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After a few sightings last year this year has seen a massive increase in numbers. We have put "muzzles" on our hives and placed numerous traps. A friend's son has set up a business destroying the nests and has treated 43 in the last 3 months in and around Fecamp. Another friend who has bees and...

Thanks for all the advice. I don't have an eke or super with my poly nuc,will give Paynes a ring as I assume they come as extras.

I've managed to create a new colony in a 5 frame poly nuc,checked it yesterday and good brood pattern and about 3 seams of bees. Mu question is do I over winter in the poly nuc or move the bees into an empty hive. If I move them into the hive I have an almost full super I can put on which will...

I react quite badly to stings and have been stung numerous times in my 8 years of beekeeping. My reaction to the stings has not changed. I wear a good quality suit,with bottoms and jumper beneath, plus a deer stalker type hat. I've added extra Velcro at the hood where all the zips meet. This...

Checked the hive today,just removed one central frame,completely full, both sides , of lovely brood. Yippee. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

So have introduced a mated queen in a cage and left for 48hrs. Went today and removed the plastic tab from cage, bees on cage seemed quite calm,very easy to brush of. Now going to wait 10 days and then inspect.

Good advice,thanks for that.

So I have a mated queen arriving today. The plan is to give her a drop of water as soon as she arrives,then place her,still caged,in the centre of the queenless colony brood box. Leave for 24hrs and then,as Finman advised, check and see how the bees are reacting to her. If showing aggression...

When you say shake out do you mean dismantle the hive and leave the bees in the open. Would any be accepted into the remaining queenless hive and therefore cause mote problems?, thanks.

That should read,caged,mated queen.

So todays inspection confirmed,one hive queenless, with drone laying workers. Believe their is nothing I can do for this colony? Second colony queenless, no brood or larvae of any sort, so have been queenless for a while. I can introduce a caged,mates queen to this colony,but what are my chances...

So is a drone laying queen missed the period to mate and will therefore never be useful?

Thanks for all the replies, begins to look like a virgin queen which is much better news. Will give it a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Thanks for all advice. If I remember correctly a drone laying queen will lay in a neat pattern,whereas laying workers are more haphazard In my case all the drone brood has been layed in a line along the bottom of several frames.

Due to illness my bees have been neglected. An inspection yesterday revealed a queenless colony,with no worker brood,but lots of drone brood. As I understand it if I introduce a queen to this colony she will probably be killed,so is the colony lost. Would they make a new queen if I could...

Hi,I'am in Normandie, France. I have Langstroth hives, Dadant seems to be the other option locally. I've been keeping bees for about 8 years and have joined a local association and made some like minded friends. I've also given a talk at our village school on bee keeping and the benefits of bees.

Excellent, thanks for the quick replies. Damp towel first it is.

I need to move a frame with brood and eggs to another hive about 30 mins away. I guess to do it early afternoon when it is warmest and to wrap the frame in a sort,thick towel. Does this sound right.

Excellent idea, many thanks.

Rather than spend another £22 on coloured Sandtex I hope I could add some coloured paint to my white sandtex .