but it is always interesting to hear other peoples considered opinions and suggestions. I run my hives...