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Thanks - this seems like a reasonable best option.

We have 5 hives, they are about 2m apart from each other. In the last week or so we have noticed that we have been getting a lot of defensive/aggressive followers that take a bit of getting rid of. We have been walking over 100m from the hives to loose them. Today we were met as we approached...

Thank you for the replies,

We decided to use some thin unwired foundation and see what honeycomb was like. We were advised to freeze the frames in case there were wax moth eggs in the frames, which we did. Is this good advice and what most people do? We have now got round to cutting the honeycomb from the frame and...

We are going to have do the same. Looking at late January when the hives should be lighter and the bees aren't flying.

At the end of August we took off the supers and spun the honey and it was a light to medium colour and was fairly transparent - jar on the right.. A couple of weeks later we were setting the hives up for winter and in order to reduce one hive to brood and a half, we took away an almost full...

We have added some frames of unwired thin foundation to some supers so that we can have honeycomb. Another beekeeper, who also does this, mentioned to us that you should freeze these frames for 24 hrs as wax month eggs if laid can develop in to larva, which would be really unappealing, also...

Hello All, Thought I'd update you all since many of you were kind enough to make useful suggestions. Today was a lot less problematic. We went about 1pm, the weather was overcast with a slight blustery wind. We did as suggested and took it very slow removing the roof and crown board and...

We did wash the suits as we had loads of stings left in the veils and suit. I haven't been back since, but my partner had the same experience with a clean suit, and as you say our other hives are behaving normally, so its not that.

'Go into the hive as little as possible' sounds a good idea at the present time. This was a fairly gentle hive until the honey flow started and we added the additional supers. It is a new queen, you don't think lack of pheromone at the top is an explanation. Re-queen or combine in spring...

UPDATE: Just to give this some context, we have 6 colonies on this site. 2 of the are recently hived swarms, 1 is doing well and is already drawing comb in a super, the other is not out of the brood box yet and seems to be very slow at expanding. Of the 4 more established colonies, 1 is only on...

1. This hasn't been a huge problem. 2. Yes, this is what we experienced. 3. Yes, for over 50 meters. Hopefully, this was our fault going at the wrong time of day and upsetting them. We haven't had any concerns about this colony before, it is our biggest colony and is doing well in terms of...

When I say inspect - I was going to look at the supers, see how much in the lower super was capped and re-order the supers with a view to either removing one or putting a clearing board in,, but didn't get past the lifting the crown board.

Thank you for the reply. Never tried a water mister - will give it a go though. When I say inspect - I was going to look at the supers, see how much in the lower super was capped and re-order the supers with a view to either removing one or putting a clearing board in,, but didn't get past the...

No we haven't opened this early before, we thought we were doing them a favour going in the cooler part of the day. As others point out many of the bees may still have been home, I'd just assumed that they'd set off once the sun was in the sky. We'll try again later this week when it is cooler...

This is only our second year of beekeeping into the summer. Last year we don't take much honey off of the hives at all, but this year its much better and we now one hive with getting on for three full supers. We decided to check on this hive this morning before 8am as it was nice a cool...

Thanks, that might be the answer.

The area where we currently have our hives is due to be developed and we have been looking for alternative sites. We have been offered a lovely site by a farmer to use as an apiary. The only potential downside is that our two current locations are very secure, and we have never worried about...

I have a couple of hives which are getting towards 2 full supers. I am prepared to put additional supers on however I am now required to be abroad with work for 3 to 4 weeks. My partner is small and cannot lift a full super. While I am away is there any downside to her removing capped honey...

Thank you for the replies. I'll definitely sieve them through an excluder, that is a really good idea.