Recent content by gregior

Inspected 2 of my out Apiaries today. Site 1 (8 hives) One word -DIRE! All very low on stores to the brink of starvation Queens laying in 2 but the other 6 have shut down and a couple didn't even have any sealed brood (but no cells so I think they are Q+) One had decided to swarm even though it...

Lots of reports of hungry bees,mine are the same and some of my Q's have slowed right down laying,there is a trickle of dandelion nectar coming in here which is keeping them going. Saw a utube vid from C Manton a beefarmer whos bees are so hungry they're canibalising the brood,we need some...

Probably no panic to feed,most nuc's come with a frame or 2 of stores

My guess would be they're just cold,if they miss the landing board they rest on the ground but can't warm up enough again to fly. Bees returning with pollen being involved suggests it's nothing other to worry about(such as CBPD or nosema)

I'd say that's nothing to worry about

Not quite that but similar

I have some frames of honey i can feed them

Yeah it's not looking good atall,pretty much written off any spring crop this year.

Inspected 15 of mine today for the first time since April 4th so was expecting to see plenty of swarm activity. The bees were generally looking very good with an average of around 10 frames of BIAS amazingly although the colonies are plenty strong enough there was not 1 cell in any of...

It was a brood and 1/2 with old combs i want to change so put a new brood box on top to do a bailey so it's now 2 and 1/2 brood all full of brood it's a monster already!

Checked a few of my very strongest hives for swarming but nothing happening yet thankfully. My star colony has drawn out and layed up a complete brood box in the last 10 days!

Sounds strange i've never seen anything like that. Maybe you have some comb in the hive that has small cells and the young from that comb were on thier maiden flights?

Yes I was umming and aahing but they were following and not just buzzing me but stinging straight away also smoking them had no effect on calming them atall,i've had colonies like this before and they have always got worse and worse as the season progresses. The apiary is a great site for me and...

Ok this one isn't going to be popular with everyone but this evening I euthanised a colony. It was a pretty strong brood 1/2 but they were getting more and more aggressive over time. I inspected them last week and they were really grumpy and smoking them had no effect. They were following for a...

I hold the empty frame up to the sun and if I can't see light through it I bin it.