Recent content by danthehat

i have also observed this semi circle of uncapped stores in my super. Just yesterday I noticed that the stores have now been moved with a band of pollen being added. i have drawn the conclusion that the girls are making room for brood expansion. Perhaps yours are leaving the stores uncapped...

ok great. thank you all. D

Thanks for your replies. Much appreciated. I have a new connundrum please. I have ended up with just 5 uncapped frames of honey that I plan to give to the girls in a super below the broodbox and leave this over winter. Is it okay to leave this super with only 5 frames. Or should I fill the...

There is something that puzzles me about this method please? If we leave a super below the brood and feed through the winter. I guess this means that there is a chance that sugar syrup and fondant gets stored in the super a bit? So next season when the super is placed back on top i assume this...

No and no. I dont have enough spare normal equipment, the are on a blue floor and the brood box is lifted at one end to provide a door. Will pick up a floor and door tomorrow. Thanks for coming back so soon. D

Hey Folks, I have caught a swarm on Sunday, added to a brood box and thought I would give them a couple of days to get used to their surroundings. On checking this evening they look very peculiar. They are not milling around getting up to odd jobs or going crazy when I dive into the hive. They...

Two fine examples, thanks for sharing. I will add to my ever increasing list of bits i need to get/make. When will it end....? D

Hi YorkshireBees, Yes, that is the exact set-up. I followed the simplest method I could find of adding a new brood box to the original site with the queen on a couple of frames of brood, stores etc. Queen excluder on top. Super on top of that and then finally the old brood box on top of that...

Hiya Folks, I believe I may have succeeded in stopping the girls from swarming for now using a demaree method and swapping frames of brood from the old box with new frames of foundation from a new. My setup is now a deep brood, queen excluded, half filled super and another deep brood on top...

There are still eggs but less than wednesday and not the standy up, freshly laid type. My guess is that she has gone so I dont think they are superseding, was just hoping. Will definately take the advice to treat all QC with potential of swarming. Thanks. Going to spend the afternoon...

Hmmm? Not sure what to make of this now? So, after tearing down everything that looked like a queen cell on wednesday i returned on friday to perform an AS. I could not find the queen at all so resorted to adding another brood box on top and swapping a few frames of sealed brood from the old...

Definately swarm cells. They were hanging off the bottom and a thousand times more frightening than any pictures i had ever seen. Yes, we spotted eggs too but not a huge amount. We have plenty of sealed brood but not much unsealed which is a worry. Got my spare gear out the loft and ready for...

Hello All, Just found about 10 play cups and one nice long queen cell that is almost completely sealed. There is just the smallest of gaps that is about 5mm wide. I have panicked and removed the cell and the play cups in the hope of buying myself a couple of days to get my artificial swarm...

munching away now what a difference a few weeks make. I took all your good advice thanks, found the hive to be pretty damn heavy through various lifting techniques so assumed they had enough stores. Today i have found they have munched their way through most of the fondant and are eagerly...

Thanks for coming back Poly Hive. Great idea! Yes, I do have a new empty timber brood box. I will make some tipping experiments as soon as. Cheers Dan