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Many thanks for your advice. I did as suggested and combined the frames from the two supers into one. (I hadn't been aware there were variations in the number of castellations - mine had 9!) New brood box inserted below the super and within a few minutes the bees were behaving as it it had...

To cut a long story short, I gave up keeping bees last year. I brought my empty hives home and had a buyer for them. I left them in my garden. Lockdown prevented collection and the sale fell through. Fast forward a few weeks and a swarm moved in. They chose a varroa floor upon which was resting...

Mine are also very active in this sun. Three hives, all bringing in a lot of bright orange and yellow pollen. I came on here for any tip as to where they are getting pollen in Feb? Crocus maybe? Snowdrops?

My new, young colonies are growing nicely. I had no plan to take honey from them as this is their first year. But I have a question about heather honey. Where I live, welsh sirhowy valley, there is a wealth of wild flowers but now the heather is in flower. How do you tell if the honey being...

Aye, thats what I hoped... thanks chaps

yes, bee friendly area, plenty of local flowers etc But what about the grumpiness, is this normal? Didnt remove straps as it was pitch dark and I was dog tired!

oh... and what is the advice on feeding relaocated hives as they find local supplies?

See my other threads but.. moved bees home last night. All went very smoothly, three hives, two nucs and one older that is producing a nice honey super. Even 'invented' a means to carry them by strapping them down, inserting lengths of 2x1 planed batten inside the strap and under the roof, and...

ah... so that swarm may well have been a cast swarm with a virgin queen? Checked this new colony yesterday. Still drawing out the foundation at great speed. Evidence of nectar and pollen being stored. Friendly reception. Is this Q likely to go search of some drones soon? There is an apiary...

Checked today prepared to dispose of all but one sealed q cell. Found one on fourth frame in, then no more. The cells I had previously seen were gone, completely. The hive itself was very busy. All the stores previously seen in the lower brood super had been moved up above the QE into the honey...

that link was a good read... nice simple advice on what to do in each situation that may arise. thanks drstitson

homed the swarm in a hive at our little farm. Had to go away for the weekend so gave them a little pot of sugar syrup and left them to it. Came back today, checked, still in place and very active. Where I had poured them into the brood box I had left three frames out. They had formed a large...

called out this eve by the orchard owner, the bees were swarming. I managed to get help from a local beek. The swarm was a big one and he didnt think it was a secondary swarm, most likely the original queen. So, it seems that when I inspected they were preparing to swarm? We caught up with them...

if i cant get back will the queens sort out who is boss, leaving just one?

New beek. I now have 3 hives, one bought at auction and two from nucs. Put them on our small farm and then suffered the anxst of choosing a bad site where they few right across my daughters all-weather horse arena, result horse stung, me stung, .... bees have to move, and after just a week! Bee...

did as suggested today. moved the brood super from above to below the brood box. scraped the sealed stores (lots of) being careful not to dislodge the Q. reassembled putting the honey super on top. the honey super ws well drawn but had little stored in it, the bb had 8 frames of brood, eggs...

sounds very logical, thanks

super under the brood? that would encourage use of the stores and the queen to start colonising it I guess?

I would add that i was extremely grateful to the practical lessons afforded by Gwent BKA who not olny did exams on easy bees but also taught us with difficult bees. The exp today was quite intimidating but, thanks to the lessons I kept calm and carried on. Only one sting at my inner right elbow...

"As they're a tad unfriendly I'd suggest he leaves them alone for a week or so after adding another super with foundation on top?" sorry, i dont quite follow? would that go above the honey super? so, from the bottom up it would be floor, bb, current bs, qe, hs, new super, roof??