Recent content by Matt77

I kept bees in my garden some years ago(20). It became a huge issue with the next door neighbours. I spent more time managing neighbours than my bees. Every insect in their garden & every bite or sting were blamed on my bees. Eventually I had to give up keeping bees for quite some time. I now...

I found a wasp nest a few mteres from my hives in the bank of a stream last year or may have been year before. Anyway, decided to leave it & see what happened. Popped a few wasp traps up & it was never an issue.

Hi Beeno, yes the successful mating is my concern too. They have a super on(oilseed rape in full bloom) I'd not considered taking the cells down etc. But as you say with the cold snap approaching it could be worth a try I guess.

Afternoon all. Just been through my colonies, in one of them I found 2 charged queen cups on the very edge of the brood nest. The colony is a little smaller than my others it has 6 frames of brood vs my other 3 at 8-9 frames of brood. My first thought was to AS them but then it struck me it...

That sort of reply really annoys me. The OP has asked a very reasonable question. I suggest getting off your high horse & perhaps check the facts before posting in future. A quick search of the OP's past posts would have told you he only got his bees this year.

I had drones still in all 4 of my colonies this time year. All were fine come spring. I shouldn't worry too much, there's not a fat lot you can do anyway.

When I was a kid my great, great grandad's obituary was framed at the top of the stairs which mentioned 'telling the bees' after he died, this always facinated me. So when I found out there was a beekeeper in our village I went to see him, spent many days of my summer hols with him & eventually...

Yep I do exactly as you describe, dead easy. I've copied the tray that someone posted on here. Basically a mite board with a recess to take the varrox.

Does that mean you have to watch for swarming all year round?

I used to keep a couple of colonies in a garden. The bees themselves never really caused a problem apart from a swarm that ended up next door. The main problem was a psychological one, once the neighbours were aware bees were there every possible insect bite, sting etc was attributed to my bees...

Hope this isn't a daft question HM, but what is the problem with a virgin in a full size colony?

If that's for me, 1: Been cold for the last week here, frosts at night, hail, snow & rain during the day 2: 5-6 queen cells in each colony. 3: I'm not experienced enough to know if q's were slimmed down really but I would say they were fairly slim. Although I found them easily & they didn't...

I had exactly that yesterday. Capped queen cells in two colonies & both queens still in residence.

10 day forecast for my neck of the woods is rain & coolish temps. Very frustrating.

6?