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A month ago I was going on holiday. Hives doing well with full capped supers on each hive. I added a second super knowing I was going away. On return all honey gone! What a disappointment. If I removed the super before I left, would the bees be dead of starvation now? Just thinking what to...

I bought a Buckfastleigh queen a month ago for a queenless hive. I have been away for a month and did my inspection today hoping to see my nice new brood. I didnt see the queen but the brood in the national hive was all drone brood. Nicely laid 70% coverage on frames all capped. There were...

One hive is completely queenless and has no brood. How do you go about sorting out a queen this late in the year? I have a 5 frame nuc arriving later this week. Im thinking of uniting the queenless hive with the nuc. The nuc will be about a mile away from the queenless hive. Will it be ok...

It is a national hive and on omf floor. It was a 5 frame Nuc last May and transferred to a national hive. Foundation has been in the Nat hive since May. Everything was OK 3 weeks ago. Just returned from holiday to find this. About 4 frames are like this.

I took this out of my brood box today. The wax is furry like a fungus. Some of the comb looks like it has blue mould growing on it. I'm not sure what it is and how do you fix it? Thanks Cliff

Not sure since I am new to all this! There is little store in the brood box. The queen is still laying if that helps.

HI I have just got back from a 3 week holiday. Bees have eaten all the honey! I had full supers before I left and each hive had a second super. Inspection shows stores are very light! I have removed the empty supers now. Should I feed 2 to 1 sugar or do you use 1 to 1?? some hives are...

I'm going to leave bees to their own mechanisms for 3 weeks. I have three quarter full / capped supers on the national hives. Should I drop another super on them before I go away or is the honey flow now too late in the season? I dont want to come back to empty hives! Cliff

I've got the exact same problem. If you unite a hive 8' away, will the bees just fly back to the original hive? I dont know the answet and looking forward to replies! Cliff

Thinking of the 3 mile rule, if I move them off to another location, how many days will I need to leave them before I return them to close to their original home? My alternative as said previously, move them when they cluster. Are we talking around october? Cliff

I can wait but I'm not happy with the current position under trees in the woods. Its always darkish and cool. Cliff

I know everyone talks about the 3 mile rule. Are there any exceptions to the rule? I would like to move bees out of woodland to an open site just over a mile away. The hive is a nuc but has built to 7 frames. They have been in the woodland for about 3 weeks now. Is it really bad to move...

I sometimes wonder whether my apiary site is suitable. Its in farmers fields and the greater majority surrounding area is to grass / hay / maize fields. May be they dont like the lack of nectar in the area? Although other hives have collected a super so far and are working on a second super...

There was a super on for 2 weeks. I thought something was wrong when they didn't go up top. I tried spraying a one to one mix without success and my next step was to remove the queen excluder. Todays inspection I found out why! Cliff

I dont understand why they have done this. It is a 5 frame nuc last May. Plenty of room with 2 frames of foundation not yet drawn. little buggers! Cliff

EEk! If I find about 10 q cells built at the bottom of a frame, is my only option to break 10 of them down and try artificial swarming the hive? Cells built but not yet capped. Can I try anything else like breaking all cells and hope for the best. I assume if they are in the swarm mood, they...

Thanks for the offer Tom but I'm looking for something for my face only. The eeebay sounds about right for £20 delivered. Cliff

I'm looking for something to pop over my face for those quick jobs. I have seen a veil for £20 on the aution site. Is this about right? Best place to buy will be appreciated. Cliff

Rosti's idea seems a good idea to try first, giving the foundation a spray of 1 to 1. If this fails, then swap brood box over next. If I swap over, is it right not to use the q excluder? Cliff

Hi folks! Two of my new colonies, (established form nucs this April), have built to 9 frames in a national hive and the brood box is quite full of bees. Last Saturday I added a super with queen excluder between. The super has 11 frames of foundation. Just had a quick peek and no bees are in...