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Hi all I have a problem whereby a new hive created in May from A/S is still throwing out around 3 fully charged swarm cells every time I inspect, which I duly cut out. The colony is headed by a Welsh black Q on 14x12 frames, of which 5 are fully covered with worker brood in all stages, and...

Hi all am i right in saying that a heather press is needed to extract heather honey? i have a manual 9 frame extractor - dont suppose this could be used? also am i right in assuming if a press is used i will need wireless foundation? any advice gratefully received!

thanks for the replies. i had a quick look in the hive yesterday and the Q was happily going about her business on a central frame of brood, without and of the frantic attention from the workers which i had seen earlier in the week. am not sure if there's an issue with swarm or supersedure as...

Please can someone advise? I reared a new queen this May from good stock, and she has been laying very well, covering 5 frames of brood on 14x12 frames so seems to be going fine. Yesterday i was carrying out an inspection and couldnt see the queen initially, though there was plenty of evidence...

i've only had a very modest amount of honey off 1 hive so far, amounting to 20lb. It sold for £3.50 for 8oz hex jars, and demand outstripped supply threefold.

many thanks! i'll try a rapid feeder, but if the roof wont accommodate it i'll certainly have a crack at the jar feeder. Cheers.

Hi, i've managed to make my first 5 frame national nuc last weekend - in hindsight perhaps i should have made it 6 frame to accommodate a frame feeder.... Anyway, if i use a jam jar over the crownboard is it simply a case of punching holes into the lid and inverting it over the hole in...

yes, thats what i did. with light beginning to fail and just a few bees left flying i physically dismantled the hive and took the BB 200yds and emptied the whole lot onto an old carpet. there are 4 Q+ hives in the apiary so i hope the bees may be accepted and any DLWs rejected!

i concluded i had DLW problem - multiple eggs half way down cells, sporadic pattern and only drone brood, many of which failed to emerge. i tried introducing QCs but no joy, so tonight i took the BB about 200 yards from the apiary and emptied the entire hive onto an old carpet and hope that the...

a week later i checked the hive, having put a super on. the bb is full with bees accross all frames and they have started drawing foundation in the super. no sign of any eggs/ larvae as yet but am keeping fingers crossed!!

the incumbent queen was very swarmy and in fact swarmed to an adjacent empty hive in the same apiary. I wanted to introduce a new Q into the Q- colony and hopefully have less issues with swarming. Also i did not want to wait in the region of 6 weeks to raise a new Q, allow for mating and raising...

Any advice on this please? I bought and introduced a mated Welsh dark queen to a q- hive last Friday. I checked the hive today and the new Q was there on a central frame, so she's clearly been accepted. Only thing is that there's no sign of any eggs/ larvae as yet. is this normal, does it take a...

Bees at the bottom of the garden; Allan Compton - states that hiving a swarm which is not from your own his is best to avoid, due to possibility of disease, second class queens etc. Have i done the right thing, especially with the size of the swarm? does the acquisition of a new colony outweigh...

BBG, I will update further when checked. Will be visiting the hive this evening as the swarm was too big for a nuc box so i installed them straight into a standard national - i need to add more frames/ foundation later for them to get cracking with.

so having hived the swarm, there's now a risk that a second queen if present will swarm again then?....

thanks all. I'm not sure if there are any beeks in the locality, as I picked the swarm up in the midle of a residential estate about 6 miles from where i live. thanks for the tip Rab - next time i'll spend some time trying to find the Q first and securing her in the box to encourage the others...

Lat night my friend and I had a call to collect a swarm. When we arrived it wasnt quite as straight forward as anticipated - we could reach most of the bees without the need of ladders, but they were wrapped around the whole of the tree trunk (not a rugby ball shape hanging on a branch, which we...

Hi all i'm a newbee after some advice. I have 2 national hives, 1 with a standard BB and the other with a 14x12 BB. Can anyone advise as to the dimensions to make an eke to allow for 14x12 frames in the standard BB? I realise i can measure the outer depth of the 14x12 BB but I am wary about...

Hi all i'm a newbee after some advice. I have 2 national hives, 1 with a standard BB and the other with a 14x12 BB. Can anyone advise as to the dimensions to make an eke to allow for 14x12 frames in the standard BB? I realise i can measure the outer depth of the 14x12 BB but I am wary about...