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Noted. Thanks.

I checked the parent hive on day 6 after the split and all the swarm cells had gone. As I expected, I couldn’t find the queen in the parent hive but she was laying. So I let the artificial swarm raise a queen and did not disturb it. On day 14 it swarmed for real. I thought that was too soon for...

I just split a hive which was about to swarm. I am following the procedure described by Wally Shaw as Snelgrove II modified. So in the original place of the parent hive I now have an artificial swarm set up with 2 frames of brood from the parent hive and that parent, complete with queen, is...

I only have two for each hive but I changed the order to put the fullest on top for what that's worth.

I syringed a few samples of honey from frames which are almost completely capped and the moisture content is 20%. So far I have not removed the frames for extraction but I really do need to give the bees some more space for storing nectar very soon and I can hardly pick the supers up already...

Thanks for that, I will remember it for next time - they have absconded since my post. Fortunately I am surrounded by nature reserve. I have more bees than I have space for having split both my hives to avoid swarming - unsccessfully. I want to stay at two hives but each year I have to give 2 or...

I have a swarm of my bees lodged on the trunk of a tree almost at ground level and they have been there 48 hours now. With previous swarms I have usually managed to get them into boxes and recover the bees by shaking them to the ground or cutting a branch but that is not possible this time. I...

Thanks for these. I was able to lift the top brood box OK. I think I may have jumped the gun by adding it because there was some but not much brood in it and it was full of honey at the expense of space in the supers which were empty for the season. That's why I split the hive the following year...

OK, here's a reply for you. What possible benefit does a reply like yours offer to anyone? And what, I wonder is a Beekeeping Supporter? Are you doing it now?

Thanks. This year single brood boxes. I had two deep brood boxes when I started with just one hive but ran into difficulties managing that configuration and split the hive into two. That was successful for last year but I have had difficulty managing this year.

Thanks for this. To answer your question I have been pretty diligent with weekly inspections until I ran into some difficulty keeping up this spring. I do understand the undesirability of swarms to neighbours as I said in my OP. Of the swarms from my two hives up until today, I boxed one and...

Last year I split my one hive into two to prevent swarming having had one swarm the previous year - my first in beekeeping. Splitting the hive was successful last year but two is enough hives for me so that option is not available. This year I have already had a good harvest but I have also had...

One of my two hives has filled the super with 90%+ capped already on all ten frames. I added a second super two weeks ago and there is comb started on a few frames. Should I be thinking about harvesting some or all frames in the full super now or is it too early?

OK thanks. I got another hive and did a Pagden split about ten days ago. There were just three swarm cells in the making with larvae present all on one frame in the existing hive. Found the queen and put her on her frame in the new hive, original site. The entrance to the existing hive without...

Last year I added a second brood chamber to avoid overcrowding/ lack of laying space in my hive. (I had already had one swarm). The consequence of that was the bees had no interest in the super but did store enough honey in the brood chambers to last through the winter without any supplemental...

This is an enlarged photo of the board under my hive following prescribed 6 week Apivar treatment. I am assuming that the mini M&M's are varroa and submit this for information of other novices. I left the wing in shot for size comparison. These mites were not visible to me in hive inspection ( a...

I have opened the hive to inspect my bees religiously every week (I do it Sundays) since I got them in May. Is there a time of year or weather change when I should stop doing that and leave them alone for the winter? East Midlands.

Clearly this thread parted from the OP's (my) topic pretty quickly - as forums do - but I got good advice politely given before it did.

Understood thank you.

Thank you for your detailed answer. 1am?! I have inspected every week from the start but I did not realise that the queen was running out of laying space. I am specifically looking out for that now. There is nothing in the super although mostly drawn. I can preserve that for next year. When I...