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Opened up the relevant hive over the weekend to get an idea of what was going on within the hive. They were probably the calmest I have ever seen them which was a complete turnaround and unexpected. I had tried to source a queen during the week but no luck until about mid June here so will...

As of this morning I moved all my hives - 3 nucs and 2 hives - a further 500m down the site and we’ll out of the way of any people or livestock so hopefully that deals with any imminent issues. I closed up and ventilated all the hives last night and will try leaving them all closed for 3 days...

Definitely death by sting, the poor creatures but I’ll look up the local guidance. They are black bees yes. A lively hive before the split but I wasn’t particularly concerned. The Q+ part of the split was actually very docile when I had a quick look in today to check on things. Would them being...

Today, was probably the worst possible day I could have had beekeeping and I can’t imagine there will be many worse in the future. I have a queenless part of a split I did last week - brood box and super. I wanted to check to see if there were any queen cells and that all was going to plan. I...

Yes, you’re right Blackthorn - flowers before leaves - I always get those two mixed up. Thanks for the reassurance!

Quite a bit in flower at the moment - dandelion, the end of the willow, hawthorn in a big way the last week or so, bird cherry, plums are starting and there has been a constant supply of whin/gorse in recent weeks. I don’t see any fighting at the entrance or wax out front. It just looks like a...

So it’s been a few days since I split the 2 nucs (Monday). Both nucs were quiet for the first 2 days then yesterday the nuc on the pallet started to see a good bit of activity out front while the one on the roof has none. I was thinking, could this be robbing as I wouldn’t have expected to see...

Thanks, that’s really useful.

I’ve been reading up on the Demeree methodology for swarm prevention - thanks to JBM for the useful blog post. Could this method be used to split a strong colony into 2? If you were doing this, would you still complete the Demeree as described or would you potentially split the brood box 2...

Thanks for the replies. Checked both nucs this morning when adding a small bit of syrup. Bees covering all 3 frames in both nucs so hopefully a successful operation. I won’t open the main hive for a few weeks. Now we wait for the queens!

Another question before I forget, when should I have another look inside the hive/nucs to make sure all going to plan?

Brood and a half inspected 10 days ago (Friday April 7) before I went away returning today. The hive looked pretty full, brood over 6 frames in the Brood Box and maybe 3 or 4 up in the super which I had left on over winter. I did notice a lot of stores, and a lot of capped honey which I was very...

When does Asparagus usually appear? I planted about 6 plants I grew from seed last year. I see one where the spear has broken the surface but none of the others. I thought they were on the earlier side and had all but given up hope.

Came across an article on a new method of Varroa treatment - Hive Guard - which is essentially an entrance block infused with thymol. Simply, The bees coming in and out of the hive come into contact with the thymol and kills off the mites. Additionally the block slowly releases the thymol...

2 apivar strips in the brood box in October for 4 weeks. Maybe not long enough?

First winter as a new Beek with 3 hives, 2 started from nucs and 1 swarm from one of the original nucs. The two original hives have done well. Warm weather over the last couple of days has seen both hives out in big numbers and I see a good bit of dark yellow pollen coming in. One has a super...

Has anyone ever used wooden wicks? If so, any good? I have a couple and a few tins I was going to try out.

It’s worked out quite well. No doubt it’s a budget version and a few tweaks were required. I got a spring harvest without any blowouts on my foundationless supers and used them again for the autumn harvest without any issues either. A pal then used it for his harvest without issue. It’ll do...

The bees have been hunkered down for the last two weeks or so around here with little activity outside the hives. Today has been the first still and clear day in a while, but still cold at 7-8 degrees. However, I noticed the bees were very active (the pic below is from the weakest of my hives)...

Thanks. Is there a way I can get some honey to crystallise though? I don’t have any that has crystallised at the moment or is it just a waiting game?