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Noticed that the bees weren't shifting nectar up in hive 1 and then saw that they had pretty much filled super 3 in 5 days. Stuck another super on and hopefully extract the top one shortly and stick that back on. Best spring flow we've had. Checked the Demaree and noticed eggs and small larvae...

Don’t think we’ll be doing it again. It’s all part of the infinite learning curve.

About 6 in each and we thought it looked like a supersedure in the Demaree.

Checked the 2 hives where we merged the nuc back into the parent hive after finishing the Pete Little swarm control method 7 days ago and there were QC’s in both with a couple in each capped 😢. Nuc’d one queen and tore down the QC’s in the other in the blind hope that it was triggered by the...

Seems like quite a good spring in London probably aided by the extra heat we get and the rain does not seem to have been a limiting factor. Got 2 supers on and plan to add a third today. The garden is reeking of nectar at the minute with all the Horse Chestnut. If we get any sort of gap it...

Just enjoying the pungent smell of nectar in the garden just now. It’s relatively warm and humid here and they are piling it in. Lots of Horse Chestnut with red pollen coming in. Some Hawthorn around and lots of other bits and bobs. Need to check to see if they need a third super very soon.

you could try this method. I am doing it on 3 hives and have just reunited the nuc’s. I’ll have to wait and see whether it works https://thewalrusandthehoneybee.com/the-voice-of-peter-little-exmoor-bees/amp/

https://thewalrusandthehoneybee.com/swarm-control-by-the-experts/ It‘s described in this article. We put all 5 frames from the nuc back in the hive with some air freshener. And I get the frame with eggs and small larvae from the nuc.

Thanks. We made sure we knew where the queen was whilst moving the frames.

What's the purpose of shaking the bees off when moving frames up as I didn’t do that yesterday?

Merged two nucs back into their ’mother hives’ having completed the 2 week Pete Little method. Checked on another one at another site where we did the same last Wednesday and the queen was present and laying. Fingers crossed they don’t make any more plans to swarm but half expect them to. The...

Reunited a nuc with the main hive after doing the two week Pete Little swarm control method. Stuck another super of foundation on as well as the first is all drawn and feels pretty full. This is at an out apiary and doing the same to two hives in our garden at the weekend. Hoping to get them...

In the Queen of the Suburbs, have noticed some Horse Chestnut in flower on Ealing Common and saw a couple of bees with brick red pollen when inspecting last weekend. Saw some lovely green pollen being brought in as well. I feel sorry for those who live in the countryside 😉

All plans went out the window today. Hive 3 was going to double brooded but found a couple of sealed QC’s and loads of charged ones. Seemed like shed loads of bees still and so searched for the queen and found her on the 3rd run through. Phew!! Nuc’d her Etc. with the intention to recombine in...

Sat outside in the garden/apiary with a cigar and beer, letting the chickens enjoy a couple of hours of scratching and pecking. All 3 hives busy despite it feeling cold. Gonna Demaree two of them this weekend unless they are in swarming mode.

Busy afternoon as things are ramping up so quickly. Put a second super on and some foundation in a dummied down double brood. A slower hive got its first super as they are backfilling despite the average weather last week. The third garden hive needs expanding this week. Looking after another...

It’s nice to win a competition and thanks to Ian123 for the queen I’ll get in due course. Always room for another hive in the garden 😃

First inspection of the year and two of the garden hives are very strong and we will increase the number of brood frames soon. One is already starting to fill a super. The other hive is a bit behind and the only one left with a couple of frames of autumn ivy honey. We also have a hive in...

Stuck a super on the far busiest hive out of the three. Didn’t want to do a full inspection as was rather chilly out of the sun but could see a load of worker and drone brood in the top box. Need to get in this one soonish as they may have early season swarming plans.

Our bees (probably) on the evergreen Clematis and Rosemary in the garden. Also landing and shitting on us as we sit outside in the lovely spring sunshine. Glorious afternoon