Recent content by RobKing

I had one of my hives swarm on Monday 21st April - a very warm morning - and saw the queen fly off amongst the rest of her crew. However, many bees remained behind, loads of them, together with a new queen (which I sadly missed). There are no other QCs in the hive at all, I have made sure of...

Hi there, I live near Abingdon and have 2 colonies in national hives I started last year. Would you be interested in a colony for your hives, if you have one? I am finding managing two colonies quite hard going at the moment, and they are also quite close to the house...

On looking into my hives in the last couple of days, for the first time, there has been a lot of drone cells being created at the bottom of the brood frames. It makes it difficult to spot any queen cells when this is the case. I have been removing the extra comb, whether drones are present or...

I may have a nuc available soon from one of my hives. The Queen is a 2013 carnolian. They have had a good winter and have expanded hugely. I don't want any more hives, 2 is enough. Would you be interested? I am based in Abingdon near Oxford so not too far away. Cheers, Rob King

Sorry, forgot to add that both queens are Australian carnolian imports, apparently.

I too have had issues with follower bees causing hassle in the garden this season from a calm colony last year that have expanded a lot this year. My other colony, a smaller colony, have been fine. Why should a rapid expansion result in a change in behaviour like this? I too am contemplating a...

Guard behaviour Since this week being one of staying in having been 'taught a lesson' I thought I would monitor their behavior from afar. They seem to monitor their locality - up to 5 m, possibly further - with peak activity being noon onwards until dusk. If they hear/feel movement coming from...

May I ask whether your bees have been OK since the split? I did an inspection last Saturday and one of my hives has been sending out guard bees to do me in ever since. There seem to be many threads mentioning bees who are being hypersensitive at the moment. I too have a busy brood chamber, but...

Yes, mine have been grumpy since Saturday, the date of my first inspection. One got me yesterday near my right eye so very swollen today. Not sure they, or the few, are in such a mood to defend. Hope it all calms down.

Dear Amari, Just wondered whether the high levels of air pollution may be contributing, not that that helps us. I have been shaken by my angry few since it means I cannot trust them now, and nor can my wife. I am writing this email with a great 'puffer' around my right eye from yesterday's...

Mega defensive bees I had placed a thread on the beginners section about all this, but have just seen exactly the same observation on the main thread, so here goes. My 2 colonies were purchased late last summer and seem to have done well through the winter. They have a Carnolian queen and...

Thank you very much for your advice - very, very useful. I will leave to see what happens.

Highly defensive bees Not sure what is up with mine but we have to be careful when we venture out of the house.... My first brood inspection was on Saturday and I noticed then that they seemed very restless. Since then a few have been on a vendetta to sting any form of life (me, my wife and...

Thanks for this very useful reply. My major concern with their defensiveness is that one of the bees yesterday started to pursue my wife who has been very tolerant of my new hobby, up until now. I am just interested as to why the behavior of one of the colonies seems to have changed - I have...

I have two colonies that were introduced last year, in June. They have doing well over the mild winter, and when I looked at both of them yesterday afternoon, I was stunned at how they had expanded. The smaller of the two colonies still has a couple of frames to use in the brood, but I supered...