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I had empty drawn or undrawn DN frames beside the frames of brood.

Well, I didn't prevent them from starting swarming preps because I left too much brood with the Queen in the first colony (I should have moved more or all of it). So, I failed in the Demaree's primary purpose... though my own fault. It did, however, produce the means to increase the number of...

I tried the Demaree last year on a couple of WBC hives. My main mistake was leaving it too late/being too reluctant to move brood from the bottom brood-box to the top. This year I plan to intervene a little earlier and a little more decisively. I also created upper entrances but, because they...

Well, as stated by someone else: to prevent laying-up of the super. But I hear the consensus of opinion which is: take it out. Thank you all.

So, when putting a colony to bed for the winter with a super of stores above the BB, should the QE be left in place between them, or taken out. I can see logic for both answers but would appreciate if someone could point me to the right one.

When I arrived at the hives this morning there was another big hornet hovering around near the entrance. Then, as I watched, it grabbed a wasp that was also loitering there.

It's tricky though, isn't it. The last lot I took off was too early and had a %water of 21. I kept it on the aga for 4-5 days and it gradually came down to 19%. I wasn't too popular with the wife though, with a great tub of liquid honey balanced on the aga. So, is it generally best to take it...

Good news: I have a super and a half of capped honey. Bad news: it is mostly Ivy and seems to have crystalised in the comb. I've spun it vigorously but probably only extracted 20% or so. What's the best way of getting the rest out?

OK thanks. Well I guess I leave them to it for few days and see what they do. If it's capped I'll take it off.

But why not into the empty drawn super which is above the BB? That's the bit that surprises me.

I had a BB of mostly capped honey above the QX (a legacy of a Demaree that had got slightly out of control) which I took off and spun-out 5 days ago. Rather than store the DN frames wet, I popped the old BB under the main BB (the one with the brood in) in the expectation that the bees would...

Thanks. There isn’t really room in the freezer. But I’ll buy some sulphur. And now read that thread, thank you @pargyle You’re right, it answered a lot of my questions.

I have a metal trunk now full of drawn out frames ready for next year. Given that it's well sealed, is there any treatment I can put in there to kill any wax moth larvae?

I've a colony which has a young queen (been laying for about two months). The brood pattern is quite spotty and quite light (only a smallish patch of brood in the middle of only 5-6 frames). Compared to the colony next door (which has a queen dating from May and has 6 of 7 frames of brood more...

It was pretty impressive. It droned around me for a few seconds as I was standing over the super that I'd just taken off. Then it dropped like a stone onto a worker bee the was on the top bar of one of the frames in the super, wrestled with it for a few seconds, then gathered it up and flew off...

Brief, and to the point. Thank you.

As I was inspecting today I heard a low buzz and a big yellow hornet hove into view. As I watched, it dropped down onto a super, grabbed a bee, killed it and carried it off. I look at it closely whilst it was doing that and I couldn't see yellow legs which, if I understand it correctly, is...

Grateful for some advice. I did an inspection today and in one colony found the Queen with her head deep in one of the cells. I watched her for about a minute before she eventually backed out. I've not seen this before. On all other occasions I've seen the queens scuttling about. Is this...

Silly question, maybe. But when clearing supers of bees do you put the clearer board on the bottom or the top of the stack? I've always done it on the bottom so far, with a crownboard on the top. But I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong.

But even if it is chamfered, if the lift is a few millimetres too far forward and there is a little play in the slides themselves then a gap quickly emerges between the rear face of the slide and the (chamfered) face of the stand. I’m hoping that my little blocks will eliminate both problems.