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My number of laying queens has doubled. Quick check of cast swarm that arrived in bait box, found brood and very orange queen. Unlike my other queens. And this queen from a pruned out QC looks to have got mated. She emerged in my hand and I cack-handedly marked her on the left eye. Ran her in...

Noticed here a few folks finding laying queens from splits and demarees made in mid-May. Not so lucky here. Nuc made w QC from demaree top, now full of capped drone brood. D. top has nothing but pollen and nectar stores. Going to try grafting and Ben Harden set up as she's the more agreeable...

Short of roofs. Not paying £65 for a wooden one so made a couple from a £5.60 sheet of black corrugated plastic. Next time I'll get 3 out of a sheet.

The most reliable indicator of any nectar would be local bumblebees getting busy. No sign of them either. The last time I saw any activity was when it was 14degC and one side of the tree was just starting to flower. Like you, the bramble in the garden is quiet also and nearly over but the...

Regular and broad-leafed lime being ignored today while in full flower. 27degC. Fickle. Bees enthusiastically collecting something somewhere else.

Not something I've got around to making. Used instead of the JBM style demaree board? At the moment the top of the demaree is relatively sparsely populated. I think they've sensed an uncertain future and headed down to join their old queen.

Yes, I like the demaree process for swarm prevention but using it to make increase having a flighty VQ wandering around in the top, inspections have the extra danger of her dropping into the bottom box while the colony is apart. While you are rotating frames between the 2 brood boxes. And...

Weather has been a lot better for mating flights, it's true. I made up a nuc with another QC which now has laying workers so that one has definitely failed. #edit They are not making an area of polished cells so I'm leaning towards there being no hope of a laying queen. ?

Took a while to go though demaree stack consisting of 2 National BB and 7 supers. ! Want to undo demaree I started mid-May but allowed QC to emerge in top to make another colony from best hive. Still no eggs or brood in top but not sure whether VQ is still there. Soon will be unviable tho'. ...

Several elderberry bushes were cut down to get enough blossom for my first ever batch of mead. Flowers going over. Going for lemon and elderflower using some 19% water honey from last August.

Everyone else's photos are better than mine ! Grrrr ! :paparazzi::willy_nilly:

Thinking again, QC had been capped 3-4 days but queen still there and laying. Small larva found today. 8-10 QCs so you'd think swarm rather than supercedure. Plus I must have missed eggs in cups at the previous inspection. You never can tell with bees! Watched a BIBBA video with Roger Patterson...

As the saying goes, to assume the age of QCs can make an ass out of . . . . well, the beekeeper. Thinned out the swarm cells in a colony I checked on Sunday, nuced the queen and assumed all the cells were the same age, mostly open, so the capped ones were just capped. No. Checked the thinned...

I've got an AH trap up which has caught nothing so far. I'm not in an AH hot spot.

Checked bait hive where a swarm has moved in and found an early wasp/hornet nest. The bait box had top bars across most of the national brood box and a wasp or hornet had started to build a nest in the middle. The bee swarm has pushed her out. Had a quick Google but can't decide whether...

The increase of interest in the bait hives proved to be from within the apiary. 8 days since last inspection. A good number of open cells too. But queen still present so moved her into a nuc. This colony has produced no honey and has built up on nectar coming in and stores from last year. My...

I didn't take any honey before the demaree and yes, the weight has been dropping but there remains a good amount of stores, some of them from last year as I over-winter on brood and a half. That super is now the heaviest and it's on the top of the stack. There's been some nectar coming in and...

Not mine. found it somewhere on tinternet.

Using a homemade NBU type plastic bottle trap and VespaCatch lure. Caught absolutely nothing. Bottle cap has 8mm hole so bumbles can't get in. 5.5mm holes around top so honey bees can get out. (?) Tried an open bait. Had no interest. Barely seen a wasp this year.