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I did in 2014. Nice to do less work and get more honey.. (Just saying)

Simple inspect each hive with no gloves. The one with the most stings is the culprit.. (which is in practise what I do: count stings and requeen the worst)

They do NOT have a monopoly: BS Honey Bees nuc boxes are interchangeable 100%. You can but cheap seconds on ebay. I was brought up in Scotland and know these things..:cool:

I make up nucs to sell to beginners.. to supplement honey sales (a good thing this year!) Early May I made up twp nucs using capped brood from the horrible hive I was "donated",Necessity.. rather than want. Unfortunately the emerged capped brood turned out to be even more evil than the parent...

? I lose about 70% of my bees in each hive from summer to winter - normal colony performance. I do not lose 30% of my colonies over winter since becoming semi proficient after a couple of years of beekeeping..(In my first year I lost ...err none) And this chart suggest the 30% losses are US...

Checked on two queens which emerged late May and were not laying last week. After five warm days, both are now laying.

Well you cannot dunk her in set honey:D Runny honey

Use them in mini nus with no issues every year. Wax starter strips.

Dunk virgin in honey.Place in mini nuc. Bees will welcome her by eating the honey

I overwinter hives in insulated boxes with minimal ventilation. (Slowly discarding OMF floors). Poly nucs? I use as supplied. Last Winter losses in a cold windy and damp place were MUCH lower than my beekeeping colleagues on OMFs. - (150- 250meters above sea level, edge of Staffordshire Moorlands)

Extracted spring honey yesterday. With 25% more colonies than last year, 3 weeks later and roughly half last year's yield of 140 lbs.

An answer based on the principle: if stuck in a hole of your own making, change the subject. :cool:

"and do nothing that might harm the wild bees around us" Selective breeding means your bloodlines are different. They will mate with local bees, Unless you have years of data on local bees , you have no means of knowing. If your words were an advert the Advertising Standards Authority would...

Yesterday put test frames in two nucs. Today found virgin/? mated queens on the open brood in each.. That simplifies queen finding - difficult in the horrible weather we have had. Marked both.. Found virgin?/mated queen in a full hive- one "donated" to me when Q- Set up nicot queen rearing in...

If you really really believe in avoiding human breeding of animals, you would drink no milk (cows are bred) eat no pigs (as cows), eat no bread (a bred strain of grass), and then you could have the moral high ground.. Putting the genie back in the lamp is impossible.

You want a 9led hand torch.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=aluminium+hand+torch&_sacat=0&_odkw=aluminium+hand+otrch&_osacat=0 Light, pocketable //

Not when it's 12C or 14C

Even small Qs can be good if properly mated..

Sold my last two saleable nucs today making eleven in total this year . One colony swarmed yesterday, collected from hawthorn tree and rehoused. Down to 19 colonies from a peak of 24. Still too many. Will try extracting next week as forecast says it will be over 18C - currently 14C and cloudy...

I feed any time. But using Maisie/BS nucs with built in feeders so no spillage. No robbing.