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I was thinking the same thing. The sheer numbers would I worry put undue strain on a new nuc which with the new queen arriving next week, could be 5+ weeks of any new brood & hence workers.

No, I'm not 100% sure and I'm still (just...) in my first year of beekeeping so this is all new to me. That said, there are a lot of drones - and probably 10 times as much drone brood as in a nearby black bee hive. I didn't see any obvious worker brood when splitting, although there were eggs. I...

I was suspicious that I had a drone laying queen on last inspection. Anyhow, upon going into the hive today to split it into 3 in preparation for new queens arriving on Wednesday week, she's definitely 'turned' - drone brood everywhere...nicely laid up on the whole too. Thankfully there are...

By way of encouragement, I caught two swarms last year as a total beginner with no old comb at all. Everything was new and I used lemongrass oil. Good luck!

Many thanks everyone - very helpful.

A couple of months ago I found a hive queenless with a drone laying worker. I shook it out and stored all the frames; now I need to do something with them. There are repeated instances of drone brood on the frames, with larvae still in their cells. Before re-using any frames should I cut these...

You're spot on - they are hybride & don't breed trier. However, i was mulling over what i could do to increase the odds of retaining as much 'Buckfast' as i could.

Good thinking! I'll give that a go.

Thanks for that. The egg pic was really because I liked it! It also shows pattern too in that the queen is laying up sections at a time rather than 1 here and there.

I thought the same as you, however as she's been so slow to get moving i'm looking for reasons....paranoid i think! We love our location too ♥️.

Thanks for that. She's just so slow.....driving me crazy! I'll see how the pattern progresses.

I have a hive which has kicked off really slowly this season (I'm someway south of most of you in France near the Spanish border). Whereas other hives are now on their 5th frame of brood this one if just completing its first. Some capped brood, mainly eggs and larvae though - come the weekend...

I opened the hive as it was 22°C today which I appreciate may be a tad warmer than where you are. To be fair, 22°C is a bit weird for here in February but still... I hadn't realised that queens could not lay at all for 2 months or more in your example, so whilst with my limited knowledge that...

Last August I started 2 Buckfast colonies using queens I bought - they were both marked by the supplier. They were still there in November. Roll forward a couple of months &: one I can't find but I know is there . 4 nice frames of brood and starting on the 5th. Either the paint has come off of...

Absolutely. A couple of years ago we got a big dump of snow at the beginning of March - it even snowed on the mediterranean beaches so people were a little shell shocked! Still, you can't control the weather so you either have a go (within the bounds of being reasonable) or do nothing.

And in your neck of the woods, when (roughly) do you start to see reasonable activity from the hive & when does the first flow start? I'm guessing there's a gap of 3 to 4 weeks between the two?

I think my wife would prefer if I could only do beekeeping for 4 months a year!

Ah well you know how it can be in Spring here then. For me as a beginner it brings its own problems mind you. Forums, both French & English, tend to reflect a weather pattern a little more northerly than here & I find very few threads from beekeepers around the south coast. So for example I've...

Almond blossom started last week and mimosa for pollen the week before.

It almost seems mean to give it back to them...... I can tap it with a screwdriver and leave no mark!