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At the end of last summer when I started feeding, I left a super on one of my hives. This was primarily as there were so many bees when I removed the other supers I wanted to leave some space. Anyway, they duly took plenty of syrup down and filled the brood box and a super. So after a mild...

Just done my "Conan the Destroyer" bit and destroyed the queen cells. There were no signs of either my original queen or any others (although there are a lot of bees and my ability to spot are not as good as the children's). I have left one uncapped queen cell as a contingency plan. There...

Thanks all. My current plan is to have a good look inside this afternoon, when the rain clears. I shall destroy all queen cells and then try and source a new queen (initial calls have not found one yet). I expect that will take a few days to a week, whereupon I should get an indication as to...

All the bees have returned back to the original hive, I assume that the original queen is lost and expect that there is, or will soon be, a new virgin queen in there. What are the pros and cons of just leaving them and then re-queening in the spring ???

As a new beekeeper, I removed supers about a week ago and added a feeder and varoa medication. I have been filling the feeder every other day and all appeared to be OK, although the hive did appear to be exceptionally full of bees, particularly having removed the supers. Anyway, late this...

As a new beekeeper am enjoying my first summer. All is going well, there are lots of bees and I have 2 supers that are nearly full. I would appreciate comment on whether its better to add supers to the top or the bottom of existing supers ? Do the bees fill from the bottom or the top ? Thanks

I only took 3 frames from the top super. The second super is nearly full and they are storing in the brood box. Lots and lots of bees and loads on nectar coming in !

I have today extracted my first honey and surprisingly the kitchen floor is not too bad !!!! My wife is very surprised at how little mess I made, although I still think that the floor will need another wash. The question that I would appreciate comment and views on, is -- How much does one...

As a new beekeeper that is eagerly waiting my first honey, I would appreciate views on the size of filter to use. I have seen filters from 600 down to 75 microns. I though the objective was to remove any luimps of wax that had got through ? Or is this to remove pollen as well ? I would intend...

Definitely sounds like the Coop has a conflict of interests here. I suggest a carefully worded email with a few careful quotes from: http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/ethicsinaction/takeaction/planbee/

I have just had my first proper look in the hive for this year. It all looks good, eggs, lavea, queen all seen, couple of frames of stores and lots of bees. I did however find about a dozen capped drone cells all together on one frame, is this normal ? I am very new to beekeeping, with this...

Thanks, they are certainly taking in plenty of water. Space shouldn't be a problem at the moment as I have atleast 3 frames that are undrawn foundation. I am hoping for a quick expansion and then I'll divide it into two colonies - That's the plan, I just hope the bees buy in to it.

I am a new beekeeper with one relatively small colony. I added sugar fondant on New Years Day and they have consumed about 3kg since then. They have been flying and bringing pollen over the last few days, but the fondant has nearly all gone. Should I add more fondant or start using a 1:1 syrup mix ?

Thanks, if the fondant covers the hole in the crown board, how do I achieve ventilation ?

Thanks Rich. I had understood that the fondant, and the eke went underneath the crown board, so that the fondant rests on top of the frames ?

This is my first winter with Bees. When I closed them up for the winter in November, I changed the glass crown board for a wooden one. I thought that a wooden one would probably be warmer. As it is a new colony I am about to open the top, add an eke and then put in some fondant. I would...