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Wild bees have lots of other factors though, regular swarming/brood breaks, a fixed cavity size chosen by them, often fairly spread out from neighbouring colonies. Maybe this is why they do perfectly well by themselves? A far cry from managed hives, masses of space added throughout out the...

Perhaps there are other reasons for keeping them in a single BB? We had a talk from Tom Seeley a couple of years ago about his 'Darwinian Beekeeping' methods. One of his suggestions as part of this, was limiting brood/nest size to a single BB and single super which would also keep the varroa...

Just by way of an update, it would appear supercedure was the answer! Checked the original hive, and unsurprisingly they had drawn more emergency cells, after nuc'ing the original queen. Left them with one and will leave them alone to sort themselves out now. Real flow on here, nectar dripping...

Good point - they were treated by OA vape in autumn. No signs of DWV, but assume mites are ever present. What are you thinking, mite feeding on the larvae, stunting growth? I can pop the inspection board in and see what the drop is like?

Spotted this very tiny bee during inspections yesterday, any ideas!? Couldn’t see any others and colony is otherwise healthy, just this one little lady. On the bottom frame, way smaller than her sisters, never noticed anything like it before.

I'm awaiting next months' article complaining about poorly mated queens now! :hairpull: Ah interesting. I've been alternating full sheets of worker and starter strips in my BBs, finding the starter strips are invariably drawn as predominantly drone comb, guess it's easier going. Been reading...

Is a lot of 'queen failure' is attributed to the local drone population, or lack thereof? i was slightly dismayed to see in our area/association magazine a group advocating the forking out of drone brood, all in the name of varroa removal and IPM. Surely by the time the bees are raising the...

Hmm, I hope so! Original hive was on brood and half (and a bit, no QX), so 1 standard, and 4 shallows above full of bees. Brood over the standard and 1.5 shallows above. Made up two nucs with two frames of brood each, and a shake of bees. Made up the rest of the box with drawn comb, and spare...

Hi Enrico, thank you for the kind words and reassurance. Much appreciated. My second year of beekeeping, so it feels more like an adrenaline sport at the moment, as opposed to the rural idyll I had in mind!!

Inspected a hive today, despite going through a couple of times, found only 2 queen cells, one capped and one charged, both on the bottom edge of a frame. Regardless or swarming or supercedure, I appreciate with more than one queen or QC, there is the possibility of swarming, so I nuc'd the...

i think you're missing the point. It's not an 'electronic beekeeper', and yes it might actually be of limited practical use in terms of being able to react to it, but for the scientifically and ever curious, they're quite fascinating. I've learnt loads from them, have actually got two monitors...

I rarely use a QX either. In conjunction with adding space just above the brood nest it let's the bees do as they please in terms of nest size. Most of my mongrels seem to end up around brood and a half anyway, and once there's an arc of honey above, it acts as a natural QX, and she's reluctant...

Interesting read, I used to live in the same area before I moved back to Cornwall. Best of luck with your bees @EastEndBees, be really interested to hear how it goes.

Ah how interesting. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/12/section/1 Found the act here. It says ‘any’ bees, so assume it must apply to wild colonies too?

I guess it’s a bit like dunking witches! Have to cut them out to inspect, by which time it’s probably too late if they are disease free? Or they’d end up rehomed in a conventional hive… How much authority do bee inspectors have? Hypothetically, what would happen with abandoned hives in a...

Thanks Wilco, yes I agree it is a complete unknown the actual distribution of hive types, feral colonies and the like. Of all the swarms I've caught or collected (that were not my own), i've only ever had one with a marked queen, so always curious as to where they actually come from. As for...

I wonder how many tree/log hive owners there are? Would hazard a guess there are just as many, if not more unregistered beekeepers, or abandoned hives that aren't listed on beebase, that are also blissfully unaware of foulbrood. Not saying it's right or wrong, but before we start slinging mud...

Presumably, nothing.

People are always quick to criticise a ‘simple’ idea that isn’t theirs. Good for him, find a market, make a product, advertise, sell it. More to it than just hollowing out a log.

Sounds like a @Black Mountain Honey experiment video in the making… premium foundation, old brittle foundation and hairdryered foundation and see if there’s any difference/preference by the bees. Hell, could even spray one with sugar syrup to see if it makes them move up faster 😂😉