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Hi all Been noticing increased numbers of dead bees outside hive over last few days. Caused a bit of concern naturally as other hives not showing anywhere near number of deadfall. Scooped a bunch of dead bees and noticed consists of predominantly drones, but still… Been reading about cbpv and...

Thanks. This set me off on another musing.. I imagine most Queens would not want to be superseded or intentionally create a rival so would avoid laying in a queencup shaped cell (I know I am ascribing human traits to bees). So, do the workers move the eggs from a regular worker cell into a queen...

Which comes first in the creation of a queen in a queen cell - the royal jelly or the egg ? Regular inspection found me checking out and squishing what I thought (and still think) was a queen cup at the bottom of a frame (I squish them so I know when and which ones are new), and it could have...

Somewhat unsettling.... :oops:

You do bring a smile to my face on most posts..:)

It has probably been asked before but.... is there any problem/thoughts on extracting honey from previously used brood frames? For example Demareee top BBox that has been backfilled with nectar/honey ?

Short and sweet! Perfect. Have you ever had a demaree that did not produce Qcells ? Thanks

About to check on demaree done last week. One potential that I havent seen commented on; what if there are no queen cells in the top box? Just leave the brood to fully emerge and bees use it as a super? No issues with extracting from once brood filled frames?

...and if the supers between the brood boxes are full and ready to be extracted, how i this cleared please? Put them above the top brood box with a clearer board?

Beginner question, but would you recommend waiting until all frames are fully capped before removing full supers? Got some supers that are full but not fully capped.

I'll be getting one then. Thanks all.

On a scale of 1(gimmick) to 10(must have), where does a refractometer fall? Wondering if I need to be getting one?

Just to follow up this thread. Have 2 hives, 1 a strong swarm settled in with a good laying queen, the other a small weak (in bee numbers) hive the result of a poor split but with a good laying queen (as far as she can with small number of bees). Temperament of the small hive is so calm but the...

How long can frames be stored in a freezer before reuse or extraction ?

Beginner question, but what should be expected at the end of a flow period? With Hawthorn seemingly going over and activity around the hives seems to be much reduced, do the bees continue the production/capping of honey or start consuming the nectar they have stored? Is that what happens in the...

Not having any drawn super frames, it’ll be foundation (or foundation less) frames in super. I guess with flow on they will draw out comb. Thank you

No, been in a full hive for a few weeks. Standard national.

With the change in weather lots of nectar & pollen being brought into that was a installed nuc. Seeing several of the frames in bbox getting filled with stores. Queen laying but thinking this could block laying space in the bbox. Would removing some of the stores frames and replacing with...

Quick check in apiary turned a bit frantic. What a difference weather has made - bees piling in nectar. Checkerboarded main hive 2nd super ( 1st time so hope it was right). Added 1st supers to two colonies; One overwintered nuc colony with bbox rammed with stores (hope I’m not too late), and a...

Thanks all. Will be simplifying the setup and turning it into a more standard stack and not worrying too much about drone comb or not.