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    Free bees for a beginner

    . . . on hold for a couple of weeks Sorry, beginners, this will have to wait for a couple of weeks. Some colonies in my region have been found to have American Foul Brood, which is a nasty and contagious colony disease. They were taken to a beekeeping auction and equipment sale, so now other...
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    Free bees for a beginner

    If you're willing to come and get them, in Gloucestershire, with your own Langstroth hive, I have a full colony you can have for nothing. Read my blog on here to understand where we're at. We now have three strong colonies and we only want two. This is the first colony we had (although the...
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    Checked colonies for the first time this year!

    We've now got three colonies. The darker bees swarmed last summer, while I was away in another country. Fortunately, Mrs FG rose to the challenge. She saw them hanging from an archway in the garden and bundle them (a few times) into our old wooden hive. We swapped them onto new frames when I...
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    Still 2 colonies alive and growing

    Mrs FG and I went through the two colonies at the weekend and have finally seen both queens. Both are really pretty and fairly huge, compared to the workers. No drones seen yet, but some of the cells are built up higher than the norm, so I guess that's what they are about. The dark colony we...
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    "Our Olympian" Best wishes and good luck

    Good luck, Simon! Tried Archery for a bit; fantastic fun but really hard work and I was only using the bow of a tiny girl :-) the proper ones are massively hard work (and the arrows go 10 times faster, I guess). Stay in the zone; I'm sure your bees will behave well while you're away. FG
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    "Our Olympian" Best wishes and good luck

    Good luck, Simon - all the best. Simon Wot? (so we can cheer!)
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    Cast swarm conundrum

    OK, patience it is. Thanks for the comments. I spent 30 mins or so sitting and watching them this morning (not going into the nuc). They seemed to be foraging very keenly (as the other two full-sized colonies were today - lovely weather for a change) and bringing in pollen and nectar - i.e...
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    Cast swarm conundrum

    Advice or thoughts required . . . I found a fairly small swarm (maybe football volume?) hanging from a holly bush at head level. This sounded much easier than the ladders and chimneys I've heard about :-) so I put in into a poly nuc hive with frames of foundation and a full frame feeder of...
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    Free bees (in Gloucestershire)

    Hope you don't have to wait too long - I remember the frustration of reading this forum while waiting to get my first bees. If I land another swarm, I'll try and contact you and you can beam over with some National kit. FG
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    Free bees (in Gloucestershire)

    Shaag, the larger swarm (now a functioning colony) has just driven off in a car, heading for South Bristol. New beekeeper 'Fraise' was at the wheel after PM'ing me yesterday - sorry. There's still a small cast swarm in a poly nuc (Langstroth) that I'm happy to either keep or give away. It...
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    Free bees (in Gloucestershire)

    Due to my lame beekeeping, and some captured swarms (maybe mine, maybe not), I have 3 and a bit colonies of bees and I only want two. I caught a fairly big swarm (10 days or so since they moved in) in a full hive and a much smaller cast swarm (4 hours or so since they moved in) in a poly nuc...
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    Bad beekeeper needs advice

    OK, so I've been lazy this year. A combination of bad weather and lots of work stuff has meant I've just kept an eye on my two colonies and left them to it (so far). I have a pale yellow colony (from GWW) in two Lang brood boxes. I have a darker colony in one Lang brood box (from PH). Last...
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    Drinking problem?

    Both colonies seem full of stores, but the weather here has been very dry for ages, so you could be right - flowers, yes but nectar no. FG
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    Drinking problem?

    Thanks for the advice. I'm surprised they are getting so warm: the hive isn't in sun, it's only 20 C or less and shaded; the bees have a full brood box, then a queen excluder, then a mainly empty brood box on top with undrawn foundation (so mainly space at the moment). Maybe I need to open...
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    Drinking problem?

    I have two colonies of bees; one is a full Langstroth box and the other nearly a full box. They are positioned 50m or so up the Hill from the house and garden. We have a pond on a raised patio with fish, currently toad-poles, and the bees use this as a source of fresh water. The last few...
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