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Ok guys, thanks for the advice. My plan moving forward will be 1) give it another week or 2, pick a good day & see if there are any signs of a Q in there. If not consider uniting with Q+ colony 2) give it another week or 2, and see if Q has come in to lay, fingers crossed. 3) the position I...

In this case there were just not enough bees to realistically set up a combine & I stole their Q to give to a bigger colony that was Q-

Ok, spent this morning removing supers and condensing colonies down to brood & 1/2 in readiness for winter at my allotment apiary. I have 11 hives there mostly double brood & 2-3 supers each. I put all brood into1 box & add a super full of uncapped stores with 3-4 frames of drawn comb in the...

Had a Nuc destroyed in a week, it was weak & I was considering a unite anyway. When I opened it up there were about 100 bees clung to the side wall protecting the Q. As it happened I suffered a late swarm loss so the laying Q went in there and the 100 or so bees shook out to beg their way into...

Just started sorting mine for winter. Most were double brood & 2-3 supers. I usually find I can put all the brood into 1 box with 1 or 2 of stores on the outer edges. I then put a super with 4 extracted cleaned frames in the middle for the Q to lay into then fill the rest with uncapped Honey...

It’s still happening, lost a swarm last week I went to my allotment on Saturday (5/9/20) and guy on next plot said “was going to ring you on Thursday, had a big cluster of bees in my apple tree, they were still there yesterday but have gone now” Sure enough my biggest hive had swarmed. still...

Rockingod, Regards plastic foundation I’ve dipped my toe in so to speak and other than one colony that built between the sheets all has been good so far. Next season I’ll look at having just over half on plastic so should get a better idea overall as to which way I will be going. So far only...

3 more colonies now winter ready, I’ve been trying to condense them down to brood & 1/2 this year. The 1/2 is a super nearly full of honey which I always leave them with the HB still going strong & Ivy a week away should fill up nicely. Got 7 left to do this next week, then all done for the...

Tried one hive a couple of years ago and it didn’t seem to make any difference. Tried 3 more this season and just one colony decided to build their own comb in between the foundation sheets, that was fun, but think it was because I mixed & matched with drawn wax comb. Just in the process of...

bobba said: I started with an f1 buckfast. I now have 2 x f2 (2019) and 2x f3 (2020), all open mated. One of my f3s is defensive compared to my other hives, this is the one I am thinking about re-queening. here lies your problem, I find with Buckfast bees the further down the mongrel line F2 &...

Something I hadn’t even considered thanks for the heads up

Similar thing here, had about 70lb when extracted was showing 17.2%, a few weeks later when I came to jar some up it had risen to 19.8%. I placed it in open buckets in my warming cabinet at 37 C, with my dehumidifier running, took nearly 1.5 litres of water in 48 hours. Reading was then 13.3%...

Done most of these methods, now running both Langstroth & Nationals (don’t ask long story big headache) I found wiring frames & using a power source to embed unwired wax was best but slow. Easy to melt the old wax out without dismantling the frames & pop a new sheet in, becomes a pain when the...

I will be looking at taking my final supers off this next week or so when the weather is better. I then replace a super of spun and un capped frames above the QX over double brood boxes for them to re fill for them selves. HB going very strong for now & lots of ivy still to come. Final winter...

Just a thought here, could someone in the area have been open feeding sugar water? I’ve see lots of articles on Facebook recently where people have been doing this to “help” the bees. If your honey contains sugar water could this be an explanation for the separation and difference in readings?

My bees are doing ok here, had no June gap, extracted spring honey & now extracting summer crop. Have had to extract some brood frames to free up space for Q to lay. Most hives on double brood & I'm juggling supers as I’ve ran out. I think I’m lucky with location as I have all around my apiary...

An update on the swarm, if the Q was a virgin she isn’t any more. Checked in today and there are 2 frames of eggs both sides and there was the Q, looking much bigger now as she was starting to lay up the 3rd frame. I guess I will never know if it was a prime swarm with a mated Q who was so...

Interesting, either way cast or prime somebody has lost a lot of bees.

My girls have just found the Himalayan Balsam today, they are covered in it. Also some bramble left, privet, clover, still going strong

Thanks, a prime swarm headed by a virgin Q, something I hadn’t thought about. If that’s the case I guess she better get a move on & get mated. I’ll have a look in a couple of days & update.