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Ref 2. If no risk of disease I put them in a feeder above a crownboard for the bees to clean out, which they usually do leaving lovely clean wax behind.

Pretty certain I didn’t. I shook the bees off in both which I always do if I see play cups. Why swarm when you have a new laying queen & plenty of space having recently been split? Addendum to this - both queens were clipped and wouldn’t have got very far if that was the case….

Haven’t seen a single wasp, hardly any butterflies (although a few cabbage whites have found the kale 🙁) but lots of bumbles in the garden.

For me - previous inspection 6 days ago - queen seen & BIAS, a few play cups (zero charged QCs). 6 days later, no eggs, queen disappeared and sealed QCs.

Interesting as I’ve never lost a queen like this and I always mark and clip my queens. I’ve heard from other beekeepers having the exact same issues. Just seems odd.

Not new genetics as they were from splits. Nice and cleanly marked (unusually for me!) and don’t believe I damaged them when clipped. Others seem to have experienced the same issue this year 🤔

I posted this on my Instagram account & had several people replying to say they had the same thing happen recently.

Both queens were clipped - is it possible she/they flopped out into the grass and never made it back but the bees returned to the hive?

Copious - at least a dozen. Both were new queens (from early July) and were clipped so can’t get far. Odd that they produced capped QCs so fast and it didn’t look like I had lost bees, still full of honey in the supers and space in both hives was good. 🤔

Clipped and marked two new queens today. Also had two hives where the queen has gone AWOL. No sign of her majesty in either hive, no eggs or young brood but copious sealed QCs despite only having been inspected 6 days ago (when both only had play cups that were all knocked down). Both were this...

Didn’t feel lucky at the beginning of June when they ate everything they had brought in through April & May and I was putting fondant on all the hives! We’ve had incredibly variable weather with gales and torrential rain followed by sun but the bees have been heading out at every opportunity.

Absolutely fab!

Reputedly not. The honey is often marked as coming from one source (eg sunflowers) and I am lead to understand that Trading Standards have shown interest..... She stomped into a local cafe that I supply and demanded to know why they didn't sell her honey. The owner calmly told her that they know...

Bonkers house prices here. We couldn’t afford our house if we were buying now.

Hmmmm, the Russian lady that sells from there is a bit of a divisive figure locally…

Bramble still flowering here along with privet, rosebay willowherb, ragwort & thistles around the hedges. Gardens are yielding mint, persicaria, globe thistles, echium, rudbeckia, sea daisies, mallow, Japanese spindle, borage, oregano and I’ve even seen bees on verbena this year.

Ran virgin queens into mating nucs. They were roaring and quickly quietened down to a contented hum. Lots of activity at the home hives - two hives had QCs recently emerge so possibly excitement over orientation flights.

Hah! Was that on the Birdham Road by any chance near a Nisa store? Yes forage is great here & bees uber busy. Took off a mini extraction of 95lbs last week and they’re still piling it in. Most hives have at least 4 supers on and they will need to be cleared soon as getting too heavy to lift...

No room at the inn?

Worth checking the uncapped. I was taking frames of only half capped honey at 17.5% a few days ago.