Recent content by Saffabee

I have read about this before and it worries me as I only got stung once last year through my nitrile gloves and because I have the gloves I can pull the sting out pretty quick so don’t get any reaction. Haven’t been stung so far this year. Wondering if I should purposely get stung to ensure I...

No not sad, it is the one thing that helps drag me out of the end of winter blues when days are grey and miserable watching the bees start to fly gives me the boost I need to see me through the Feb and March period, knowing that winter will soon be coming to an end! Roll on the warm days of...

Thanks Pargyle Good tip you are right no need to waste a whole frame. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No problem, the hive is still quite full of bees so I can steal a frame of eggs from another hive. Some of the capped brood does look like worker but the majority is drone. So they may have got a fertilised egg. I was just checking if they would only cap a queen cell with a queen in it. I will...

I am sure I am right in thinking but bees would not cap a drone in a queen cell. I have a drone layer and there is plenty of capped drone cells there is however 2 or 3 clear elongated queen cells which are capped. I was going to throw them out as I thought they would be to old to save after the...

Went to check the hives today and all were bringing in loads of pollen all very active, spring has certainly sprung! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

For people with Maisemore hives and vaping I made a tray that fits under the mesh floor and slides in where the varroa floor fits. I bought the cheap vape from Th***s. Pictures in the link below. https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=579930&postcount=20184 I find I just had to put a...

I am near Epping Forest in IG10 I have 5 Nucs on 14 x 12 frames that are all headed by 2018 Queens which were bred from my Carnica queens. I did a full inspection on all of them today and they are all on 3-4 combs of BIAS and 2-3 stores and pollen. Boxes are full of bees and they were all calm...

I started with 1 and then had two by the end of that year and I spent 1 hour a week checking through them in the summer and 1 hour a week staring at nothing moving through the clear perspex crown board in the winter (you laugh but I guarantee you will do the same). 2nd year I spent 1 hour...

I have this currently in my hives and have had it every year for the last 3 years, it sounds like a high pitched buzzing/ pipping sound and it doesn't come from the queen it seems to come from the workers. I have held up a frame that i know doesn't have the queen on and heard it and when i pin...

I have the same. I have wasp traps down and they are starting to fill up. Colonies all strong, but loads of bees guarding the entrances, even Nucs have at least 20 bees in a clump outside the entrances. Hopefully when the wasps turn to sweet feeding the bees will escalate the guard duties...

Mine are bringing in orange pollen as well and I have noticed that after the rains around London the Privet seems to be getting ready for another round of flowering not as profuse as during June or start of July but all those flowers wilted in the heat so they are probably going to give it...

Just to make it clear when I said give them a laying queen I was meant combining with a nuc I have as I have too many from splits and buying new queens to get rid of some nasty hives and then not combining to keep number of hives down.

I agree I would normally wait about 6 weeks before I would do anything but I have too many hives and this was an excuse to combine to reduce numbers. But when she started laying I went soft and gave her a chance to see what see can do. But then the following inspection they are superseding her...

Thanks Finman, I did think I might do that I have doubled the number of hives I had since last year so can combine with one of my queens that is already in full swing and yes I am sure that the workers must be on the older side now. Might be better than wasting time wondering what is happening