Recent content by Cowman

Stuck a clearer board under a fully capped super on one colony, and removed the feeder from a nuc. Had a quick look inside and found a big fat queen and a frame of eggs. That makes her the 4th queen I've had mated this year.

Poppies covered in white tailed bumblebees this morning and white clover flowering everywhere although my cows are eating it before the bees get a look in

I am thinking of starting a queen right cell starter/finisher, using the Ben Harden method. My only concern is would there be a risk of the colony swarming once the cells are sealed? Does anyone have experience with this method?

Marked and clipped the first two queens to start laying from the 3 splits I made on 30/04 will reserve judgement on the 3rd one for now

The soil association isn't the only body that certifies organic farms. There is also the organic farmers and growers association who I believe to be slightly more sensible than the soil association. I don't see how you could possibly make sure your bees only foraged on organically grown plants...

Thanks very much for the advice, this forum is a really useful resource.

Just done the deed, frustratingly the Queen was quite nice looking and appeared perfectly healthy. I am planning on using the newer comb to give to nucs once the season gets going and putting the ones full of drone brood into a couple of bait hives. Do I need to remove the drone larvae and is...

I did my first proper inspection today and found a great big slab of drone brood in the middle of one colony, covering 3 frames. I have come to the conclusion that the Queen is a drone layer. She was a late season split and appeared to be laying quite nicely in September. What would be the best...