Search results

Good point. I hadn't thought of that!

Yes for sure I don't want a swarm from a four-colony nuc! When I split them I realised that I'd forgotten to bring all the empty frames I needed, so I put in what I had with me that day. They have 6 frames now. If they were in a swarm cycle (rather than supercedure) when in the original hive...

Poor year here in the East Midlands too. Before the end of May last year I was already taking supers off and extracting as fast as I could. Had 100s of lbs in buckets all over the house by August! This year my two over-wintered hives have barely got a super full between them, despite being...

Back in May, during a break in the cold, windy, wet weather, I inspected my bees and in one hive found some unsealed queen cells on the first few frames. I found the queen (not got my notes with me but she is at least 3 years old) on a middle frame and whipped it out and made up a four-frame...

Thank you for the offer Tom. I am trying to gain insight in how other associations distribute their news, rather than the specific news itself. We have the same problems getting articles and features from members as was mentioned above. We generally don't get problems finding volunteers so...

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!! Do your members contribute much to the newsletters in terms of photos, articles and so on? Do they respond to content in articles? Requests for assistance for example? We have recently been doing work on a new Association apiary site and our...

My beekeeping association is looking at the future role of our bi-monthly newsletter. Several associations I have spoken to have abandoned a "formal" newsletter in favour of emails or printed material sent out as and when required with great success. How does your association distribute...

That could work. It’s a variation on my first thought. I need to get something sorted before I go on holiday tomorrow!! This hive is heaving with bees. I’ve run out of supers to put on. The fourth was one taken from another colony that weren’t making much impact in filling it up so I moved it...

One detail that I didn’t include (sorry) is that both colonies are in the same field. If I put the nuc under the Q- colony, the flying bees will simply return to where the nuc was. It’s not really an option to move the Q- hive to the nuc as shifting a full brood box, four supers and all the...

I need to unite a very full, very powerful Q- colony with four supers on it with a 2014 Q+ nuc. What is the best way to do this? There is no way I can clear the supers and have all the bees crammed in to a single brood box so as I see it the best options is to put the queen in a Butler cage...

I just logged on to report the same problem! I have two colonies at it and they're from different blood lines so it's perhaps not genetic. I had another colony do the same at the end of June. I knocked off the queen cells and they swarmed anyway, without leaving a queen cell of any kind...

It’s a nuc I have had to move (see my original post). Unfortunately circumstances dictated that I had to move the hive when I did. The situation is less than ideal for many reasons. If I have to move bees I always move the hive at night, so the bees wake up in their slightly relocated spot...

I use linseed oil on all hive part s and have painted hives with bees in residence with no problems.

Ordinarily I wouldn't have thought anything of moving them but I shifted the hive a foot the other day and the bees were baffled. They were buzzing all around where the nuc was, lying in the cold and rain... Got to move them off the old water tank they're on as it's about to collapse.

Does the "move fewer than 3 feet" rule apply vertically? I have to move a nuc downwards.

Let the swarm settle a day or so. My usually tranquil bees have been very grumpy this last week. Your swarm probably just need to settle in.

In my original post, I stated that the original queen was removed to a nuc when queen cells first appeared. It would ordinarily have been fine to open at 19.00 on such a warm day, but I didn't have time to get changed, inspect the hive, get home and cleaned up etc. before another appointment...

Thank you for your help everyone! Would it be reasonable to assume that it amid the vast quantity of bees in that hive that I missed a queen cell in a hidden corner somewhere, such that there were two sealed cells, and when the virgin queen emerged, she didn’t kill her rival but took off with...

Do *all* the flying/forager bees go with the queen when she leads a swarm? I was always under the impression that all flying bees go with a prime swarm, leaving behind all the young bees who have not yet begun the forager phase of their life-cycle.. I got an answer phone message last night...

Thanks for those suggestions so far. I will investigate them.