Recent content by nettle

Thanks for the help.

Maybe I should wait for the brood to emerge in the Q- colony before uniting them?

The more I think about this, the more I'm worried about what will happen at this time of year with having effectively two brood nests in the same hive. Once the paper's chewed through, will the bees move up to the second brood box, leaving the brood in the (currently) Q+ hive to chill...

I know, mea culpa. It was 14 degrees and I was just trying to establish the presence of brood to avoid laying workers, as I've ended up with them the last two springs in a row. I'm also feeling a bit of pressure that I might have to move the hives soon, as the landowner has released first...

Thanks both.

What a disastrous day, I could use a bit of advice. I have 3 hives: One is on 5 frames with a lovely little brood nest. One has dwindled right down to two frames and has no brood at all. The workers haven't started laying yet. I was going to unite these two together... until I accidentally...

Yes I am. I'll do that, and see if I can get someone to take a look. Thanks.

I don't have a microscope, sadly. I can't see how they can possibly come back from this 😢 Not really, it's just homemade 2:1 (sugar & water, no additions). That batch at the weekend was freshly made, and all three hives have had it from the same container.

I just went up to top up the feeders and to put some insulation on the hives, and one of them (the swarm I caught in June) is, I'd say, dying. When I got there it was after 4pm, 11 degrees, calm, and damp after a day of rain & drizzle, but not currently raining. The first thing I noticed was...

Right, I need to get my head around these amounts, because it was a constant source of worry last year. Sorry if these are utterly stupid questions... So, that's 5lb per brood frame then, rather than super? For a nuc then, you'd need 4-5 frames of honey (leaving only 1-2 frames for brood)? Or...

I thought we were safely past swarm season now, especially up here, but someone I know in the Cairngorms caught a huge swarm a couple of days ago. Something to bear in mind!

See this thread for how I reduced mine with bottom bars from national frames. Although my hive's a really early model, Swi-bo rather than Swienty, so I don't know if it'll work on yours too.

Well, today I harvested.... (wait for it!)..... 2 frames of honey! My second year as a beekeeper and this is my first taste of the stuff - the most expensive and hard-won honey on the planet! 😂😍

Went to pick up a swarm last night - absconded as I was driving there... Got a call this morning to say the same swarm had landed just down the road... they took to the air over my head as I was putting my suit on!!

Not in north Scotland it's not! (well, at least not for me!). I had to feed my strongest hive last weekend, they were close to starving. They were looking better today, finally starting to draw comb in the super I gave them weeks ago. The split I did a few weeks ago finally has eggs, and...