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seems obvious to me as well

Far to small to build to a stage when they can be overwintered, definately unite but not just yet wait and maximise the brood you are going to have by letting both queens lay and then in Late September early October combine. Do keep feeding them both to build up stores and simulate a nectar...

Any one that has had bottom bee space will tell you that when you fit a crownboard,QE, or additional super that you stand a good chance of sqashing or crushing the bees, this is because the bees on top of the frames sit proud of the box and are therefore without extra care liable to said...

Its just possible that this year you might require more than 4 weeks as a Flying bees life is dependent on its wing life this maybe extended this year if they have been unable to fly because of the weather.

When I took the decision to move to commercial from national it was not just to do with the increase in brood size but also the ease of building a commercial box ie 4 peices of wood as opposed to 8. This meant that not only were the boxes easier to build they took less time and were cheaper to...

Can I point out that sealed brood is no proof of there being a Q present only that there was a Q there 8 days ago. Fresh eggs are more of an indicator as they would have to have been laid within the last 3 days whereas unsealed brood would indicate eggs laid 3-8 days ago. If you have sealed...

Prior to June this year I had 2 of my hives with this years Queens turn drone layer. However since the beginning of June I have had a further 3. Thats 5 out of 12 with this years Queens that have done this. They are not from the same antecedants on the maternal side so its not down to genetics...

I have sent you a pm with some prices for what I have available all colonies are this years queens and are passive natured bred from my own stocks

The only way of truely eliminating the re-entry of bees to the chimney is to put what is called a sailors cap on the chimney however when you do so you must include inside the sailors cap some varoa mesh around the inside of the cap and insure there is no ingress for bees. This ensures that...

If you are a member of the local association you could query the price and ask what resolution was passed to agree this price. If no resolution has been passed you begin to wonder what power the committee has to set this price

Nellie without naming names can you tell me the post code of the outbreak as I have just supplied some bees yesterday to a beginner in Holmer Green. You may PM me if you dont want to broadcast it. Alan

One of our swarm collectors told me of a swarm that had set up in dense branches that overwintered in the open one year the combe being drawn and icorporating surrounding branches

If you follow my advice and put the the queen right colony on the bottom this is not an issue as the old brood box with its suppers can go above the newspaper.

Given that the nuc is probably on the newer wax my preference would have been to put the Q right colony on the bottom and definately on the site of the nucleus rather than on the site or the Q- hive. I would also remove the hive from the site of the old q- hive otherwise you will have the...

Unlikely to be a cast swarm more probably the scouts and foragers returning to the original site the swarm set its self in. They are sensing the residual pheramons left by the swarm. To be a cast it would have to be headed by a queen or more accurately a princess.

Yes it is what you would expect, though from what you say a rather small swarm. It was either a swarm led by an old queen or a caste led by a virgin who has since mated. The eggs are the giveaway here. If it is led by an older Q it is possible that she was replaced because she was not what she...

This is a problem with swarms headed by a virgin as the newly located colony follow the Q out on what may be one of her virgin flights rather than taking off for a new location and hey hoy there off on another swarm. You could always have employed a Queen excluder as an includer above the floor...

I beleive that in america QE are often not used between the brood box and honey boxes(supers to us). This may of course be when they are using jumbo langstroths I am again not sure.

Whose manufacture was it please.

Yes to the second part of your question, it would be possible to do this provided you take a enough nurse bees (ie non flying bees from the brood box) with the brood. The flying bees will return to the original site. You will need to include some stores as well. If you had the nucleus box to...