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Trying to get wax into the gap isn't going to work, but the water idea is definitely worth trying - that's clever, thank you for this suggestion :cheers2:

Thanks for these suggestions - topping it up is definitely helping a bit. It's difficult because there are little sticky-out bits which set immediately and then shrink, leaving gaps which are too small to refill easily, but fill up very nicely with the wrong colour :rolleyes: "make two...

I'm trying to make two-tone candles. I have an irregular shaped mould and I'm pouring natural wax into the bottom, allowing it to set and then adding dyed wax to fill the rest of the mould. The problem I'm having is that the second pouring is filling up the gaps round the edge left by the...

Each colony had two supers which were almost full when I had to do the artificial swarms, so I gave one to each half instead of feeding. Should I have left all the supers with the half with the QC and brood? I've done swapping the undrawn frames around - to the edge of the brood nest, to the...

In two of my hives, the bees have determinedly refused to draw out some of the foundation in the brood boxes - both colonies were A/S's done earlier in the season. There's brood on 4-5 frames at the moment, and some stores on another couple. I've moved the frames around, still ignored them. I...

I've got 1 super left on each of 3 hives which have nothing capped and barely half full of nectar, I'm going to give them another few days before taking off. Ivy is in bud here in SE London so won't be long. The spring and early summer crop has been enormous, but the late flow hasn't happened.

I've never had a problem with Porter escapes, I've always used them and found they work fine. I usually put the clearer boards on mid-late afternoon and by next morning there's only a handful of bees left.

I have just found a well-developed charged QC at the bottom of a super frame, immediately above the QX. It was 1-2 days from being capped. The Q is this season's and is laying well in the BB. There is no brood in the super, so it seems that there is no explanation other than a worker moved an...

They just had some nectar and pollen, nothing capped. I didn't give them any stores, so this is just what they've been bringing in. There's no indication that they're being robbed.

Here's the story .... Small cast swarm put into a nuc with all new foundation about 3-4 weeks ago. I gave them about a pint of syrup but they weren't very interested so I didn't bother to top it up once they'd finally taken it all. After a couple of weeks they'd drawn 2-3 frames of comb, and...

It's a b**ger this game! You always need 50% more kit than you've got! I've been at it for 8 or 9 years and thought I'd got plenty of equipment in reserve. But no - I've had to borrow a shed-load this season to keep on top of things.

Have you any spare supers? You could use two, one on top of the other to make up a box to put them in to unite.

Could you unite them with one of your other colonies?

I had one made for me several years ago and I've been using it ever since. I don't find the space created by removing the dummy board is enough so I need to take another frame or two out.

Thanks for the responses. Of course I know the disease is notifiable. I hope the SBI's have a good stock of kits because nobody is selling them at the moment and apparently the manufacturers are having production problems. Yesterday afternoon when I had more time, I went back into the suspect...

I'm a bit concerned that one of my colonies might have EFB. I've got a test kit but it expired December 2018. Does anyone know if it will give me a meaningful result?

It's a very swarmy year here! So far this season, from 3 colonies, I have had to do 3 artificial swarms (the first on March 28th) and 3 splits and I've caught 2 swarms. Last year, all I had to do was one split.

£4.00 for three drops of sugar water! Someone's laughing all the way to the bank. saviourbees.co.uk

Any idea how long it would need to be in the freezer for?