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End of season: beans, mugwort, ragwort, and thistle.

Just noticed - you beat me to it!

I'm sure that's good advice but the solution sometimes takes time, a bit like soil improvement in the garden. In the meantime, as others have said, Marigolds (especially black ones) can do the job. Sometimes I wear very tight fitting leather gloves with latex inside to protect the leather from...

Do clearer boards work if there isn't brood underneath?

Very nice. And a lot cheaper than building a conservatory, which is where I warm supers if need be.

so glad to hear you say that :)

I have a colony that is suddenly queenless. Should I reduce the emergency cells to one at this time of year? There are about 20 cells. This is in a big colony which lost their new queen when I picked her up to mark her, and two bees clung to her and stung her. (After that happened to me, I saw...

:ROFLMAO:

Thanks.

My question really is, can I keep these colonies in nuc boxes by removing frames of brood, or have I missed that boat and now have to put them in bigger boxes, possibly dummied down as suggested above?

Me too actually. It was efficient and merciless.

I asked ChatGPT about my excess pollen frames question above and got the usual full (or fulsome) reply. It looks good and I guess it's mostly obvious but I'd forgotten about the option to freeze frames in plastic bags for when needed later. I don't suggest you read this below, but this is what...

My first wasp sighting this year was handed to me on my dinner plate last night. My host was quite unapologetic, apparently assuming that my relationship with insects included sharing my meal with this uninvited guest.

I like these! One of the few I know by its proper name: Volucella zonaria.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that, and might be able to do so when I consolidate colonies on to single brood. At the moment, with nucs almost full of brood and bees, I feel the situation is untenable and I'll have to give them room fast, one way or another.

Well, I wanted to over-winter nucs, not make more full-size colonies. Are you saying that I no longer have that option? I know that, for a range of purposes, people make nucs in summer for the following spring. Can you suggest how I could have done this differently, or might still do, if things...

1. How should I deal with brood boxes filling up with frames of pollen, such as after a broodless period? 2. I have made a number of nucs for over wintering - a first for me. Perhaps I started them too soon but they are full to bursting now. If I continuously remove brood frames to give room...

Bet you loved the chance to say that.

Created this scene of chaos in the rain. On the right was a hive with a failing/failed queen. I decided to unite them with a very strong nuc on the left. In the middle is a stack of supers with a nuc on top, entrance facing the other way. I had to find a deep box for the nuc plus an empty super...

Scabious and white spider