Search results

Did a second AS on my one good hive as there were sealed QCs today. There were still a lot of bees though, I hope I've caught them before they swarmed. I'd have preferred to nuc the queen instead, but I'm incapable of ever finding her 😔 The colony from the first split failed to produce a queen...

Ugh. Well I took down the old QC today, which was still there. Looked like a dead virgin queen. And now I have laying workers 😣

I know they'll only ever be drones, I was wondering whether the bees would attempt to make 'queen' cells from them, and whether that's what I might have seen in my hive with laying workers (rather than them using the eggs from a failing queen, possibly). It was something that had occurred to me...

I've been wanting to ask this too, but was worried it was a stupid question! I wondered if it was possible for them to make QCs out of laying worker eggs, after finding supercedure-type cells in my queenless colony.

I've got this nuc sitting at the back door, and this afternoon suddenly scouts have appeared. It was on top of a shed, but as I haven't seen a honey bee here since the apple blossom finished, and as it was blocking my old little cat's access to the shed (she got stuck last week), I took it down...

Thanks 😊. Well part of the reason why I'm so penniless is that I stupidly jumped in and bought a 4 stroke Makita multi tool with brushcutter and pole hedge trimmer, going only on youtube videos and never having seen (or lifting) it first. Big mistake. An hour with the hedge trimmer and I...

Don't worry, you've not peed on anything 😂. I've just this spring started my own gardening business, and with all the start up costs of equipment I'm beyond penniless at the moment. So I can't afford large amounts of anything to mulch it with (unless I can find it for free). I might get some...

Bee humour! (Unless you're pulling my leg!) I hope you're right. I wish they'd build comb a little bit faster so she has more space to lay.

I did the split after finding eggs in QCs (not larvae, and no sealed cells. I think now maybe I was a bit quick off the mark, but I didn't want to risk a swarm). The other half looks good, queen laying well on brood & a half with BIAS (it was definitely Q+ after the split). Today I knocked down...

I split my good hive on 29 April using the artificial swarm method when you can't find the queen - so new hive in old position with 1 frame of eggs & young brood, and 1 of stores (+ syrup in feeder). I checked back in 7 days and knocked down all but 1 QC (they were all sealed, so I chose the...

Finally made a start on my new veg plot today! This is on the croft where my bees are. The crofter very generously ploughed these strips for me, and now that the various animals have been fenced out, this afternoon I put edging in to turn them into proper beds. That's as far as I got! It's going...

Inspections today. Removed a QC with an egg from my good hive, so will be keeping an eye on that one. They aren't bringing much in, so will keep an eye on the food situation also. First inspection of my new colony following an artificial swarm (the method when you can't find the queen)... to...

I name the hives rather than the queens, but then I only have three (Bag End, Crickhollow and Brandy Hall ☺. Bag End is doomed sadly, but I'll keep the name when I can replace the colony). I have basic record cards under the lids, and I write notes in my diary after each inspection. My memory's...

I think I'm going to try removing the queen excluder from my good hive. I was in there yesterday and they're pretty close to full in their brood-&-a-half, with stores built right to the walls, but they're not moving up to the super I put on a couple of weeks ago, despite me putting a frame of...

I have two other colonies, one Q+, the other working on a new queen (hopefully). Thanks for the input everyone. I think I'd better wait to shake them out until the other hive is queenright... Or take them further away to do it, but as they're brood-&-a-half that would be very heavy.

Checked my winter Q- hive again today, and I think the brood is from laying workers. All drone brood and multiple eggs in the cells. With the age of these bees at this stage of the season I'm not sure it's worth introducing another frame from my good hive? Would it be best to just shake them...

You're in Scotland aren't you? That's reassuring. Everyone's talking about their big spring yields, and I've got nothing like that happening up here yet! There's enough coming in to keep the bees going, but so far they're not filling any supers. Patiently hoping...

No, just open cells of eggs and larvae so far. I'll check again next week.

Oh damn, I never thought of that. Now I've gone and removed them 😣. If that's the case maybe they'll try again since they have eggs.

Did my first inspection of my hive that lost its queen over winter, after giving it a frame of eggs and brood on the 16th of April (without much hope so early in the season). Well, it worked, there were eggs and brood in there... and two open queen cells with larvae in them!! That's the last...