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KISS no need to clear supers unless you need to harvest too. do you have spare OMF floors and solid crown boards (or travel screens)? remove supers and sandwich between a floor (with entrance block fixed in) and CB. strap up and treat as another unit for the move. just make sure right stack...

Rab is right - Ethanoic acid IS the correct systematic name for CH3COOH i.e. what joe public calls Acetic acid. as per others - old comb is fine after storage. what are you worried about precisely? remember bees will happily source water from unsavoury sources (e.g. wet manure) - you can't do...

Do I have any other options other than re-queening? Could I re-unite a queenless colony with another hive? you could unite Or give them a frame of eggs

you're fine for a couple of days. remember swarms are happy to hang on branches for a few days before heading to new home.

Bees naturally choose cavity sizes (40l) that one imagines has emerged during their evolution as the optimal size to allow a decent sized colony to build up (plus stores) and yet restricted enough to encourage swarming at an optimal point in the season so that hopefully both parent and daughter...

"We bought 2 x 6 frame overwintered nucs, put in the hives about 10 days ago. Im probably running away with myself here but i was expecting them to be at least drawing out the other frames i installed, but the bees haven't touched these yet, is this normal. " many, myself included, would...

"the cells did not appear to be ripe. The end was still quite pointed and had not darkened." as per MM - the cells don't magically change, they are just inert wax after all. the queen inside can't do it as she is inside. The warder bees thin down the cap to produce the flattened brown...

thunderstorms and OSR.

correct and what works are two different matters. correct is that ALL gaps in the hive are correct beespace. an excluder touching the frames will get stuck to them and be more of a hassle to remove and keep clean.

as above - shake test all that's necessary and the rule for OSR is different to everything else!!!

Apparently OH is currently attempting to coax a swarm in neighbour's tree into a brood box ahead of rain overnight. All done from a safe distance as life threateningly allergic!!! DOI: not a swarm from my hives.

A bale of hay (approx half ton ball) costs us 40 euro.

another good reason for solid crown boards or ones with single feeder holes! BTW was the feeder empty or did you feed on day of collection?

sounds par for the course. man up and sit it out.

you're only lifting the frames <1cm followed by a slide backwards away from the neighbouring frame. little chance of damaging QCs.

AFAIK you don't magically see a depletion of stores taken by the swarmees.

same here - have a mix of castellated and not. just lift out end frame then up and back for all the rest.

"there were no cells which had been emptied of stores" eh? when swarming imminent i thought you get backfilling of stores into cells as no new brood expected whereas if not intent on swarming then likely to be empty polished cells ready for next round of egg laying. also as queen going off lay...

as above - frames need to be wired, especially 14x12.

proper wire. with or without frame (depending upon TBS or BBS). both fine.