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I was called about a swarm this morning and went out to have a look. A nice size swarm that I was going to go and pick up later but just called to say that it has flown away! Anyway, the chap reckoned it had swarmed from his next door neighbours old shed. I asked to see it and it is a big old...

I inspected yesterday. Other than being a bit chaotic as I didn't have sufficient frames when I moved from nuc to brood box and having to use super frames and super foundation in brood frames so lots of wild comb it all looks good in there. Saw the queen but didn't mark her as she was fast as...

Happened to me a few weeks ago and I posted on here too! Mine was a swarm into a weak colony in a nuc. Quickly swapped into a brood box and they seem happy. About to inspect in 5...

I now need to upgrade my Nuc to a proper hive!

So this has just happened to me. I have a very weak colony in my garden that I rescued lat last year. I wasn't sure that I had managed to get the queen in the rescue (from a compost bin) but after the winter they were still going, spotted the queen and there was a small amount of brood. I've...

Out of interest is this likely to stop the swarm urge - surely if they are united the size of the colony will mean they are likely to try and swarm again anyway? Separate note a friend of mine performed (his first) AS and has noticed queen cells in the new (old queen) hive. Should these be...

I did my first inspection last Saturday having had planned inspections put off by work and weather. I had a super below the brood box. The brood box was full with brood on 8 frames and the super was nearly full. If the super hadn't been there then they would probably have run out of space...

I keep one of my hives on a friends piece of land (about an acre) - he keeps it as a nature garden and loves having them down there. I had to move one of the hives last year as it became very aggressive and he kept getting stung. I performed my first proper inspection last weekend having not...

Just reading another thread about swarming in the first season. Last year was my first season and I performed an artificial swarm into a new hive. I now have 2 plus a colony I rescued, although I think they may not survive having looked in the other day... This year how do I avoid going to 4...

There is OSR but I removed the OSR honey in May/June last year after the flow, there is still solid honey in the frames however. Just wondering if it will continue to 'contaminate' my honey this year

Last year I had a really poor honey crop which was disappointing as it was my second years beekeping. I got no clear honey at all in August - when I extracted I left the honey to settle for 24 hours in the extractor and it hardened. After the extraction there was still lots of crystallised...

Also if I move it back to where it was will that not confuse the bees that are out and about today? Aaagh.

Not really. The hive came into the garden in November so there hasn't been much activity. I was hoping this would mean a move wouldn't affect them much but it seems to have. It's not a large garden and they have gone from one corner to another.

So a few questions. Firstly the colony I 'rescued' from the compost bin last year is now in a Poly in my garden. There is a fair bit of activity so there are still some bees alive several months later - are these likely to be the same bees (winter) and not a sign of a healthy colony or does...

Interesting. I was going to post a similar thread. My question was more to do with a colony that I re-homed about a month ago from a neighbours compost bin - some may recall. The NUC is now in my garden and I have seen a fair amount of activity. I still have no idea if I collected the queen...

So next question. It's been a few days now - should I inspect the colony in the NUC or simply move it? It's a nice day but cold so am I just going to do more damage?

Excession - a. I didn't have a brood box. b. I wanted to act relatively fast as the colony had been badly disturbed and damaged so was using the tools I had to hand. c. Due to be close to freezing tonight and given the round bin square brood box scenario not convinced it would have worked...

Operation, Phase 1, complete. I laid a sheet down next to the bin - I couldn't physically lift it away as it was the type that opens direct to the ground so would have resulted in dumping the contents. The colony was larger than I first realised - I would say at least as many bees as in my...

I went to Bromsgrove School!

I spoke to my bee buddy. He believes that they will not survive the winter as they are as the space is too big, too poorly insulated and the frames are damaged. He recommended attempting to rehive as they have little to use. I have ordered a Poly-Nuc, with integral feeder, from ------ for...