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I’m out in my garden enjoying the sun and downwind from the rosemary and roses at the gate, and also my hive. Every now and then there’s a gentle waft of warm breeze which carries the scent of all three to where I’m lying. I’ve got a cold beer (Surrey Hills Brewery’s ‘Shere Drop’) next to me...

Is she bookable?

Stop being coy, just tell me, no-one else needs to know. Surely Wales is resplendent

Just carried out my first successful split. I have a new mated queen in a NUC with stores and the last of the old queens emerging brood, Just wondering if there's an optimal time for moving them into a new hive, should I wait until the new queen has capped brood?

My hive is tucked away in a corner, surrounded on two sides by a 3m hedge and to its rear by a sort of tree-house on stilts. Under the tree-house is a wood pile, and in the wood pile is a nest of bumbles. This means the entrance to the bumble nest is only 1.5m from my hive. I carried out an...

Not sure if it's the same in other parts of the country, but in Surrey I've never seen so many flowers in May. Just looking around my neighbours' gardens it's obvious that both fauna and flora are thriving this year. I've just added a 4th super to my hive and will need to pull at least 15 full...

I've only seen one feral colony in a tree and that was last summer on Ashtead Common (near Epsom). I walked past the same spot a week ago and there are still bees in the tree.

We all need to take what we want from the hobby. Some people love the science and intricacies, some love the farming element, I love the just watching the bees and learning what I can without getting too involved. As long as the bees are healthy and we're having fun, that's all that matters

I can only speak for myself, but I'm a shoot from the hip kind of beekeeper and my bees are my Wildbunch Outlaws. We follow no rules, actively embrace frowned-upon techniques and seek only the demise of the BBKA authoritarian tyranny through successful and disrespectful amateurishness. Yeeeeeeha

Right cheers.

I'm attempting a split and I'm curious as to the fate of the workers if the split fails and the new queen is not successful. Can they be reintroduced to their old colony? Is there a time frame beyond which reintroducing them would be bad?

I needed to add a super in a hurry last year and went with foundation less frames. I found no difference in the ease of extracting honey or general working with those frames. Good luck with your first colony

Heh, there can't be many hobbies in the world where extra safety precautions call for the donning of Marigolds

I think he meant days

Thank you both. It felt a bit back-to-front when compared with the advice given in the guide books, but it felt instinctively right. We shall see

I've been lucky with swarms over the last three years, each time I've caught them as they've left and donated to other beeks. But this year I'm a bit concerned that the hive remains packed with bees and I want to avoid a caste swarm. So here's what I did - I don't know if it will work or if...

I'd be surprised if they start filling the new comb with stores before your new queen starts laying, even if they do it will be offset by brood emerging from the existing comb, which will create more space.

Thank you. It's nice when things go right isn't it

My girls swarmed today, leaving the hive surprisingly full of stores and bees and a queen that emerged the same afternoon. Managed to catch the swarm and donate to a fellow beekeeper. I set out on this hobby to try and help bees and now in my 4th year I've had three successful over-winters...

I have one and I'm very impressed with it.