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I had two - a Buckfast which was slow to get going but has been really good and a Ligustica which has been a complete pain - very swarmy and not that productive. Despite not wanting to breed from her, I've had to split the colony several times!

Very apt on this topic.....

I bought a few queens and am now bombarded with emails on a regular basis....

It's a breach of data rules - sharing data without any lawful basis is unlawful. I have never had any contact with Hagen's Bees, therefore they have nefariously obtained my contact details from somewhere which is not allowed. I have asked them where they obtained my email address, no reply yet...

That’s just ridiculous 🙄

Because it’s not allowed and if not enforced, if you think you get a lot of junk & spam now…..

When or if you join your local BKA, ask about having a mentor when you start with a hive (or more) - I found mine to be invaluable and very supportive.

Since I have never visited their site nor responded to anything to do with Hagen's Bees (the first I knew about it was this post on the forum), they need to respond to my email advising where they obtained my data or I will be having a chat with the Information Commissioners Office....

I've just found the email in my junk folder (where it belongs!) and have written back to ask where they obtained my contact details as I consider it a GDPR issue. Let's see what the response is as I am inclined to make a complaint...

I had to requeen a very tetchy hive in June. They were better after about 4 weeks but I reckon it took over two months for them to be properly nice! You’ve not only got the current fizzy bees but also all the unhatched brood with potentially a similar temperament.

Bees enjoying the eupatorium today.

Bees in the garden all over the apple mint, persicaria, globe thistles & eupatorium. Sedums are just starting to colour up and the asters are coming into flower. They’ve found the mixed field of phacelia & buckwheat nearby - lots of dark purple pollen in the hives.

Give it a year, they’ll be popping up everywhere!

Ooh that’s interesting. I’ve never bothered with hydrangeas as I thought they weren’t sufficiently bee worthy. It’s one of the few shrubs that tolerates our salty windy conditions.

Still only seen a couple around the hives and they’re ignoring my yummy jam & beer concoction. The slugs though are committing suicide on a nightly basis.

The bees were a bit defensive yesterday but think you’re right, can’t waste the opportunity of some more lovely honey!

Found three new queens in hives which were without a few weeks ago - one is a lovely, if quite small, very dark queen. Took some filled frames out of a particularly heavy hive as it was getting too heavy to move the supers around. Sold a queen I had raised in a mating nuc last week and they’ve...

I gave my bee brush away (somebody bought me one for Christmas i think). It ends up sticky and really annoys the bees. If I’m at home a cut a nice bushy sprig of rosemary's or a big handful of grass in the out apiary.

Good grief, that’s huge!

Finished the inspections I abandoned yesterday as it became very cloudy and the bees got very defensive, so I stopped and it started raining within 20 minutes. Some very heavy supers on the home hives so swapped in some foundation just so I can lift them off next time. Beautiful capped comb...