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What are they filling the frames with Brood or stores? Makes a big difference to the advice.

Depending on your remaining kit available (Supers - Foundation or drawn comb) you may want to consider more than one extraction run. Extracted supers returned to hives will fill a lot faster than putting a super on of foundation and in my mind is a no-brainer unless you prefer to get more...

Really??? In May I actually had to stop answering my phone as it was ringing non stop from 8am to 8pm all calls about bumbles!!! In terms of Honeybee swarms it has been a very quiet year, probably half a dozen calls in total and most too far away. I have collected 2 swarms personally and sent...

Lime in full flow here over the last week. Supers filling fast.

From the evidence of the last 2-3 days inspections (2 out of 5 apiaries) I'm putting extra supers on most if not all hives! Full flow on here from just about everything (Lime / bramble / willow herb etc.) Most colonies had extra empty supers already on (was starting to think I was over...

:iagree: Also only use washing soda and no scented washing powder!! Forgot myself last time and received several stings from one colony! Washed suit again and returned next day and had no problems with same colony!

Light weight high cut walking boots for me.

How about "Best before YOU see the bottom of the jar!" :icon_204-2:

:iagree: Don't be beaten down on price by shops, especially as at the moment a lot of beekeepers have no honey. Regarding fairs etc. you will be surprised how fast it goes!

Just a quick update, seems the email I wrote finally reached the right people and the Pest control officer for the council that always used to contact me called me to ask what was going on. When I explained he apologised and asked me to find out who at the council (he suspects the call centre...

That's one way to tackle it. I have had a problem (since the cuts) with my local council giving my number out to everyone calling about "bees". I actually had to stop answering the phone during the height of tree bumble bee mating as it literally never stopped all day! Personally I'm not after...

I've had it happen before with new queens on OMF. If you have a spare floor, carefully move the one with the cluster on to one side and place the brood box on a new floor in the original position. You probably don't have to shake them into the brood box. I just lowered them down on top and they...

A cast swarm contains a virgin queen and as such it is very hard to spot the queen. Generally a cast swarm will not start laying until the queen has had chance to get mated. Personally I would guess that the cast swarm contained a queen. What happened when you then combined that with a Q+...

:iagree: That's what I have done in the past and as said don't leave anything (hive stand included) where the hive was and the bees will find the other colonies nearby.

If the lid seals ok no need to worry. If any of the Honey is Spring honey imho it's better in a bucket than jars as it will probably set rock hard and then you can warm it and make softset.

What do you mean by that. Let the brood hatch out and they will clean and refill the cells with honey. No problem.

Ha, that's nothing. I used to have a very good relationship with the local council pest control officer, he would attend to calls and confirm they were honeybees and then call me and give me all the details (position / height / size etc.) That was ofc before the cuts, now a switchboard refers...

Of course there is always a chance with a change of Queen / unknown mating that the colony can change temperament but personally I tend to only judge colonies after several inspections over different weather conditions. I had a few colonies that were a real pain to inspect earlier in the year...

Jarring Softset and melting wax (for exhibits)! Oh and delivered 2 Nucs this morning! Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow for inspections!

:iagree: