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....at least I think that's what it is. I've just been manually extracting 10 frames of honey (using my trusty ice-cream scoop), and four of them were packed out in the middle with what I thought at first was old, rotting brood. I could clearly see what I thought was yellow and dark bands in...

My girls were all over the lavender and hydrangeas in my garden today (never seen them on the latter before).

No shortage of them here, I think i commented in another thread earlier this year, that I'd never seen so many

And rehomed

Just checked the pack and yes, it’s Apilife Var

Well quite. It makes no sense, if they didn’t like it why not just carry it out of the hive? I kept thinking I must be mistaken, but the smell is unmistakable and I can’t imagine what else it could possibly be.

Ahh so you did. Ok consider them yours. Tuesday should be fine, I’ll PM you details

So I made another **** up and this one is painful. I pulled two supers a couple of weeks ago but haven't had time to extract until today. I took three frames (I run a very modest operation) and started uncapping with my trusty spoon. I noticed that some cells seemed to be filled with a very...

None yet...

I'll get your coat

No rain forecast for the south of England next week, with temperatures up around 30 degrees

If you feel good, I feel good, which makes my wife and my dog happy. Look at the happiness you've spread just by posting a couple of sentences...beautifully written as they were

The previous two year saw my bees fill May supers on Quince blossom from a neighbouring orchard (Quince honey is incredible), but this year they seemed to ignore it completely, preferring to forage in neighbour's gardens. Fortunately the June-gap is just a myth around here.

You'll get better advice than mine, but just as an observation. I was in Horsham market last Saturday visiting a friend who owns a stall there. On one of the adjacent stalls there was a guy selling 1/2 lb jars for £5.5, he told me he'd shifted 30 jars and that was at about 4pm. I also saw some...

Yep it was (..a failure as my girls swarmed twice anyway), and also as an insurance against the virgin queen in my hive dying. Despite my hive swarming twice the colony is still large and I'd prefer to do my bit towards increasing colony numbers.

Tempting, but I decided that after weighing up one more hive vs one less wife......the extra hive can wait :rules:

Plenty of pollen and nectar still coming in but it’s very very dry in north Surrey. I keep my birdbath topped up and the bees are often gathered around it having a drink

Following a split last month I have a new queen with a frame or two of brood and attendant bees. I don't want any money for it but if you're happy to provide a jar or two of honey to bide me over until I extract that should be sufficient. You'll need to pick up and bring a nuc so we can...

That's a fair point. I just sort of make it up as I go along...:driving::nature-smiley-016:

At this time of year it's tempting to keep cracking open the hive to see what's happening. Best advice I can give you as a new beekeeper is this. In my first year I was convinced I has purchased the bees from hell, it was only when I slowed down and relied on my instincts more than my studying...