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good idea, thank you. i'm not concerned about the cost of new foundation, but the frames were new last year and have been very well drawn out so would be a shame to discard them and give additional work to bees in drawing out new. I'll pop them in the freezer and give it a go. cheers.

After extraction last year i placed the dry frames into storage in the shed. When checking them recently i noticed a few frames had what looked like tunnelling through the drawn foundation leaving track marks accross them. I havent spotted any moths or larvae, but assume the markings are due to...

appologies, just spotted thread of 16th. thanks.

Hi all i've made a few national ply nucs and also wooden open mesh floors last autumn, and used my father's ancient table saw to do the cuts, but it's now given up the ghost. Has anyone got any recommendations for a decent table saw, make model, price and supplier please? i've a modest budget...

morning all thanks for the good advice. as suggested i think i 'll wait a while yet and try to raise Q's from my best 14x12 to transfer to the splits. cheers.

I've a couple of standard national BBS overwintered, with 4 frames of brood at various stages in each. I split a few hives last year by AS to prevent swarming, but this year i want to split into nucs and encourage the Q- hives to produce new queens. what's the consensus about the right time to...

thanks Redwood, do you relocate your hives from Swansea to take advantage of the OSR?

:iagree:

Excuse my ignorance, but am i right in saying that OSR is an arable crop which needs relatively warm and dry conditions to flourish? i've seen feild after field of it in the south east of England, but to my knowlrdge havent seen any locally in South Wales (i wait to be corrected on this!).

after recent colder weather, i'll now be adding a weak syrup this weekend....

:iagree:

thanks Eyeman i did heft initially but i thought (incorrectly) that the hives were running short on stores, so a very swift initial inspection reassured me and ensured that i did not add fondant, which would have filled up the brood area unnecessarily.

14 degrees here yesterday so quickly opened up two 14x12 hives; plenty of active bees, eggs and sealed brood on either side of 3 frames in each hive, plenty of stores & honey, plus spotted both Q's. Very reassuring sight!

:iagree: a fellow newbie and i collected a very large swarm last year and it was a daunting experience. we left it til dusk, sprayed the swarm with a weak sugar solution and boxed the swarm up. after a cup of tea with the householder the majority of bees had followed the Q into the box - job...

thanks Pete D, yes that did help. i wasnt suggesting a full inspection, merely a quick check to assess presence of any brood, laying area and availability of stores etc

I know from previous threads that recomendation is not to open up hives if its not warm enough for the beek to be in shirt-sleeves, but can anyone give a rough indication as to what degree C should be the minimum please? i'm guessin in reality this would be around end of March/ early April...

we brushed the swarm into a very large cardboard box and then promptly deposited them into a brood box half full of frames and then addred the remaining frames a few days later. like i said it was our first and only swarm to date, so to say i was a bit daunted when i pulled up in the car was an...

first (and only) swarm!

i've changed the roof and cant see any obvious places in the BB which could be letting water in.... Will have a good look next time i inspect.

many thanks for your replies!