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Thanks everyone I will just have to hope that they have heard that Thomas Cook are in trouble!

I live in Eastbourne and the temperature has been around 14 to 16 degrees C for several weeks. The bees are very active in the morning. The bee inspector for the south east told us at the Sussex Beekeeping convention a couple of weeks ago that we should be feeding fondant because they are...

I sell mine for £4 a jar (llb) directly to friends and acquaintances.

Sounds great when can we start?

Is it really possible to overfeed bees?

I was at a bee convention on Saturday and the bee inspector said we should be feeding them fondant because they are so active and using up their winter stores - I shot home and made up some and put it on the next morning - got a thumbs up from them all!

My allergy specialists (of which there have been many) have told me I can take between 8 and 12 mg (up to 3 tablets) of this if I have a severe reaction - the usual reaction is sleep afterwards, but that's not a bad thing after an severe allergic reaction. I have also been given it by injection...

Last weekend on Eastbourne Seafront there were lots of plants in flower with honey bees and other pollinators very busy on them. The one that was the most significant was Rosemary because the bees were covered in pollen.

I have had a very tough year and the bees have been left to their own devices most of the time and I made dreadful mistakes with one hive. The other two have swarmed several times but still gave me 51lbs of honey, so selling some for the first time. I am quite chuffed and I am thinking that...

I bought a wood brander from Amazon - used for art/craft work and it has worked well marking my boxes. Mind you the b............sds often just take the frames! So I have been thinking of branding those too! Louise

One of my hives is just clearing out cells and I have lots of chalk brood fossils on the floor catcher...............It is only the one hive the other two seem okay so I don't know if there is anything I can do for next year either. Louise

Thanks Victor, I wait with baited breath, but it seems from other comments that it wasn't such a daft thing to do after all. Louise

Yes as my health has not been good this year I am thinking of me and the work involved rather than the honey - sorry! I will have some help but it will be a long session of work and standing. bee-smillie Louise

I would have offered a nuc in the spring as I don't want to increase my number of hives but Perth is a very long way away from Eastbourne. How about finding beekeepers in your area who will generously donate a few of the little treasures for a small sum? Louise

Thanks Rab and drritson, so do you use something different after extracting? Louise

Yesterday I did something that isn't in the book and based on my wonderful three years of experience ha! I have a queenless colony that has been making stores like mad but no brood except a scattering of drone which clearly suggests that the queen is a drone layer or I have a laying worker. I...

I am going to use my new stainless steel electric extractor in the next few days (when the weather cools down!) and thought that I should give it a good clean first because of residues left from the manufacturer. I am concerned about leaving anything behind that could taint the honey. Any...

I found one of these false widows in one of my hives last year - sitting on top of the crown board, so just lifted it and put it in the hedge. I wasn't sure whether I had done the right thing because I did wonder if they would be helpful to the bees keeping out other undesirables! Louise

At a honey extraction meeting last year we were shown how to do it with a hot air gun used for paint stripping - I bought one and will be trying it this year. A blow torch seems a tad excessive! Louise

My mentor told me that only a really experienced beekeeper will be able to find an unmated queen as they are slim and not very different from the others. My advice would be to wait and see if she is there and starts to lay but this could be up to four weeks. Louise