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If I had only one hive, and two cells, I would split the hive in two nucs, and put them right next to each other on the stand, so the flyers go into both equally. Put one cell in each. Hedges your bets. If only one gets mated, you can recombine easily. If both get mated, you have options.

Nothing wrong with that! I had assumed it probably wasn't going to be Birmingham

Welcome! Please put your location in your profile?

Why not just extract it? Don't they fit in your extractor? Bees never want to move honey downwards, it's against all their instincts. Put the brood box with honey in right at the bottom of the hive. Bees don't want honey there so will move it upwards. Make sure they have lots of space in the...

I keep bees in an urban situation, albeit behind high hedges/trees. Like most people I also don't have the luxury of a nice secluded out apiary I can shuffle a hive off to. If I suddenly had a hive turn truly nasty, stinging our neighbours badly, and it persisted for more than a day (so wasn't...

Of course! Bees are bees to most people. Probably 70% of our calls are actually about bumblebees. When tree bumbles are in mating season, this rises to 90%, given their predilection for "in your face" locations such as bird boxes.

If only it was that simple .....

Not yet. Look again in a week. We're assuming there's plenty of nectar and pollen in there?

To be fair, Seeley's presentation makes clear that the wild nests he measured vary hugely in size.

Yes, probably

Most of those are drones. Sometimes a hive will decide that it can't sustain the number of drones it has, and will kick some out. They hang around the entrance until they starve and die. I suspect that's a large part of what you are seeing.

No

Just to check, you haven't shaken another hive out in the vicinity, in recent weeks, have you?

No queen in where? There's a queen in the nuc.

I would always use something a LOT stronger than an FFP2 For first time OAV'ers like me, this is a good low-cost mask, with top-grade protection, to try out the concept: 3M 4279+ Maintenance Free Half Mask, FFABEK1P3 R D Filters : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

I used to do all this but now I'm the opposite. I am not claiming to be breeding better genetics, simply acting as a responsible host and letting them sort their own genetics out, so there really isn't any point in long-winded notes and endless boxes to fill in. My stands have numbers, not the...

Inspected a tiny swarm collected 3 days ago. 1 frame of bees, if that. Drawing empty queen cups in desperation so, as I suspected, obviously not in a sustainable position. Shook them off their frame and placed them in front of another nuc, containing a large swarm from 2 days ago, and they all...

I have gone for a manual Abelo/Lyson for now, knowing that I can buy their bolt-on electric motor later if I want to. I suspect I will be OK without it. Can't comment on the quality yet as haven't used it in anger .....

Great outcome! Thanks for the update

Someone asked what methods you used and you refused to say, so I think it's fair to assume that jeff33 is not directing this question at you.