Search results

Seems like a it's all gibberish then :laughing-smiley-004 Thanks for indulging me

I caught a swarm in a bait hive in May. They're the gentlest and least aggressive bees I've come across, I don't recall one attempt at a sting all summer. The downside is that in total they've only managed to fill 5 frames worth of honey, which is clearly sub par. There's no evidence of...

Blackberry blossom and clover here. I have a large hedge around the garden containing the former so it's been nice to see my bees making a very short trip to and from it.

Indeed, and if I've learned anything from 6 years of beekeeping, it's that anyone who tells you he knows the only way of doing something, is usually wrong.

All the best learning comes from Youtube

Wait until you see eggs before transferring frames from the lure to the regular hive. I've watched enough Youtube videos from Tennessee farmers to know that's best practice

I just went to move them and there was a little sign on the door saying 'this place is no good, gone to look for a lay line'. Beekeeping is so hard

I'm too scared to say now.

Roger, will do, thanks

About 30 feet in fact. Just have to hope a combination of ladder, bee-filled box and my dodgy ankle don't result in calamity

That's contrary to what I understood to be best practice, but I'm happy to go with it. Thanks

I've asked on another thread about settle time for the swarm, I don't want to move them too quickly. Much of my beekeeping equipment (hives and NUCS) were crushed by a falling tree back in the Spring, so I find myself with only one of each that is serviceable. The scouts were buzzing around...

I have one out, filled up this morning with a medium sized Buckfast swarm. I had the lure under a cherry tree which blossomed profusely last week and was covered in foragers

Happy to report that a medium sized swarm crawled into my lure hive this morning. It's a five frame NUC, I used lemongrass oil on a cotton wool bud and included three frames of old comb and two frames with wax foundation. The box was located at a height of 10 feet, under the cherry tree in my...

Sadly, no. Work commitments always kept me from joining the local BKA and I simply don't know anyone else in the area who practices the hobby

Thanks for the encouragement, I feel a bit more positive now.

It was a crappy winter, made redundant just before Christmas, one of my queens died unexpectedly in January and both of my remaining colonies were obliterated by a tree which came down during the big storm in February. So it's now mid March and I find myself with two rebuilt hives, no bees and...

Thanks for the replies. No one fancy a stab at why the new queen would have swarmed so late and the prolific laying of her daughter?

Easily enough brood for a split, that's a great idea, thanks

It's all worker brood now, a full national brood box and about 18 full super frames. The last of the drones have just finished hatching.